Happy Comic Con!

OK, to celebrate Comic Con, see how I didn't make this 'all about me?'  I could have done 'to celebrate my birthday' today, but I didn't.  I could have done to celebrate 10/10/10, but I didn't.  Nope, I didn't have to start this out by pointing out it's my birthday today.  I said, 'to celebrate Comic Con.'  See how humble I am?

To celebrate Comic Con, let's do a character profile.  Come up with your own superhero or comic book character.  Do they have a special power?  How did they come by it?  Are they from this planet and were infected or poisoned by something?  Are they some other species or are the from another planet?

Is their superpower particularly useful?  How would you use it to fight crime and evil?  What if your hero were actually a villain?  How would they use their superpower for personal gain, committing crime, subjugating the masses, etc?

If you enjoyed this, then do it up a full second time with... who is this superhero arch-nemesis?  OK, you're writers, so antagonist.  What is their superpower or what makes them able to fight the other.

We could take this a lot further, so if you want to, DO!  Oh, and I give you my blessing to make this really silly.  Enjoy....

Back to Writing - Exercise

This time I want to bring you a prompt that sets you up for writing something that could become a pretty lengthy short story, even a novel.  This is one inspired by the fact that next week it's my birthday.  Yes, on 10/10/10!  And also, I guess I should give a shout-out to Mrs. Dalloway, though I don't really want to.

Your main character is having a party.  Is it later today, tomorrow, in a week?  A group of people (1, 2, 8, 50?) are going to descend on the character's (his/her) home.  Well, she (okay, I'm sick of writing him/her/character, I'm just gonna go with she, but you choose the gender) has to prepare!  Does she wake up, look around the house and realize it's a mess, so she starts cleaning?  Is it a garden party, so she has to mow and rake and tend to the yard/patio/garden?  Is she alone in her preparations, or is it she surrounded by family/children/spouse/partner?  Maybe the other person/s is the problem, not being ready?  Is she going about the prep nervous, happy, calm, frantic?  Guess that has a lot to do with when this party is too.  Is the party expected, surprise, did she forget about it, major life event or simple get-together, tea, brunch, garden party, photography shoot or interview?

All right, those are a lot of questions, and I don't want to lead you down any one path.  I just mean to say before you launch into random nothing, put it out, who is she (okay he/she), what is this party, when is it, and what is it she needs to get done beforehand?  [And does she get it done?  To her own satisfaction, to those of her guests?]

Go write something... and please don't have her go walk to buy flowers... ugh!