I Can’t Write That (Saturday Writing Essential)

It’s the second week of the month and we’re going to revisit an old challenge that didn’t receive that many responses.

If you haven’t hung around SatWE very long, I want you to know that my purpose with this column is to get you out of your comfort zone -- I want you to write something you’ve never tried before.

Many writers are afraid to try something because they think they might receive a negative comment and I want to assure you that you won’t. If you ask for a critique, you’ll get it. If you don’t ask for a critique, you might have one or two members offer suggestions on how you could improve your writing, but they won’t be given in a negative manner.

Here are ten topics that we’ve covered in the past three years. Do you see anything you’ve never written before? Do you see one or more that you’ve written regularly?

Biography
Detective/Mystery
An Interview
Science Fiction
Romance
Historical Fiction
Fantasy
Ghosts
Vampires
Western

I want you to pick two of those topics and combine them into your response this week. I’d prefer that you pick two that you’ve never tried but I’ll leave it up to you if you feel more comfortable combining a new one with one that you’ve used regularly.

This Week’s Challenge:

Pick two of the topics listed above and use poetry or prose to combine them to make a cohesive story.

Ideas:

Write a short biography of a ghost.

Interview a detective and write about the hardest case (s)he ever had. (This can be a real or fictional detective.)

I gave this idea the last time I put up this challenge and nobody accepted it but I’d love to see someone write about Buffy the Vampire Slayer transported back to the old West to chase down a vampire problem in... I don’t know, how about Virginia City, NV.

Watch Out For:

Two things:

• First, make sure you use two of the topics listed above.
• Second, please try to choose at least one of them that you’ve never written before.

Recap:

We had a great week and I’d like to see everyone read each of the following submissions.

swe feb holidays--Valentine sat feb 2/13  by karen vaughan

February (Saturday Writing Essential: February 2nd, 2013)  by Angela A.

Sat.WE challenge: POEM ABOUT FEBRUARY LOVE  by Douglas Raymond ROSE

A Song of Summer Love - A Chant Poem for Mindful Poetry (FOTM for February); SatWE(February) and (WWE, 2/6/13, Warm Seas)  by Irina Dimitric

SatWE February  by Deborah A.

Humour: My Unfortunate Engagement to Ms. Moon (Saturday Writing Essential)  by Ratandeep Satwant Singh

February 17, a tribute - Saturday Writing Essential  by Priya P.

Responses to Previous Challenge(s):

satwe autobiographical poem jan 19  by karen vaughan

Weekly reminder: Don't forget to recommend an article that you like (to learn why, read Ann Marcaida's article Attract More Writers and Artists to Gather!). Also, try to place a comment on at least one article and say more than you liked the piece. Tell the author what worked and what needs work.

The Rules:

• Put this challenge statement at the beginning or end of your submission so readers will know what you’re supposed to do.

Challenge: Pick two of the topics listed above and use poetry or prose to combine them to make a cohesive story.

• There is a limit of three submissions from each member per day. If you’re extremely prolific, spread out your work and post only three submissions per day.
• Post to Gather Writing Essential.
• Tag your submission with SatWE.
• Include (Saturday Writing Essential) as part of your title.
• I ask that you make your submission(s) by next Friday afternoon.

Good Writing!