Wulf Moon's SUPER SECRETS Workshop & Challenge!

Congratulations, Crystal!!

Congratulations CCrawford Crystal Crawford! I've always loved your writing!! This is well deserved! Have fun!  

@wulfmoon I'm so grateful and excited! <3

It's time for your TUESDAY KYD Writing Prompt!

Sorry I'm late--I was travelling from Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs yesterday to the LTUE Seminar in Provo, Utah. Whew! Here I am!

I'm teaching masterclasses in the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb 12th) from 8 to Noon for the first (Winning Writing Contests), and from 1 PM to 5 PM for the second (KYD). Come join us if you live in the area! Just walk in to the Elm conference room and register with me!

And now for your prompt!

Watching your rescue ship go down.

That's got to be a sickening feeling, especially if you're in a hot combat zone and the ship was your only way out! But it does create instant tension, especially if it happened in the opening scene and your protagonist's hopes were dashed to smithereens!

Go for it!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

It's time for your MONDAY KYD Writing Prompt!

Just back from two weeks of conventions: Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs and the LTUE Seminar in Provo, Utah. What a blast to be with writers seeking to level up in their skills. I loved teaching masterclasses at LTUE and doing panels and ending the seminar with my denouement presentation. Great attendance with eager-to-learn writers!

I'll try to post a few shots. I enjoyed some nice dinners with John and Emily Goodwin from Author Services! And Wulf Pack Writers comprised the entire winners panel for the LTUE panel on Writers of the Future. So cool to see those I've helped doing so well!

But now, it's time for your writing prompt!

LET ME OUT!

Have fun!

Beastmaster Moon

It's time for your MONDAY KYD Writing Prompt! And I'm OUTTA TIME!

Here you go!

Crawling up from the underworld.

Whew! Made it. It's still Monday.  

Beastmaster Moon

Posted by: @wulfmoon

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It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

Under an auspicious star.

That's it! I'm off to Superstars Seminar and then I teach masterclasses at the LTUE Seminar in Provo, Utah. I know I'll see some of you at each of these, and John and Emily Goodwin from Author Services, too! So cool!

Cheers!

Wow. I read a superb KYD made from this prompt yesterday! I hope she finds a way to expand it into a full-scale story. These are story seeds, after all! 

Cheers!

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

not dead yet

I always think it's funny when someone says, "Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." This prompt goes along with that.

Surprise me with your result! Better yet, surprise the WotF judges. Stories that excite and surprise with skill win!

By the way, who first said that phrase? It sounds like something Mark Twain would have said. I'm sure somebody here knows!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

This is indeed a misquote of a comment made by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. According to dictionary.com

"

In May 1897, there was a rumor among journalists that author Mark Twain was either dead or dying of a serious illness. Looking for confirmation, journalist Frank Marshall White of the New York Journal contacted Twain to see if there was any truth to the rumors. Twain responded to White with a letter in which he humorously said “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” In classic Twain fashion, the author jokingly expressed more offense with the rumors that he was poor than the rumors of his death.

The popular misquote of Twain’s words seems to come from a biography written by Albert Paine in the early 1900s. In the biography, Paine alters the incident so that Twain speaks to an unnamed reporter in person and humorously tells him that “The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated.” This misquote then changed overtime to use the word greatly instead of grossly."

This will be a fun prompt. Thanks, Wulf!

Does the prompt remind anyone else of the Bring Out Your Dead scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

@wulfmoon Love this one! It reminds me of Monty Python!

@wulfmoon This one seemed to resonate with me. I spent an afternoon brainstorming possible story ideas, and ended up with 14 to choose from. Now how to pick? 😁

Posted by: @glenda-thompson

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This is indeed a misquote of a comment made by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. According to dictionary.com

"

In May 1897, there was a rumor among journalists that author Mark Twain was either dead or dying of a serious illness. Looking for confirmation, journalist Frank Marshall White of the New York Journal contacted Twain to see if there was any truth to the rumors. Twain responded to White with a letter in which he humorously said “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” In classic Twain fashion, the author jokingly expressed more offense with the rumors that he was poor than the rumors of his death.

The popular misquote of Twain’s words seems to come from a biography written by Albert Paine in the early 1900s. In the biography, Paine alters the incident so that Twain speaks to an unnamed reporter in person and humorously tells him that “The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated.” This misquote then changed overtime to use the word greatly instead of grossly."

 

This will be a fun prompt. Thanks, Wulf!

 

Thank you for the history on the saying, Brenda! I guessed right! Five gold stars for you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Twain was the original snarky reply master—so witty and funny.

Have fun with the prompt! And welcome to the WotF Forum! I’m always happy to see my Wulf Pack members joining this group. We all have much to offer one another. Don’t miss the free WotF Online Workshop! And the Q2 deadline!

Cheers!😊

Posted by: @atkirk

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Does the prompt remind anyone else of the Bring Out Your Dead scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

That was a funny scene! Love it! 😍 

Posted by: @tmckee44outlook-com

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@wulfmoon Love this one! It reminds me of Monty Python!

Have fun with it, Tara! And welcome to the Forum as well! I’m always happy to see Wulf Pack Writers join this WotF group. We can all learn from one another!

Dont miss your Q2 entry! 😊

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

Posted by: @dukeholley

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@wulfmoon This one seemed to resonate with me. I spent an afternoon brainstorming possible story ideas, and ended up with 14 to choose from. Now how to pick? 😁

Awesome, Duke! That’s a lot of brain on the page. Pick one idea (I suggest the one that turns your crank) and run with it! Don’t miss your Q2 deadline. You’ve got this! And again, I’m happy to see Wulf Pack supporting this forum. This is where it all began. Welcome to the WotF Forum!

Now go turn that cool idea into a story!😊✍️

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

crocodile tears

Have fun! Do the exercise I’ve taught you to bring forth your beating heart for your winning story. Several WotF winners and even more finalists have come from practicing this exercise. The system works, but only if you do it! Cheers!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Want a new Super Secrets of Writing article? It’s here!

Think you don’t need to market your work as a writer? Think again! Better yet, get inside tips on best practices from my award-winning Super Secrets of Writing Series! “You Can’t Stop the Signal, Part 2” is FREE to read at DreamForge Magazine of Science and Fantasy Fiction!

Check it out!👀 Click HERE!

@wulfmoon Oooh! Nice one! Many avenues can be taken with this prompt.  Thanks!

Posted by: @crlisle

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@wulfmoon Oooh! Nice one! Many avenues can be taken with this prompt.  Thanks!

Thank you, Candice! I'm glad to hear it inspires! Have fun writing!

It's Tuesday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!  

alien ceasefire

Star Trek: The Original Series was able to make us reflect on many controversial issues in the day without creating conflict. How? By featuring subtle commentary on hot social topics as the Enterprise's crew faced off with alien species in the galaxy.

Guess what? We can do the same! And since negotiating ceasefires is a hot topic right now in multiple ongoing wars, here's your chance to do the TOS trick without getting your wings burned off! I'm innocent, I tell you! I was only writing about aliens. You know, the green ones with the floppy antennae!

Taking risks can often yield big payoffs, but I advise you to be subtle. No one wants a lecture in the middle of a story. But if you can make people think about the social issues they face while entertaining them in the process, no harm, no foul. In fact, you might just help them see a problem and ways to solve it in a new light.

Q2 is almost over. How is your fresh original story coming along? Inquiring minds want to know! Avoid the rewrite and resubmit sand trap! Fresh stories for the win! That's the foundation of this workshop.

Beastmaster Moon

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

Out of the mouth of babes.

This saying has become a part of our modern vernacular--I just heard a CBS news anchor say it last week. But it was actually penned around three thousand years ago in the psalms written by King David (Psalm 8). The meaning behind this saying? That profound truths often come from the simplest of sources--a child, the humble, the seemingly lowly ones of our world. 

That saying has stood the test of time, meaning its insight is solid. Why not wrap a story around this concept? Who knows? Perhaps you'll have a story that stands the test of time.

Orson Scott Card said, "I will always choose a simple tale, simply told." You know why?

Simple clear stories are the hardest stories to write, and when you discover one, you know you are holding a diamond. Nothing shines brighter.

Keep it simple, storyteller! That's one of the main lessons in my KYD Exercise.

Less than a week to go to get your entry in to Q2! Don't miss it!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

last minute rush

How did this one come to me? Well, it is the last day of the quarter, and I I have a long memory.  

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Exciting news I'd like to share with Super Secrets and KYD followers here! This is a powerful reminder to be persistent in submitting our work. Almost 30 years ago, I entered a year-long international writing contest where writers were given a fresh prompt and had to submit a vignette of no more than 250 words by the end of the week. The fifty-two weekly first place winners were then judged at the end of the contest year by twelve professionals in the publishing industry. Two of mine placed in the Top 10, one of them taking the Grand Prize and the Writer of the Year award. First place … out of some 30,000 entries.

I then created two stories based on that prizewinning vignette. One was a longer surrealistic story, the other a shorter science fiction flash story. I sent them to every pro market in their respective genres that appeared over the years, all to no avail. But I knew the core of these stories was solid, having won against improbable odds. I never stopped believing over the years that at least one of the stories would touch the heart of an editor and get bought and published.

Enter the new literary market Story Unlikely and their annual short story contest. I submitted three stories to this blind contest. They had 2500 entries that year out of which nine finalists were chosen. From the nine were picked the first through third prizewinners. While I didn’t win, all three of my stories placed in the top nine. One of them was “Grasshoppers Against the Jar,” that story I had been submitting to markets for almost thirty years.

The editor also bought it for publication.

I am happy to announce “Grasshoppers Against the Jar” has now been published. Persistence yields rewards.

It’s free to read at Story Unlikely. It’s short. I hope you’ll check it out. Enjoy!

https://www.storyunlikely.com/#latestissue

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

Brain storm

The storm could be internal, but could a powerful mind actually create literal storms? Could one’s consciousness uplink into a virtual mind storage system, creating havoc in digital paradise?

Remember my Super Secret: deliver the unexpected for the win! Find the twist no one has thought of before and add your unique flair!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

P.S.: Today is the 1 year and 5 month anniversary of How To Write a Howling Good Story, the book based on the principles and strategies I created right here to help your stories rise to the top. It’s still a Top 100 Amazon bestseller in Fiction Writing books, and I’m running no ads! Still going strong after all this time. Makes me happy to have helped so many.😊

This sounds like a fun one! Thanks, Moon!

Posted by: @tmckee44outlook-com

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This sounds like a fun one! Thanks, Moon!

You’re welcome, Tara. There are winning stories in the WotF anthologies that started from these prompts, and winners in other contests too. May you discover the beating heart with these to create the engine of a powerful story. Why not make it *your* winner!

”It’s alive!” 😀

Beastmaster Moon

It's Monday, and that means it's time for your Monday KYD Writing Prompt!

unusual addiction

I can think of at least three WotF winners off the top of my head that dealt with strange addictions. Each were unique and a foundational element to the story. It is a darker side of the human experience, but it can be a liberating read to follow a struggling protagonist as they find the power to break free from addiction's grip. 

Remember my Super Secret: deliver the unexpected for the win! Find the twist no one has thought of before and add your unique flair!

All the beast!

Beastmaster Moon

Excellent prompt. Addictions make a great story.

Thanks, Moon! I can spin something off this for sure.