In place of this week’s Wednesday Writing Challenge, Typescript is now offering Writing Challenge Roundups, a compilation posted the last week of each month. Check out the challenges that were offered during the month of September and feel free to share your work or talk about the challenges in the comments section below.

Typescript posts a new challenge each Wednesday to encourage creativity and inspire conversation. Feel free to talk about the challenge or share your writing results in the comments section below by leaving an excerpt and/or a link to your own site or blog.

The spark of inspiration can be found anywhere you choose to look. From a title of a song to a sketch found on a napkin, from an overheard conversation to a jumble of words, these stories are waiting to be discovered and told.

Note: This week’s post comes from friend, fellow writer, and writing challenge-enthusiast Nean Burkholder. Many thanks to Nean for helping out with this week’s challenge! Check out her poetry on her blog and follow her on Twitter.

One of my favorite writing prompts is the “Word Play,” based on random phrases found in places like spam mail, recycled into poetry and prose. What happens when random words, seemingly unrelated are thrown together into the same piece of writing? That’s for you the writer to decide.

Words come alive and certain words have their own personalities. We all have words that are favorites, words that roll on our tongues, are just fun to say, or that evoke particular images for us. Today, we revisit Word Play with version 2.0, where we take some of those words and invite them to party together. What will happen when these seemingly unrelated words with little to nothing in common are forced to interact? Will they spend their time in nothing more than small talk? Or will they delve into deeper conversation and reveal mysteries that will astound the world? It’s your turn to decide!

One of the most fascinating aspects of writing is the ability to manipulate words and language to convey your intended meaning. Words have so many meanings within their own definitions, and coupling them with others can produce something not entirely expected but altogether magical. There are a thousand ways to describe an object, person, or place, and so, too, are there thousands of stories just waiting to be plucked out of the imagination and put to paper. Sometimes all we need to create that initial spark of inspiration is a word (or three, or four, or five…).

Challenge: Choose five or more of the words below with their “strong personalities,” and throw them together into a “party” in your poetry or story. Use each of the words you choose at least once and experiment with having them interact with one another in unexpected ways:

nostalgia, burning, reticent, nonchalance, blue, serenity, quite, wrung, felicity, caramel, tempestuous, linoleum, pancake, kumquat, Ragnarok, bamboozled, bequeathed, nifty, disquiet, barnacle, Mesopotamia, irregularity, labyrinthian, slipstream, verisimilitude, zodiac, bow, carnage, wren, bamboo, unique, shadow, mirror, chaos, frequent, resuscitate, laughter, scattered, bubble, susurration, squiggle, design, issues, certainty, momentous, whispers, slumber, assonance…




What are some of your favorite words, the ones that are beautiful, or sad, or mysterious, or… whatever? What interesting ideas can you come up with to make these words dance in ordinary settings?

Typescript posts a new challenge each Wednesday to encourage creativity and inspire conversation. Feel free to talk about the challenge or share your writing results in the comments section below by leaving an excerpt and/or a link to your own site or blog.

The spark of inspiration can be found anywhere you choose to look. From a title of a song to a sketch found on a napkin, from an overheard conversation to a jumble of words, these stories are waiting to be discovered and told.

Who knew that a jumble of words could provide such inspiration? That such a combination could spark creativity, begin a story? A few months ago, I discovered well over 300 spam comments infiltrating my blog folder, containing strings of words that attempted to sell the latest dietary supplement with links to unknown sites. However, after skimming through these, I discovered that, upon a closer reading, there was really a sense of poetry in the combination of words, hidden inspiration in what seemed to be an incoherent passage.

What emerged was the Wednesday Writing Challenge: Word Play, where writers had a bit of fun and let their imaginations wander, sparking creativity, igniting something magical…

After a few rounds of this particular challenge, we’re back at it again. What inspiration will you find this time?

One of the most fascinating aspects of writing is the ability to manipulate words and language to convey your intended meaning. Words have so many meanings within their own definitions, and coupling them with others can produce something not entirely expected but altogether magical. There are a thousand ways to describe an object, person, or place, and so, too, are there thousands of stories just waiting to be plucked out of the imagination and put to paper. Sometimes all we need to create that initial spark of inspiration is a word (or three)…

Challenge: Use one of the following couplings of words to create a new story or poem
(Note: many of these have had minor alterations to make a little bit more sense):

Everybody knew

The lost multiply

Marry one was wrong

Signs say she choose

Withdraw the touched

Music note the dilemma

I was mistaken

Have ordered the wise

The glass audience

Liberation sails

Dead star was evident

Open sky blinked

Children breathed sighs

Pointing to your dignity

Breathing statue born

Before yesterday

Only songbirds saw

Never his world

Given the flames

Flowers understood

Others started walking

What interesting combinations of words can you add to the fold?

Every month, Typescript posts a new giveaway, with recipients chosen at random on the 15th of each month. Submit your name and email in the comments below and you’ll be automatically placed in the drawing. Please only submit once; if you’re chosen, you’ll be contacted for your shipping address.

If you have a book or product you’d like to see featured in a future giveaway, feel free to contact me.

Like Tania Hershman (Typescript’s March Giveaway), I had the pleasure of meeting Cynthia last November at a writer’s retreat in France. Her penchant for creativity amazed me, and I was in awe of the fact that she had been traveling and writing for close to a year. A writer, an artist, a creativity coach, but most importantly, a confidante and friend, Cynthia has been a source of motivation for my writing and my life. Celebrating ten years of creative coaching, the goal of her company, Original Impulse, is to “help you bring your original impulse to light.”

Whether you’re new to the craft and wondering how to get started or an old pro feeling the familiar pangs of writer’s block, Unleash Your Writing is a great source for writers at every stage of the writing game. Cynthia uses a five-element formula that helps you get started immediately, no matter what the subject matter, to help the words flow.

Know how to get started on a project, but having trouble finishing? Cross the Finish Line! will help you overcome those obstacles and guide you to completion.

Up for grabs are two ebooks: Unleash Your Writing and Cross the Finish Line! To learn more about both Cynthia, her business, and her incredible creative travels, check out Original Impulse and Journey Juju.

Also be sure to check out Cynthia’s Original Impulse Back to School Special (ends September 3) and get the tools you need to design your own writing curriculum!