10 Experiential Writing Prompts

10 Experiential Writing Prompts 10 Experiential Writing Prompts 10 Experiential Writing Prompts By Mark Nichol Write about what you know that’s one of the fundamental nuggets of wisdom for writers. â€Å"But I don’t know anything worth writing about!† you protest. You don’t? Anything is worth writing about if the writer finds something engaging about the subject. Try these writing exercises based on firsthand observation: 1. Read the titles of books you own or those at the library or a bookstore. Create a story based on one or more titles or words therein. 2. Watch an unfamiliar TV show or movie with the volume turned down and invent a story based on the setting and/or the characters. 3. Look up names in a baby book or on a baby-names website. (Yes, of course there are baby-name websites.) Create characters based on interesting names you find there, and build a story around them. 4. Research historical figures on Wikipedia or in some other reference resource. Write about a fictional episode in their life perhaps a chance meeting with another famous person (before or after they became famous) or assign some invented secret to their life and write about it. 5. Randomly look up words in a dictionary, or in any book or other publication. (Randomly select them by closing your eyes and lowering your fingertip to a page.) Create a situation or a plot around any combination of words you find (not necessarily all of them). 6. Study a painting or a photograph and write a story about the subject, whether it’s a person, a place, or a thing, or a combination of two or all three. 7. Cut words and/or pictures out of magazines, and arrange them in linear sequences or in groups or webs of relationships until you can articulate a through line of thought. Make that thought the first line of an article, poem, or story. 8. Visit a historical location a building, a site, a city and write a factual account of its history or create a story in which it features, or one inspired by it. Or do the same for any structure or location, even if it’s brand new. 9. Go to a public place and watch people (without, of course, making yourself obvious). Create backstories based on their appearance, their habits, and their communication styles. 10. Visit a zoo or an aquarium, or even a pet store or a dog run at a park, and study the animals. Develop human characters based on their characteristics and interactions, and write about these people you’ve created. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point ArcDriver License vs. Driver’s LicenseEach vs. Both

My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essays

My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essays My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essay My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essay In the beginning, I dreaded the fact of having to take a philosophy class. It all seemed preposterous to me. Then the final essay topic reflected several emotional responses in the beginning of the class. The Afterlife was only known to this student by means of religious teachings and not researched to the extent of whether or not the Afterlife matters in reference to how we live. How do we live if this unknown place actually exists? Initial readings in chapter assignments opened this student’s eye to a perspective on life that would not usually come up as a topic of discussion. Whether or not there is a God or one ultimate mover is something to struggle with as this student moved further into learning philosophy and its communicators. I have found that there really is not a straightforward answer on discovery or facts of the topic I chose. I found myself learning about philosophers like the great Aristotle. His teachings brought on the questions on everything that existed, the knowledge to find out what it means to be. I have tried to grasp his concepts and reflect this in my final paper. His sense of existence is relevant to me and how I will answer my topic’s questions. Moving further into the weeks I noticed that my thoughts on life changed. I no longer took many things for granted and saw my own life siting in the middle of materialism. This needed to change, the philosophical questions I now asked myself became complex. An example is one question in particular. How do I exist without the everyday â€Å"stuff† I think I need. I have found that existence is not physical but indeed a mental status with a physical body. Studying this helped me decide how to proceed with the research on the way I look at things and the Afterlife. How did others perceive it, this is my question to answer. I found that most of the philosophers I did not agree with but Descartes was not one of those. I still view him the same as I did weeks ago. I am a skeptic to say the least. I question all there is and look for solid proof. For me to write a paper on an unknown object or assumption of a place is challenging for me but have taken the task and hopefully will state matters and not just mere beliefs. Some of my philosophy is drawn to those Eastern influences we discussed but did not know my similarities until reading our chapters on the differences between Eastern and Western. I feel that I am a very spiritual person and hold life and its existence to a higher deity. I pray, I live, I die with honor that I have done all I can to better the lives of those around me. This will move me to a higher place when I die as some of the eastern philosophers believed. In conclusion, I wish to say that this class has taught me how to sit back and look around, question what I do not see and insist on proof of what I do see. I hope that my understanding of philosophy and what I got from taking this class stays with me and the truth will provide proof that the Afterlife is a guide for living. For truth is what we all seek, no matter how we get there and no matter where we end up.

Minimalism movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Minimalism movement - Essay Example Christian Zeal and Activity is another musical piece composed by the American composer John Adams in 1973. This piece has also received critical acclaim for advancing the movement of minimalism in music. It is one of the earliest and simplest minimalist compositions of Adams. The original 1973 composition is based on an unencumbered instrumental arrangement of a Christian hymn and an on-air conversation between a host and a listener. This piece is recognized for its fragmented nature, a steady pulse, repetitive rhythmic phrases, and harmonic stability. Christian Zeal is a very good example of Adams’ exploration into the application of minimalistic technique. Here, he combines a hymn based on rich and harmonized chords with a â€Å"tape of repeated phrases of a sermon on the power of faith healing† . Instead of deconstructing the verbiage like other minimalist composers like Reich, Adams relies on repetition of musical phrases. Finding himself trapped between modernism a nd tradition, he found relief in minimalism of which Christian Zeal is a very interesting example. Impressed by the minimalist avant-garde, he recognizes minimalism in this musical piece by using simple elements to create â€Å"a steady background pulse, repetitive motifs and stable harmonic areas† . In Adams’ own words, the harmonies in Christian Zeal are meant to create a hypnotic effect to make the listeners â€Å"float in a kind of dream polyphony. This piece takes a turn from conventional minimalist approach used by other famous composers like Reich.

Managing Business in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Business in Europe - Essay Example Though, there are lot of prominent automobile manufacturers in Europe, majority of the production of automobiles required for the European market is outsourced. The prominent automobile manufacturers in Europe are DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen (VW), BMW, Ford Europe, General Motors (GM) Europe, Renault, PSA (Peugeot-Citro'n), Fiat and Porsche etc. "The EU is the largest automotive production region in the world and the industry comprises 6.5 % of the manufacturing sector in the Union. Direct employment by the automotive industry stands at about 2.2 million employees, while the total employment effect (direct and indirect) is estimated to be about 12 million" (THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR, 2009). This report analyses; Influence of EU's policies on Automotive Industry; Influence of Single European Market or EMU on Automotive Industry; Opportunities and threats for Automotive Industry associated with the enlargement of the European Union; Automotive Industry strategies for Europe etc. The increasingly international setting of business makes it harder and harder to establish the boundaries of a national economy or even to separate the European economy from its global context (Wallace &Young, 1997, p.3) Globalization and liberalization policies have revolutionized the who world and the business strategies were redefined in order to meet the demands of a global world by many of the organizations. Separate co-operative sectors are working in most of the parts of the world in order to exploit the possibilities opened by globalization. EU is one of such co-operation aimed at the integration of the whole European region for the collective growth. The current focus of the EU institutions is on making the EU one of the most competitive markets in the world by 2010 and ensuring stable economic growth. Efforts to this end include investment in human capital, improvements in physical infrastructure and enhancement of available network in the transportation, telecommunications and energy sectors. To counter sluggish economic conditions compounded by uncertainties due to geopolitical tensions and international terrorism, the European Commission has endorsed economic growth initiatives including European Action for Growth (Country Industry Forecast - European Union Automotive Industry, 2004) EU has implemented lot of strategies in order to encourage the automotive industries in the European region and to make the region, the world's highest automobile manufacturing region. At present the Asia-Pacific region holds this position and the EU has taken every possible measure to capture the first position. Environmental legislation and recycling legislation are some of the strategies adopted by EU in order to raise the standards of automobile manufacturing in this area. "The EU emissions standards are compulsory in all EU Member States. The

Intergenerational Family Violence Essay Example for Free

Intergenerational Family Violence Essay The family violence has taken a new toll in the current times. The family violence has become very common indeed and the number of offenders in these crimes has increased far beyond the reach. The cases originate on daily basis and the statistics show that most of the times victims are females who are physically and mental abused in different ways. In these scenarios it has been observed that these events cause much more damage to the children who watch these events often. The child abuse on the other hand has also become debatable as the cases increase. The intergenerational family violence might not have been studied before but it has always been available to study whenever there is an event of family violence. The human nature is based on social learning theory. It is the human tendency to watch the behaviors and then try to implement in their personalities (Murrell et al, 2007). Behaviorists have put forward the theory that the social learning theory is applicable only when if it triggers a change in the behavior of the observer whereas the theorists say that the learning process is an ever going process and it is not incomplete if it doesn’t cause any change in the behavior (Kernsmith, 2006). Whatever the theorists and behaviorists state about the social learning theory, it is evident that the observations of these events cause damage to the future lives of those who watch these family violence events. Postmodern thinking supports these claims, stating that individuals â€Å"create the social reality for their behavior according to how they interpret norms in particular milieus† (Markward, 1997). Child abuse has different effects on the victims. Some children after these events become reserve and some become violent. Even also watching the abusing of their mothers in front of them creates a negative notion in their minds about the realities of life (Pollak, 2004). This is the learning process as described by the theorists. The observations made by child make a deep impact on the mind intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes the action doesn’t come right after the observation. It is dependent about the mental strength of the individual on how much extreme extent he has to formalize his mind towards these events. But surely the mind is working as the interpretation process continues from time to time (Kernsmith, 2006). In order to cause change the mind works in such a way to determine how much impact such event has made. For example, continuous abusing observations might make the child to become violent at times, even if he is not violent the aggregation of emotions might be taking place in his mind which makes him to get reserved to the situations from time to time. A time comes when the mentality of the child becomes harnessed by the violent activities and he also starts to become violent at times (Corvo, 2006). Thus the change has been triggered in the behavior of the child after looking at these abusing events continuously. This makes the situation awful not only for the child because by this way they cause different violent activities and the victims may increase in numbers depending upon the strength of activities (Pollak, 2004). The violent psychology taken forward by the children has been creating lot of issues. The US population is filled with those who have tensions grown up in their households due to different financial and emotionally problems (Kernsmith, 2006). These usually end up fighting and one of them getting beaten. The children also come down in the impact of these fighting resulting in long term future damage to their lives. The behaviorists say that the children have a tendency to attract to those thing quickly which make a deep impact on their mind and heart. They are emotionally immature at early stages and an action like abusing them or their parents can increase their interest towards these activities (Murrell et al, 2007). It has also been observed that the continuous family violence has been exhibited by those who have gone through this violence before in their lives when they were young (Corvo, 2006). Thus an event like this happening in their early lives provides them the luxury to be like them in the future as they commit family violence by abusing their children and their spouses. Many researchers have observed a relation between the events happening in an early age of a young one when he experienced violence and those offences which he committed when he was adult. This phenomenon is now known as intergenerational transmission of violence and aggression. Researchers believe that the pattern of social learning theory makes its mark by providing the model to the child as he also sees the positive results due to this violence (Kernsmith, 2006). Most often the result of abusing her mother by her father results in the victory of the father due to his aggressive attitude and then therefore inherits these positive results to implement them in his behavior. Learning theories, such as socialization, social learning, and elements of feminist theory, asserts that behaviors are learned throughout our lives through our interactions with others. This is how the socialization then gets affected by the family violence as it is then exhibited outside the homes (Corvo, 2006). The social learning theory is based on the study of behaviors. With change in behaviors the extremism of these violent acts can be configured by the child as he observes all these events. When we critically evaluate the works of the researchers we come to know that there theories are practical and are very close to reality. That is, formally it was believed that the social learning theory doesn’t have any impact on the child’s behaviors and how he interprets different things and scenarios differently. These theories are nevertheless were thought to be just taught in the classrooms without any practical implementations to be viewed. But certain examples with results have provided the evidence that each and every action is based on some behavior and behavioral change in the children. Alan Sears has been the follower of the social learning theory and he stated the change to be inevitable in each case. It, however, depends upon the current and future scenarios when the person feels the extreme need to behave in a particular order. According to Hume Lock’s theory of empiricism the child mind is a blank slate after he is born. He just starts to observe things when his mind becomes little bit old. But still the child doesn’t have any ability to differentiate between the things quickly. He first acknowledges difference between things and then tries to remember them. The object of family violence plays its part when the child starts to learn these behaviors and try to compare them with others in contexts of their results. This learning process binds these actions in his mind and produce intimidation. The intimidation is considered as the urge of something to do. This urge is the force that drives the child to implement those actions which he had learnt over time and time. Now when this intimidation gets extreme, the action follows (Pollak, 2004). The strength of the action will be less at first but the result might be satisfying for him thus providing him the strength to commit this again. These continuous steps will make the child habitual of these things and the interpretation of things and difference between good and bad become ineligible in the mental stature of the child. The intimidation process is then followed by reinforcement. The reinforcement is the final phase of the social learning theory where the mind of the person has become mature enough to stand by his rules and principles and actions which he first observed and then followed over the course of his. The string of these events has made the mind to do violent as a good act and the maturity of the man accepts these actions as inevitable to bring about a change in others as well. In order to clearly view the reasons of these violent activities we have to go through a number of research steps through the prison record checks and the information provided by various NGOs. This information depicts the facts that the family violence is caused by difference in mental statures of the two who are involved. The gender differences, the act of domination by male on his spouse, the financial and emotionally tensions and the mentality of the person of his childhood when he would have experienced such event and would have thought that it will be better off to get aggressive and make people agree by force rather than negotiations, thus providing a lot easier battleground to them to conquer (Pollak, 2004). The intergenerational transmission of family violence has made the problems to arise in whole of the America. There are very common cases of these events taking place on common basis. People get hurt physically without any reasons and the innocent children who grow up by being abused or watching get people abused try to implement these behaviors afterwards. In order to remove these kinds of violent activities it is imperative that the laws should be made more severe for those who are adult and also they have to provide a facility where they can control their aggression and should be treated for the change in behaviors. The children which have been affected by these events should be taken in for great care as to change their pattern of thinking process which could benefit them in their future lives. References Murrell, Amy R. Christoff, Karen A. Henning, Kris R. (2007). Characteristics of Domestic Violence Offenders: Associations with Childhood Exposure to Violence. Springer Science + Business Media. Corvo, Kenneth. (2006). Violence, Separation, and Loss in the Families of Origin of Domestically Violent Men. Kernsmith, Poco. (2006). Gender Differences in the Impact of Family of Origin Violence on Perpetrators of Domestic Violence. Pollak, Robert A. (2004). An Intergenerational Model of Violence. Springer Verlag.

It Takes a Thief :: Short Stories Stealing Burglary Essays

It Takes a Thief The thief moved slowly through the long stone hallway, not making a sound. He virtually clung to the grey walls, just another shadow in the dark. He paused for a moment, stretching every inch of his six foot frame, eyes and ears straining in the blackness. There it was again, the sound of sandaled feet echoing through the hall. Dropping down and touching the floor, he felt vibrations reverberating through the stone. And they were coming closer! He swore softly, and looked around quickly. Spotting a door, he hurriedly said a prayer to whatever god was willing to listen, and he stepped through it. He noted that he was in a large, empty candlelit room, but that was all he looked at for a moment. Breathing a sigh of relief, he wiped his brow and pushed back his shoulder length black hair, revealing a large, pointed ear. "You're getting to old for this Thronn," he whispered in the silence. Two hundred years. He was two hundred years old. That was really nothing but a pinch of salt in the life of an elf, but the constant pressures of his profession was starting to wear on him. Being a thief added a lot of stress to one's life. This job especially. Usually, he came out ahead, but not this time. His mouth quirked up in a cynical grin at the though of the mere two hundred gold that he was getting for this job. Raiding the castle of Lord Paraxel was not his idea of sane, not even his idea of insanity. But, he had needed the money at the time. He shook his head angrily and looked up. A lapse like that could easily cost him. Finally, his head clear, he scanned the room. It was bigger than he had originally thought and, he smiled, it was the very room he was looking for: the armory. Cabinets were in numerous places along the floor, and numerous weapons were hanging along the walls. Reaching into his belt pouch, he drew out a scroll that his employer had given him. He'd been told that when he was finished reading it, the weapon that glowed would be the one to take. He looked at the scroll with revulsion. He never had liked magic very much, even though he'd always had a way with it. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist, a dagger appeared in his right hand. It Takes a Thief :: Short Stories Stealing Burglary Essays It Takes a Thief The thief moved slowly through the long stone hallway, not making a sound. He virtually clung to the grey walls, just another shadow in the dark. He paused for a moment, stretching every inch of his six foot frame, eyes and ears straining in the blackness. There it was again, the sound of sandaled feet echoing through the hall. Dropping down and touching the floor, he felt vibrations reverberating through the stone. And they were coming closer! He swore softly, and looked around quickly. Spotting a door, he hurriedly said a prayer to whatever god was willing to listen, and he stepped through it. He noted that he was in a large, empty candlelit room, but that was all he looked at for a moment. Breathing a sigh of relief, he wiped his brow and pushed back his shoulder length black hair, revealing a large, pointed ear. "You're getting to old for this Thronn," he whispered in the silence. Two hundred years. He was two hundred years old. That was really nothing but a pinch of salt in the life of an elf, but the constant pressures of his profession was starting to wear on him. Being a thief added a lot of stress to one's life. This job especially. Usually, he came out ahead, but not this time. His mouth quirked up in a cynical grin at the though of the mere two hundred gold that he was getting for this job. Raiding the castle of Lord Paraxel was not his idea of sane, not even his idea of insanity. But, he had needed the money at the time. He shook his head angrily and looked up. A lapse like that could easily cost him. Finally, his head clear, he scanned the room. It was bigger than he had originally thought and, he smiled, it was the very room he was looking for: the armory. Cabinets were in numerous places along the floor, and numerous weapons were hanging along the walls. Reaching into his belt pouch, he drew out a scroll that his employer had given him. He'd been told that when he was finished reading it, the weapon that glowed would be the one to take. He looked at the scroll with revulsion. He never had liked magic very much, even though he'd always had a way with it. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist, a dagger appeared in his right hand.

Jewish Feminism

Jewish feminism has had a significant impact on the development and expression of Judaism. They have faced many obstacles and brought about much change in the Jewish tradition. Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal and social role and contribution of women within Judaism. Feminism can be traced back to the early 1970s where women began to question their roles amongst society. For Jewish women, they wanted to focus on the composition of the minyan, the exemption from some mitzvot, exclusion of women as witnesses of Jewish law and the position of women in relation to divorce proceedings. Each variant has responded differently to feminism and the level of impact as differed amongst Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews. Judaism is known for being more patriarchal than many other organised religions. This has made it difficult for Jewish feminists to bring about equity and tzedakah. Jewish feminists have one main agenda and that is to challenge and fight sexism within Judaism. They see their work as part of their duty to tikkun olam and believe their actions bring tzedakah to their faith community. Jewish feminism created much controversy as many men thought that it would have a weakening effect on Jewish life, however many would argue that it has been strengthened. The Orthodox Jewish communities found the impact of Jewish feminism to be a significant issue for their interpretation of the halakah and how their religion is to be expressed. They seeked change in a manner that can be defended by Jewish law and always worked within the framework of traditional worship. However, amongst the Reform and Conservative Jews, their attitudes have been much greater. Reform Jews have accepted that a woman can perform any religious ritual that a man does. They were the first group to do away with the mehiztah, that separated men from woman in the synagogue, they felt the customs and practices should be more in keeping with modern society. This had a significant impact as it led to the change in service and synagogue, and the service was rewritten in English from Hebrew. Jewish Feminism called upon all variants of Judaism to reconsider its response to the mitzvot and other elements of the halakah. Jewish feminists challenged Judaism in areas such as the patriarchal interpretation of sacred texts, role of women in rituals, role of women in leadership eg: Rabbi and the general rights of women. In 1972, ten New York Jewish feminists calling themselves Ezrat Nashim presented a document, â€Å"Call For Change†, to the Conservative movements Rabbinical Assembly. This â€Å"Call for Change† demanded that women be considered to perform all mitzvot, allowed full participation in religious observances, be counted in the minyan, have equal rights in marriage and initiate divorce. Judaism was changed by this document in 1977 when Conservative Judaism introduced feminist rituals. Until the 1950s Jewish women traditionally took a back seat in communal worship. The synagogue was divided with a mehitzah as they felt that men could not concentrate and keep their thoughts purely on prayer and their individual connection with God. Jewish feminism's impact on this issue was significant as they changed the physical direction of the mehitzah in the synagogue so women could see the front and yet the men were still separated from them. This change of the direction symbolises the change of views. Jewish feminism had a strong impact on the religious observances, laws and services. The role of women amongst society was changed in 1973 when the first female Rabbi, Sally Priesland, was ordained. There were many objections to the allowance of female Rabbis and numerous questions were raised such as their abilty to raise families and cope with the religious demands and if they were able to interpret the Scriptures correctly. However, non feminists were able to see that these women brought intuitive perspectives that positively questioned the base of the Jewish beliefs. Therefore the extent of change in response to Jewish feminism varies across the differing expressions of Judaism. It has brought new and fresh perspectives to the nature of worship services. Women will continue to demand and receive equality in both the secular and religious worlds. Jewish feminism has brought to each of the variants a closer relationship and a stronger response to the call tikkun olam.