Fi Phillips

Image courtesy of Comfreak on pixabay.com The purpose of this month's writing exercise is to become more familiar with your protagonist and antagonist. Here goes. If your protagonist and antagonist were in each other's shoes, how would they act differently? Would they act differently? What does this tell you about each of these characters? Let's look at an example - how about Harry Potter and Voldemort? If Voldemort/Tom Riddle had been orphaned and brought up by cruel relatives, would he had become a well-loved friend, hero and inspiration to others? If Harry had experienced Voldemort/Tom Riddle's upbringing, would he have followed a power-hungry path of evil? Are your character's actions based on their upbringing and background, or do they have the choice to carve their own paths? What would they do if they swapped lives?

This month I have a writing prompt for you, or rather two writing prompts. Use either or both, it's up to you. Here they are. and Images courtesy of: Tim Foster on Unsplash sharonshuping0 on Pixabay

This month's writing exercise is intended to set your creative cogs whirring. You're at home on your own. It's dusk and you're settling down with a hot drink. As far as you're concerned you won't be going out and you certainly aren't expecting a visitor. There's a knock on your front door, a quiet, hesitant knock. You put down your drink and stand up. There's a second knock, this time heavy and insistent - knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. When you get to the door, you put the chain on and gingerly open it. There's nobody there but as you look down, you see a cardboard box has been left on your doorstep. You take off the chain, cautiously open the door and peer out. There's nobody around. You step outside and examine the box. It's sealed but there's no address, label or writing on it. What do you do? Do you open it on your doorstep? Do you carry it inside? Do you ignore it and  close the door? If you do open...

The first writing exercise of 2017 from me and it's August already. How did that happen? This month's writing exercise is about summer, or rather what summer means to you. For me, the summer is largely taken up with the school summer break - 6 or 7 weeks when my teens are away from school and my work has to take a sideways shunt to accommodate day trips and refereeing arguments. I also have to feed them but since we bought a new sandwich toaster, they're sorting their own lunches out by experimenting with hot sandwich fillings. Ingredients to date have included ham, bacon, cheese, bananas, peanut butter, chocolate and jam. I'll let you guess at what combinations they've concocted so far. So, back to the writing exercise. Summer. What does it mean to you? Does it even register in your busy life other than a change of wardrobe? Do you like summer skies or do you prefer the winter winds? Write a piece about summer from someone else's perspective: A si...