Denise E Lindquist
Bio
I am married with 7 children, 28 grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am a culture consultant part-time. I write A Poem a Day in February for 8 years now. I wrote 4 - 50,000 word stories in NaNoWriMo. I write on Vocal/Medium daily.
Stories (1258)
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Not Funny At The Time
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise — Write about something that happened to you that didn't seem at all funny at the time, for example, being stuck in a traffic jam and having a bee fly in through the car window or the time your tenant set your stove on fire and the firemen wrenched it from the wall and tossed it into the backyard. Bring the incident under the humor spotlight and transform it so as to emphasize things that will make your reader smile or laugh.Pacing is important, as are crucial details, and your own confidence that the story does not need analysis or authorial nudging. The last thing you want to do is tell the reader that you're about to lay a funny story on him. Limit: 550 words. The Objective - Because humor resides largely in what attitude you assume toward your material, you must be able to discover and exploit those elements that highlight the comic, the exaggerated, and the unlikely. Keep in mind that you could just as easily take the bee story and make it tragic (bee bites driver, driver crashes into another car, killing infant in back seat).
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Georgia And The Black Sea
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter - What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise - Choose a country where you have always longed to go but haven't yet been and set a story there. Read old and new Fodor's guides as well as other recent travel guides and National Geographic; buy a map; study the country's politics, religion, government, and social issues; read cookbooks - always, always looking for the persuasive detail, something you would almost have to be there to know. The Objective - To write with authority and conviction about a place you have never been to.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
My Pet Hilda
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter - What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise - Write a composition on the subject "My Pet." The only requirement is that this must be a pet you have never owned. It can be anything from a kitten to a dinosaur, from a fly to a dragon. Describe what your pet looks like, how you acquired it, what it eats and where it sleeps, what tricks it can do and how it gets on with your family, friends, neighbors,or the people at the work. The Objective - To expand your conception of characters and relationships.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Fear, Anger, Pleasure
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Write three short paragraphs, the first "fear," the second "anger," and the last "pleasure" without using these words. Try to render these emotions by describing, physical sensations or emotions. Try to make your language precise and fresh. The Objective - To learn to render emotional states without a falling back on tired and imprecise language.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Fiction Prompt About A Sex Scene. Content Warning.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — With this caution and exhortation in mind, write a sex scene for a story in which you know your fictional characters well. The Objective - To gain access to this rich material indirectly so that this universal experience can feel singular, as though coming to be for the first time in history.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
Winter Was Storytime Growing Up As A Child . Honorable Mention in The Ritual of Winter Challenge. Top Story - December 2025.
While growing up in my family, there were lots and lots of stories. Stories from children's books were read, mostly at bedtime, and there were stories told year-round. Stories that weren't written. Stories that were very old and taught a lesson or told of why things are the way they are.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Humans
Date Day And Night
We have some fun local events that we have only recently started attending, because of our now regular date night. We went to see Georgette Jones, and she was great. She sang like her mother and sang songs by both her mother and father.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Longevity
One Character In A Fiction Story
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Write a story whose forward movement is propelled by: a character's belief in something: a tale such as in Alice Hoffman's White Horses, a religion, astrology, the I Ching, a friend's lie, or winning the lottery Allow something imagined to fire your character's imagination and provide the fuel to cause that character to act and move the story toward some conclusion. The Objective - To respect the minds and imaginations of your characters. To see how a character's imagination can transcend the confines of a limited point of view - as in Hotel New Hampshire and Zuckerman Unbound. To allow characters to experience the full range of thought of which we all are capable.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
My Reiki Story
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise — Write one sentence for a story that is in its fourth or fifth draft. Then revise the story to heighten and illuminate this final meaning. The Objective - To make you aware of how you come to final meaning slowly, slowly, as you revise a story. To bring you through this process to what you intend the story to mean and what you want to convey to the reader. And finally, to make everything in the story accrue to this final meaning.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Writers
