Arnzen's "Instigation": Creative Prompts on the Dark Side

New ebook for writers: $3.99

Michael Arnzen's latest book for writers, Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side is a treasury of over 500 twisted tips, strange scenarios and disturbing sparks to help ignite the fuel in your creative furnace. Its aim? To push you into the danger zone of your imagination, by thinking in unconventional ways and trying things you never thought — or dared — to try before in your writing, art, or dreams.

Writers, especially, will benefit from this book of “story starters” that can shatter writer’s block and possess your fingers with an impish creative spirit. Arnzen’s Instigation — filled with unique prompts drawn directly from his fiction workshops at Seton Hill University, his columns from Hellnotes and his Bram Stoker Award-winning newsletter, The Goreletter — has already helped hundreds of horror writers, dark “creatives” and unconventional artists…many of whom have not only crafted original material, but published it as a result of responding to these twisted prompts.

Contents include: Prompts: 365 Sick Scenarios | Spurs: 31 Turns for the Worse | Resurrections: 13 Radical Revisions | Memoir Mayhem: 151 Prompts for Journaling | The Devil Made You Do It Yourself: 6 DIY Exercises | Essays on Writing on the Dark Side: “In the Mood: Getting Ready to Write”; “Binge Writing and NaNoWriMo”; “Discovering Your Hidden Intentions”; “Question-Storming”; “Making Modern Monsters”; “What Corrupted Me”; “The Five Laws of Arnzen” | Tips For Further Instigaton | Apps, Websites, Related Readings, and Writing Communities

See the catalog page for more information on this dangerously helpful ebook. Or visit scribd.com for a meaty 30 page preview, with a heaping supply of prompts and an article on "Binge Writing and NaNoWriMo" excerpted from the book.

Just $3.99! Now available direct from Mastication Publications, or on the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook.

 Writers inspired by Instigation are inspired to share and promote their work on the Instigation Showcase.

MGOC Contributor: Victoria Thompson

VICTORIA THOMPSON

EXCERPT from "Ruining Everything: Tips for Plotting a Mystery" by Victoria Thompson in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Plotting your first mystery can seem like an overwhelming prospect. Keeping suspects and clues and red herrings straight is like juggling squirrels. Here is a strategy to help you get all your suspects and clues to line up neatly and perform for you. It won’t give you a great idea, but it will help you turn that great idea into a viable mystery.

First thing you need to do is create your “Mystery Eternal Triangle,” which is different from the romantic one. This triangle consists of the victim, the killer and the sleuth. You can start with any of them, but for this exercise, let’s start with the victim.

--

Victoria Thompson writes the Edgar-nominated Gaslight Mystery Series, set in turn-of-the-century New York City and featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and detective Frank Malloy. Her latest book in the series is Murder on Lexington Avenue. She is also the author of 20 historical romances. A popular speaker, Victoria has taught at Penn State University and currently teaches in the Seton Hill University master’s program in writing popular fiction. She is online at http://victoriathompson.com.