Writing and the Best Laid Plans

Ever wonder what might happen should your best-laid pans go awry? Here’s a great little exercise to play around with.

Write Over the Hump

You are on a 40 foot motorboat in the harbor, getting ready to celebrate a friend’s or relative’s birthday with a cruise along the coast. The boat heads straight out into the ocean. When you break into the bridge, there is no one at the helm, and none of the controls work. Write about what happens for 10 minutes, starting now.

What happened out there on the ocean?

(Context of last week’s overheard snippet: I was at a marina, and they were discussing shutting down the engine of a large boat. I had to stop and make sure it wasn’t really what the snippet sounded like. It wasn’t, much to my relief.)

About Susan Tuttle

Susan Tuttle is a professional freelance editor, writing instructor and multi-award winning author of 21 books—6 nonfiction on writing (Write It Right), 6 suspense novels and 7 collections of award-winning short stories. She also has stories in both volumes of "Deadlines", the new anthology from the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime (SinC), Tales from a Rocky Coast, and the SLO NightWriter anthology. Under the pen name Susan Grace O'Neill, she is the author of the Journey With Jesus series: Lord, Let Me Grow (Parables) vol. 1, and Lord, Let Me Walk (Lent). She is currently working on volume #2 of her Skylark P.I. series (a PI with paranormal abilities), as well as 2 YA fantasy series. And she teaches fiction writing in both the morning and afternoon every Wednesday. Email her if you're interested in joining her class. And follow her on Twitter and FaceBook.