Writing Exercise: The Reluctant Hour Prompt
Key Techniques to Practice
1. Discipline Through Constraint: Writing when you least want to requires developing internal discipline. This technique forces the writer to create momentum without external motivation.
2. Emotional Authenticity Under Resistance: When a writer is emotionally resistant—tired, distracted, overwhelmed—the rawness of that state can be mined to generate scenes with genuine emotional texture.
3. Scene Commitment vs. Abstraction: This exercise pressures the writer to stay inside a concrete scene rather than circling it through analysis, commentary, or vague recollection.
Writing Prompt (Timed: 500 words, 90 minutes writing / 30 minutes editing)
Begin with a character who is physically present somewhere they do not want to be: a waiting room, a family reunion, a courtroom, a night shift, a religious service. Set the scene in real time. The character cannot leave. No flashbacks. No inner monologue summaries. The character must interact—either through dialogue, gesture, silence, or resistance—with another person in the room. Let discomfort shape the scene. Use constraint (they can’t leave) to generate tension. You must write the entire scene in one sitting without stopping for prewriting or outlining.
Evaluation Criteria for Success
Strong response:
• The scene is grounded in time and place with clear sensory detail.
• The character’s resistance is dramatized through action, dialogue, or stillness rather than described.
• The emotional tone evolves through the scene, even subtly—discomfort leads to a shift (not necessarily resolution).
• The writing avoids abstraction; no “he hated being here” without showing how.
Weak response:
• The scene drifts into flashbacks, memories, or backstory to avoid present tension.
• The character’s discomfort is stated but not dramatized.
• The writing includes vague emotional language without physical or verbal cues.
• The piece ends without any modulation in tone or pressure.
Follow-Up Questions for Workshop or Revision
• What is the central discomfort in the scene, and how is it conveyed through action or image?
• Where did the character surprise you? Where did they do exactly what you expected?
• What shifts between the first and last paragraph—emotionally, tonally, structurally?
• Did the dialogue (or silence) reveal power dynamics, misunderstanding, or avoidance?
Recommended Reading
“The Dog of the Marriage” by Amy Hempel
Hempel’s story stays rooted in present discomfort—emotional dislocation under domestic routine—using compression, gesture, and withheld backstory to generate pressure. She writes scenes with high internal resistance that still unfold naturally on the page. Pay attention to how she lets the narrator’s unease animate every line of interaction without ever explicitly stating it.
Concrete Examples
Strong:
A father and son sit in a funeral home’s lobby. The son keeps checking his phone. The father keeps trying to speak, but the son offers only one-word answers. At one point, the son accidentally plays a loud video. The father says nothing. Then: “She hated noise,” the father says. The son pockets the phone and finally looks up.
Weak:
A character sits in a doctor’s office thinking about how much he hates waiting rooms. He remembers the last time he was here and how he felt. He hopes it won’t take long. The receptionist calls his name. He leaves. No dialogue, no development, no stakes.
AI Disclosure Statement:
This writing prompt was created in collaboration with ChatGPT, an AI model by OpenAI, to support creative practice. ChatGPT assisted with idea generation and drafting; the final text was edited by the author. The illustration was created using Google Gemini.
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