Seven Sparks: Another Week's Worth of Writing Prompts

By Courtney Dekanich, English major at Silver Lake College and editor of The Novice

November has arrived, and as the leaves continue to fall, a faint hint of winter’s chill can already be felt in the air. Leaves and snowflakes, pumpkin and peppermint – they all share the days as winter draws closer and the countdown to the holidays begins. This approaching changing of the seasons, this time of ever growing happiness, thankfulness, and cheer, often serves as sources of inspiration for writers and artists, all those who seek to create.

If you’re having a bit of trouble getting started, here are a few more prompts from the staff of The Novice that could help you through another week. Take a look at the prompts, see what they inspire you to create, and send your work to thenovice.slc@gmail.com. If you send in your work, your submissions will be considered for publication in the upcoming edition of The Novice, Silver Lake College’s own literary and art publication.

Happy writing!

1. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, write about the thing in life which you are most thankful for.

2. Write about the most terrible Thanksgiving dinner disaster you can possibly imagine.

3. If you were asked to make a float for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, what would it be?

4. You have won an all-expenses paid trip to the location of your choosing, and it lasts for the entire winter season. Where are you going (and why), and what will you do there?

5. The Christmas season often makes people nostalgic about their childhood; what was the best part of the Christmas season as a child? What do you miss most?

6. Write a letter of protest against the one holiday movie or television special you cannot bear to watch again.

7. This Christmas, the last tree left on the lot looks a lot like the one from the Charlie Brown Christmas special – and it’s all yours. How do you decorate it to make it look nice?

The Novice: A Silver Lake Reflection

By Courtney Dekanich, junior English major at Silver Lake College

Another year at Silver Lake means another edition of The Novice! Formerly Silver Reflections, The Novice is Silver Lake’s own literary magazine, a celebration of the Silver Lake community’s original writing and artwork. For any writers interested in submitting work, send us your poetry and prose! For any artists interested, send us your photography or photographs of your sketches, paintings, or sculptures.

How does one go about submitting their work?

All you have to do is email your submission to thenovice.slc@gmail.com.

We’ll be accepting submissions until January 17, 2015.

After all selections have been made for the spring publication, recognition will be awarded for best poetry, prose, and visual art. All submissions will also be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card.

While every edition of our campus literary magazine has been special, unique, this year’s is something of a milestone – this spring’s publication will be its 50^th edition!

I’ve had the privilege of being a part of The Novice over the past few years, helping to go through the many submissions of writing and artwork that we receive each year, helping to make the difficult decision of which pieces are included in each final publication. In working on The Novice, I have come to realize that it’s so much more than just a literary magazine.

Our campus literary magazine has always been a reflection – as its previous title suggested – of the Silver Lake community, and recent years have proven no exception. The past few years have been times of great change for Silver Lake. We’ve gotten a new college president, seen the construction of a new music building. Even now, construction is underway on our new campus store and, of course, the much awaited Starbucks venue.

And, true to form, Silver Reflections has evolved to reflect these changes. Just last year, we took suggestions for a new name, finally settling on The Novice, revealing the new title at a reading at last year’s Spring Symposium.

For going on fifty years, The Novice has been a commemoration of this change through the talent and creativity of the members of this community. It can continue to do so as long as you, the readers, writers, and artists of the Silver Lake College community, keep on sending us your work.

Courtney Dekanich is a junior English major at Silver Lake College. She is the managing editor of The Novice, SLC's literary and visual arts journal.