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Writing prompts for rage!

I was teaching a class yesterday, filled with very lovely, calm people all of whom are polite and very sweet. We were doing a workshop on writing about feelings, jealousy in particular, and everyone had so many brilliant ideas about how a character might behave when seething with jealously. I loved the energy and vitriol! And the imagination.

It's so much fun writing about angry, badly behaved characters. Much more fun than being angry and badly behaved in real life. I think it's liberating, too, allowing yourself these peeks behind the curtain of good behaviour. How might it feel to be furious instead of mildly taking knocks on the chin?

I hope you have fun with these angry writing prompts.

1. Gerald has just discovered his ex-wife Nancy is dating his nemesis and erstwhile boss Michael. Livid, Gerald interrupts them when they are on adjacent tables in a fancy restaurant, a restaurant that Nancy always said she loathed.

   What does Gerald do when he's at peak fury?

   
   

2. Natasha is at an art exhibition for her friend, Libby. As she's walking around she realises that Libby has copied lots of Natasha's own art works and passed the ideas off as her own. Natasha is immediately incensed.

   What does Natasha do when she's at boiling point?

   
   

3. Lottie (17) has just discovered that her twin sister Eve is going on a school trip to Rome for doing well in her exams. Lottie has been grounded for cheating in these exams and seeing Eve excited about the Rome trip tips Lottie over the edge.

   What does Lottie do when she's seeing red?

   
   

4. Lydia is a very busy women with three lazy grown up children living at home. After a very stressful day at work, she's looking forward to a glass of wine and a pizza on the sofa but when she gets in, she finds that her wine has been drunk, her pizza has been eaten and her house is filled with her children's friends. When one of her children asks her to go out for the evening as they'd like the house to themselves, Lydia explodes.

   What does she do to get everyone to leave her house?

   
   

5. Now, go back over each exercise and see if you can take these characters' rages up several notches. Could they behave a little bit worse? If so, go for it!