Writing prompts can be canned starts to writing, but they can also be invaluable if you have writer's block. You can take a writing prompt and get hundreds of different story ideas - depending on your mood, your personal experiences, and how you connect with the idea at the moment that you read it. You can recycle the same writing prompt over and over again, writing from different points of view, different settings, and different situations, and then you could give the writing prompt to a classroom full of 9th graders and get another 40 stories that you didn't even dream of when you were writing from the same prompt.
If you have a goal to write something very day, then writing prompts are a good way to fill in on the days when you just can't think of anything good to say.
This writing prompt comes from "The Writer's Book of Matches: 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction" Written by the staff of Fresh Boiled Peanuts at www.freshboiledpeanuts.com. In the book's introduction, it says, "Light a match and start a fire. You work with a prompt, you start a story."
A few writing prompts to chose from:
- "Well, if you could accuse anyone of being downright evil, it would be him."
- "I just had the weirdest dream about you."
- A man aspiring to be a pro bowler loses to his young daughter
- While digging in a cereal box for the toy surprise, a child makes a grisly discovery.
Another great way to make a writing prompt keep on giving, is to take it and change some of the details. For example change "A man aspiring to be a pro bowler loses to his young daughter" to "A man aspiring to be a chess master loses to his young daughter." let your imagination run wild!
Don’t waste all those free narratives right at your fingertips. They’re just waiting for you to weave them into a story.
Here’s how it goes:
1) First, cut and paste a screenful of status updates from your friends into your word processing program.
2) Then, get rid of all but the juiciest, most interesting ones.
3) Imagine a storyline in which these updates belong to your protagonist. Example below.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent, and permissions have been granted to publish these.
Here’s what I started with:
Ted Johnson might need some tequila. Some debt collecting agency calls me several times a day, looking for various Johnsons who don’t exist here. Today they are insisting my name must be Tequila Johnson.
Holly Schuster is up and operating off of 3 hours of sleep…but I got most of my work done…will be crashing this afternoon, for sure!
Tyler Hall talked for a long time with both of my sisters tonight, cried at a sad story on Biggest Loser, and baked a cake: what great (and free) therapy after a tiring day!
Samantha Rivera is making blueberry muffins and drinking coffee through a straw!!! (Yes, still!)
Here’s the beginning of my story:
She was up and operating after only 3 hours of sleep, having talked for a long time with both of her sisters the night before. They couldn’t tell her what to do about the collections agency calling several times a day, looking for Stan. What she felt like drinking was tequila, but the only thing at the office was stale coffee, cool enough to drink through a straw.
*This is a jumping off point to get your brain running—–not a suggestion to fictionalize your friends’ lives. Use more status updates to keep your story going, if you need them. Get writing!
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In Honor of all the Mothers Who Have Adopted Children/Mother’s Day.
“Olivia,” the Lord said. “This is your first work in my name…and it is important.”
“But Lord, what if I can’t do this?” began Olivia the newest Love Angel, biting her lip.
“Did I make you in my likeness? Am I your loving Heavenly Father?” asked God. “Haven’t I told you that with me anything is possible?”
Slip the Otter pulled off his muddy shoes. His Mama had just cleaned
the floor in the den and no one messed up his Mama’s clean floor. Not when
Grammy Josie and Grappy Jon were coming over to eat. Especially not on
Grandparent’s Day.
”Oh no! Baby powder!” said a confused Dazzle the Wizard. ”Where did that come from?”
“But how can that be? Baby powder has been banned by the Princess,” said his assistant Snazzle. “She claims to be allergic to it.”
Dazzle shook head.
“That’s just because she wants to be the only one smelling good at the Sadie Hawkin’s Day Dance. That’s the only way she’ll snag a prince.”
“Shush,” Dazzle said, begging for Snazzle to stop talking. “My last assistant disappeared after talking like that.”
Graphics @clipart4resale.com
Today’s story starter is about Halloween, just in case the graphic wasn’t a hint enough.
*Disclaimer: Stories based on the exact set of words, names and attached graphics are already in the works.
“Who are you?” a young voice squeaked as Selma nearer his hiding place.
“I’m Selma,” the reluctant witch whispered back, straightening her hat.
“I’m Willy. Are you a really a witch?”
Selma thought for a second, not wanting to scare the boy. “Yes,” she said, “I’m a witch. But I don’t like to scare people.”
Like my graphics- most come from Alice Smith @clipart4resale.com.
Even the most prolific of writers occasionally have difficulty coming up with an idea for a pb. I have found that sometimes the ideas come from the least expected source. With an open mind and a little imagination, the writer’s world is full of inspirations for ideas.
Yesterday, as I helped my eight and eleven year old nephews clean up their bedrooms, my youngest nephew had to have his snake on his bed. He told me all about Snake and their history. He created an elaborate timeline with a multitude of details. For me, it sparked an idea for a pb.
As we picked up their old and broken toys and placed them in a box, another idea came to me out of the blue. By combining some of the broken pieces together, a character came into being.
Sometimes it is look that they give me. Other times it is what they say. For those writers who have kids in their lives, like myself, I have learned to expect the unexpected.
Cowboy Kurt woke up with a start. “Ernestine, what is wrong? Why are you whining?” he asked, pulling on his best cowboy shirt and pants.
Ernestine raced to Cowboy Kurt’s side. She licked his cheek and whimpered.
Cowboy Kurt patted Ernestine’s head. “Go play with your doggies.”
Ernestine did not move. She whimpered even louder. She jumped up and down. She galloped to the closed door and back again.
“Just wait a minute,” said Cowboy Kurt, as he opened the door. “I’ll let you out.”
Ernestine rushed by Cowboy Kurt, her tail thumping his leg “Now maybe I can eat my flapjacks.”
*Disclaimer: Stories based on the exact set of words, names and attached graphics are already in the works.
Ooh, I like writing prompts that start with a line of dialogue. :-)
I'm kind of with you on that one, Kasey - for me, dialogue is loads of fun.
I also like writers prompts that force you to work a certain sentence or phrase into the writing somehow. That's always lots of fun.
These writing prompts look like fun. I've never used writing prompts too much. Hmmmmm....maybe we should have some kind of contest here on UCW with a writing prompt. Or just one for fun...