I often use writing prompts to generate stories (standard length and flash fiction) and these come in a variety of forms.
Sometimes a prompt for fiction can be adjusted to generate ideas for future blog posts. (Before you ask, this isn’t the case for this one!).
Effectively, every writing competition with a set theme is a writing prompt – the theme is the prompt!
Types of Prompt
There are dozens of these! It is a question of trying some and find those which suit you best.
- Opening Lines
- Closing Lines
- You have to include a set line in the middle of your story (and that is a tough one because by the time you have got to the middle, you are well into writing your tale, you are in your stride and you have to ensure your set middle line will flow in well with your character’s situation here. Hint: use a spider diagram or simple flowchart around that middle line to work out in advance what could lead to it and what could lead from it. You’ve then got a rough outline to work with).
- Picture Prompts
- A set number of words you have to include anywhere in the story
- You’re set a situation and a number of characters to include
- You’re asked to set an object (or more) within your tale and said object(s) must play a pivotal role somehow
- Writing a letter to a younger version of yourself. I’ve done this for this very site.
- Using the Twitter character count as your word limit. Gill James did this for her 140 x 140 collection of flash pieces.
Why Use Prompts At All?
Prompts are useful in that they make you rise to the challenge of writing them up. They can also make you think of ideas in ways that might not come to you in any other way. And they help you mix up the way you approach your writing. I like that. It keeps me on my toes and, I hope, things fresh and interesting for my readers.
And there is nothing to stop you taking a prompt and putting your own spin on it. An opening line, say, which reads “the light at the end of the tunnel is a myth” could be taken to create a story (and here I would probably go for the option of proving the character wrong) or become an interesting blog post. (Here I would either look at where the light at the end of the tunnel saying comes from, ask if it is ever true and maybe get a second article out of it by examining the power of myth).
I’ve found using prompts from outside sources to be a great way of kick starting my writing. I’ve even contributed to a couple of books of Prompts produced by Gill James.
Prompts can be great fun. For picture ones, if I use a landscape one, I try to think about who could live there, what would they be like what would their conflicts be. If I use a picture of someone, I try to think of a name for them, what is their major trait and how that could drop them right in it. There are the beginnings of story ideas there already.
The Challenge of Coming Up with Ideas
This is a challenge for every writer, regardless of what they write. It is one of the things I love most about creative writing. It makes me use my brain! It’s shown me how to think laterally. But there are times when you’re tired and run down, the ideas don’t seem to flow, and a good writing prompt can literally be that kick start to get you going again.
Hands up time. I don’t believe in writer’s block. I do believe every writer gets tired, has periods where the ideas don’t flow as well as usual, and that is all to do with us being fallible human beings. We’re not robots. I think it is a natural state of being but it is temporary.
What matters is generally you can write the stories or the articles. And it doesn’t matter if on some days you can only write a few words and on other days you write far more. Go with the flow! What matters is you’re creating something and nobody says you have to create it all at once. (With a novel that would be impossible anyway).
Ironically, it is that fallibility I think that makes us creative. Our fallibility makes us look at ways to overcome problems. In the case of a writer the problem is coming up with a story or an article to entertain and/or inform readers and to keep on doing so. But everyone needs a “refresher” every now and then and prompts can be so useful for that.
I’ve found at writing conferences such as Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, the talks and workshops I go to often set a kind of exercise based on the topic. Yet another form of prompt, of course, but it makes you think outside of your particular box.
You don’t want to become stale. And becoming used to thinking outside of your own box stretches your imagination. You find you come up with more ideas. And a prompt in itself can fire off further ideas as you think of links from it you could write up as separate stories.
And practicing writing to a prompt is really useful for when you do go to conferences and the like. When they’re set there, it won’t come as such a shock if you’ve managed to get some practice in first! Incidentally, it won’t matter what kind of prompt you practice here. The idea is to get yourself into the habit of being able to respond creatively to a prompt someone else has set.
I remember feeling some panic when set my first writing exercise like that. My thought was I can’t do that. But you can. The lovely thing here is nobody is expecting perfection. The whole idea is to get you started. What is in your notebook can stay there for nobody else to see or you polish it up and submit it somewhere later. But it is that prompt which got you started.
Conclusion
Writing prompts can help get you into the discipline of writing and producing work regularly. I’ve found opening and closing lines and picture prompts work best for me. I don’t use them all the time but see them as a useful tool in my writing “toolbox”.
Writing prompts encourage creative thinking and can help you “up your game” by making you think of something different to write about.
Above all, they’re fun!
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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There was an Englishman, an Irishman and Scotsman: so begins many a story although some consider them not PC these days.
What about a Scottish teacher, a British government minister, A Swiss Count and a Dutch Colonial Administrator? Can they trigger a story?
I am enjoying researching a historical tale involving these characters but tracking down some historical records is not easy.
How does one bring these four together? Lots of derring-do, political intrigue and military action.
That’s my latest writing prompt.
Many thanks, Mike, and good luck with the story. (A novel, I presume?).
Great information, Allison!! Thank you so much 🙂
Thanks, Jim. I hope you find writing prompts useful. I use them regularly and have had published stories as a result.
First off I would like to say excellent blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your head prior
to writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my
ideas out. I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first
10 to 15 minutes are wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips?
Kudos!
Many thanks, Cheryl Hawker, for your comments via your Autoblog. A great tip is to have a notebook handy and write ANYTHING for five to ten minutes. It acts as a warm up. I jot down ideas for titles, opening lines, finishing lines, anything like that. With you “warmed up”, you then get into your main writing work. The lovely thing with this is you can come back to these ideas later. Some you will discard. Others you will write up. I have done this and had stories published from what started life as a jotting in a notebook! I’ve also found having “usual” times for writing helps as well. Over time you kind of “condition yourself” this is writing time and that helps too. Good luck.