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Prompts and Writing

Blogger: Michelle Ule

Filling in for Janet as she is on faculty at the Mount Hermon conference. Michelle is traveling as well. We encourage you to comment and talk amongst yourselves. Thanks for understanding!

Some writers overflow with ideas and need no help to get started; others, however, have trouble and often can use a writing prompt.

What is a writing prompt?

Daily Writing Tips explains it this way:

“A writing prompt is simply a topic around which you start jotting down ideas. The prompt could be a single word, a short phrase, a complete paragraph or even a picture, with the idea being to give you something to focus upon as you write. You may stick very closely to the original prompt or you may wander off at a tangent.”

I recognized the value of a prompt on one of my first writing projects–written to pay back a debt to my then-boyfriend.

He wanted me to write a story in exchange for his fixing something. I couldn’t come up with an idea of what might entertain him, so I asked my father to give me a title, any title, and I’d write a story to match.

A mischievous sense of humor was Dad’s stock in trade. He laughed. “How about The Creature that Ate Bakersfield?”

promptsUh, thanks, Dad.

I wrote it, though, and the boyfriend married me; so obviously I’d found a way to turn a prompt into action.

Creative writing prompts are readily available on the internet, of course. You can view some here, here and here.

Prompts are given for action, they’re to motivate us: write anything!

They’re to get us moving in the right direction, whether in writing, prayer or even making it to the dentist on time. They’re a tool, and as such are a help. The rest is up to you.

Is it cheating to use a writing prompt to get started? Does anyone else use them and does anything publishable come from them?

They’ve worked well for me.

Aside from landing that terrific husband, I’ve used prompts five times to write novellas that were published.

Got any suggestions for me?  🙂

Where do you find inspiration for what you write?

Have you ever used a writing prompt, and did it help you?

Tell me of any unusual “prompts” that satisfied you!

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  1. I stumbled upon the prompt, describe your home from when you were 12, and wrote for about 20 minutes.

    I recalled a junk pile on our family farm that my cousin, our hired man at the time, cleaned up one spring. Then it dawned on me that my cousin had a 50th wedding anniversary coming up, and that I could dedicate a couple posts to him and his family, for his children were close to my age.

    I had just started blogging and topic ideas weren’t flowing out of me, but this experience taught me to free write more often. Now I have a stockpile of rough drafts to pull from for my posts. It also helped me focus on what my blog was to be about.

    So I would encourage those starting out and those with writer’s block to try prompts. And do not trash anything that comes from them.

    Reply

    • Melodie, what a fun story prompt, and I love where it took you. 🙂

      And what a great idea to do some free writing for future blog posts. I don’t usually know what I’m going to write about for my blogs very far in advance. I’ll have to think about doing some free writing exercises and see what comes of them. 🙂

      Reply

      • Glad the suggestion might help you, Jeanne. Let me know if it does. When school started (I am a teacher), I knew I didn’t have the entire week to figure out posts. When people complain that it interrupts their short story, poetry, or novel writing, I understand. But once a system is figured out, I can plan better.

        I was so excited when I realized I had two to three weeks of posts lined up!

    • Isn’t it wonderful to have a pile of potential blog posts waiting on a flash drive, Melodie? I love prompts for blogging, although I don’t use them enough. Do you have a favorite source or book for prompts?

      Reply

      • I found the one I wrote about at https://dailypost.wordpress.com/. My blog isn’t a WordPress one, but I believe people can actually post their writing from the prompt. Readers then see how other writers used the prompt. One can get ideas from that too! Good luck, Meghan, with trying that. I also use a book of prompts. I forget the name of it. It is light blue and even provides a few ways to use the book. Like pick three numbers, then go to that page, then go to that prompt. Goofy stuff like that. A person can really come up with the doozies from that.

  2. I read a Susan May Warren writing book recently. She mentioned a friend using a famous portrait of a navy man kissing a lady, I think in New York, to spin her story.

    I write for a missions magazine, and they are always open to hear new stories for the magazine. And that is the direction I’m taking in writing fiction … using true mission service stories to begin/spin my stories. My latest work was taken from an actual mission in Texas that I had written an article on. I had the sweet pleasure of going to the city, meeting the women, and taking photos of them and their work for the article. It was such a unique sweet story, it just called for more attention. So, just know, if you hear any good mission stories, I’d love to hear them. I’m thinking I’d like to stick to Texas, since I know it so well, but maybe branch out to the U.S., and see where it goes.

    Reply

  3. I have used prompts for short stories I then had posted online to share with others interested in the general subject matter. It was a wonderful experience because it spurred my creativity and yet demanded that I stay within certain parameters to keep the attention of the audience. The feedback was very much worth the endeavor, also, as it encouraged me to keep writing for a publc audience.

    What is neat about a prompt is that a prompt itself can come from any source at any time: my current work-in-progress was solely prompted by a door slamming shut during a wind storm. It happened so suddenly and violently that I simultaneously jumped and had the first scene of my novel play out in my mind.

    Reply

    • Perfect examples of how seemingly innocent suggestions can bloom into full story ideas. Creativity can sometimes flow in so many directions, it can challenge you to harness into s full story. Well done ladies!

      I’m about to board a plane home from Munich. I’ve been scribbling blog post ideas for 2 weeks! It will be interesting to see what actually make it onto cyberspace!

      Follow up question: has a prompt ever backfired?

      Reply

  4. Wow, I go away for a week, and when I come back Books and Such has a whole new look! 🙂

    Great post, Michelle. I haven’t used a prompt for any of my stories, but I’ve used them for blog posts. I LOVE Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Fridays. She gives a one-word prompt, and then everyone is to free-write on that prompt for five minutes, post it on their blog and link up with hers. I’ve been surprised at some of what has come out of me in a five minute time frame. 🙂

    My story ideas often come from life around me. A bumper sticker prompted one story idea. Life experiences and story questions from real life have given me inspiration for writing a couple stories.

    I’m looking forward to checking out the links you provided. Thanks, Michelle!

    Reply

    • I’ll have to check that one out, Jeanne. The blog, Writer Unboxed, provides a prompt on the first Saturday of the month. It’s flash fiction, so it is short. Writers have all month to post to it. Then based on likes and/or comments, the site awards the winner. Pretty good for one’s resume, I’d say. Here’s the link. http://writerunboxed.com/.

      I tried it once, but got so involved that I forgot to later go post it and didn’t meet the deadline. But now I have a novel idea from it setting in Scrivener. That time, the prompt was just a picture.

      Reply

    • Jeanne, I know how you feel; I was gone for a month, and I came back and Books & Such had a whole new look. 🙂

      Thanks for mentioning Kate Motaung’s Five Minute Fridays. I’ll have to check that out. I’ve been neglecting my blog for months because of a busy schedule, but that sounds like something fun that could help me keep the blog going. 🙂

      Reply

  5. I pitched to an editor last year and their publishing house has a whole series that has writing prompts. A country, a city, and three random items for each story. I loved it, and I sold that novella too. After that my writing friends and I started making writing prompts for each other. Three of us set out to do NaNoWriMo this year and each of us picked a writing prompt. My sister was writing a cozy mystery, our neighbor was writing steam punk, and I was writing a middle grade contemporary fantasy.But still, each of us picked one writing prompt that everyone had to use. What did we end up with? A purple spandex suit, a teapot shaped like a fish, and a bow sprit. You know what? I was able to put all 3 things into my story, it took a bit of juggling, but I think the story is way better for the bow sprit, even though it was so hard to fit in. Will the story sell? I have no idea. Ask me after this year’s conference. But we had a blast writing and got lots of new ideas because of our crazy prompts.

    Reply

    • How fun, Kristen! It’s like IDA in high school oral interpretation/forensic competition. Kids pick slips out of a hat and have to write a plot with a beginning, middle and end using the characters, conflict, and situation listed on those slips. They have 30 minutes to prepare it, then they’re judged on the performing of it. It’s called impromptu duet acting.

      Reply

  6. I’ve not used prompts before.

    Images really get my creative juices flowing. I have a Pinterest board of Story Ideas. Transporting myself into the image sets into motion a whole slew of questions.

    Reply

  7. Hi Michelle,

    Thank you for this post. It’s a great topic. I love writing prompts. They definitely are not cheating because they are simply a way to get the imagination going–the rest is up to the writer. As a teacher, I have used them with great success with my students (who usually believe they can’t write creatively). Two prompts that have been very successful in exciting students and have resulted in excellent papers are:

    1) It had been hiding in the refrigerator for over a week,

    and

    2) Going there was my first mistake.

    I also find that music and artwork are great springboards for my students. The artwork can be anything from a young man and woman holding hands in an apple grove to a creepy-looking house to thundercloud over a deserted farm road. For the music, I use either instrumentals (with a great deal of movement and emotion) or lyrics that are in a language other than the students’ native language (lyrics sung in Irish work very well for this for students in the US as very few know the language).

    In regards to myself, my own inspiration tends to come from snatches of conversation heard in the checkout line or from mundane things that happen to people which could become interesting with just a twist or two. Recently I read an article about an owl that was stealing (well grabbing and flying away with) joggers hats to use for nesting material. Currently I am working on a one act play about a man in a similar situation: a crow takes five of his hats. By that point he begins to take it personally and becomes obsessed with getting his hats back and getting that bird! (Much to his own peril). It’s a comedy. Also, I read a news story about a man in Japan who, after the services were rendered, claimed he had left his wallet at home and then left his granddaughter at the spa as a down payment. That sparked a story as well, albeit not a comedy. Probably my most common place, though, to get inspiration is to ask “What if…?” That was the inspiration for my WIP. I wondered what it would be like to be the daughter of a banshee. I thought I was setting out to write a short story. It quickly developed into a novel.

    A final thought: one of my professors (I’m working on an MFA in Creative Writing) told the class to let go of the “write what you know” and instead “write what you want to know” (which I think is similar to my “What if?” “What would it be like to?”

    Happy Monday everyone! 🙂

    Reply

  8. I’m not a big fan of prompts. Never have been. Perhaps it’s in my “you can’t make me do that” gene. 😉

    I bet no one saw that coming. 😉

    *Oh, and if anyone is worried about Andrew, his internet is down.

    Reply

      • I’m pretty sure that Andrew’s marriage blog posts were based on a prompt, and that’s important to remember–how one prompt can set you into a whole new direction you hadn’t anticipated.

        Thanks to all who commented while I flew. I’ll be back reviewing my prompts, soon, I’ve got a blog post to write! LOL