Writers, Start Your Engines

My favorite creative writing prompts

I owe you a book review. Though chaos is in its name, I have an internal logic that I try to abide by when running this blog, and today should be a book review day. But I’m behind on life, so I will be doing a list instead, what would be scheduled for next week. I am so sorry about this oversight, and thank you for your understanding. We’ll return to our regularly scheduled program next month when I’m fully adjusted to waking up at 6am to drive down to Newport three times a week.

The hardest part of being a new teacher is generating your own lesson plans. Though I haven’t been a classroom teacher for as long as I was a software trainer, the principle still applies. Once I had my powerpoint decks tailored just the way I liked, I’d copy and update the names on them for every single client. Same goes for writing - once I find prompts that I like and that resonate with folks, I reuse them again. And again.

Today I’m going to share some with you. Perhaps you’re looking to write more, or are looking for some inspiration in these drearier winter months. They run the gamut from fiction to non-fiction to memoir, involve craft and creative writing, and everything else in between. Happy trails, and writers, start your engines. (Pens, computers, typewriters, whatever.)

For the Travel Writers

I want you to go to this website: https://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/index.php

Use either the United States map, or the world map. Either is fine. Take some time and fill it out - it’s pretty fun to click around and see all the places you’ve been to light up.

Now, whenever I do this, I always forget Colorado. Always. Every single time. I forget that I’ve been to Colorado. I’m not including states I’ve flown through on this list, and I’ve been to Colorado no fewer than 5 times for work for days at a time, so why do I keep forgetting?

My states visited map.

That’s your prompt. Determine which state or country you continually forget you’ve visited, and write about it. Is there a reason you forget you’ve visited? Has it been years? Was it a bad time? Was it so quick that it seems negligible? This is a great jumping off point to explore more.

For the Memoir Writers

This is adapted from one of

Ann Hood

‘s lectures. This is also a prompt that can be used with almost every genre - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Specifically though, it works best with memoir, I think. But who am I to tell you what to do.

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Think of someone you love. They can be living, dead, old, young, whoever. See them clearly before you in your mind’s eye. Now, imagine their hands. What are they doing with their hands? Are they cupped in their lap? Are they gesturing while they talk? Are they making something? Are they washing dishes? Once you have a clear image about what this person’s hands are doing, write about it. And focus specifically on the action that their hands are doing and how that relates to your relationship with them overall.

For the SFF and Spec Fic Writers

I love this prompt for anyone who writes Science Fiction and Fantasy, or wants to get into it. Amazon has invented pre-emptive shipping.¹ One day, you open your front door, and see a package. It’s from your future self. Why did you send yourself a package? What’s inside? How do you react? How does it impact your day? This prompt is an easy entry into the world of fantastical fiction, so off you go!

Like this, but with more magic. From: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/424253227399128958/

For the Writers looking to improve their Craft

This exercise is adapted from a talk

Danielle Trussoni

gave at my MFA program. It’s also a great exercise to do if you’re uncertain about whether you should be writing your story in the 3rd or 1st person.

Let’s back up here: 1st person narration is what I’m doing right now - it’s the use of ‘I’ when telling a story. Most memoir and a lot of current literary fiction is written in the 1st person. 3rd person narration is what almost all 19th century literature was written in - the all knowing, ever detached voice that can see all, know all, and do all. There’s a variety of 3rd person narration styles and techniques, and it’s what most SFF is written in. These aren’t hard and fast rules, just general observations.

Now, onto the exercise itself. You will either need to acquire:

1. a selection of your own writing or

2. someone else’s. Aka pick a book.

Once you have found your passage, you’re going to swap 3rd person for 1st person, and 1st person for 3rd person.²

As an example, I’m going to use Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice is written in what we’d call 3rd person omniscient, so I am going to change part of it into 1st person. Behold:

I can hear my parents bickering down the hall, my mother’s shrill voice rising to follow my father as he passes from room to room.

“My dear Mr. Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield park is let at last?”

“I have not, Mrs. Bennet.”

I close my book, using my thumb to mark my page, craning my ear towards the door to listen further.

You get the idea. It’s very different than the original, isn’t it? I guarantee for your piece/story/what have you, one will sound more natural than the other. If nothing else, it’s a fun thought experiment to do to take someone else’s writing and re-write it. Imitation is the best form of flattery, after all.³

For the Descriptive Writers

Or anyone looking to improve their use of detail and language. This exercise necessitates other people, and is really good to do in a workshop or classroom setting.

Think of a place you know and have been to. It can be anywhere. Without naming it, describe it. Make sure to use sensory details here, and extra points if you can incorporate all 5 senses. What is it like to stand in your favorite forest? What does it smell like? Can you taste the humidity in the air? Write it down! Then, when you’re done, share it with your friends or fellow writers and have them guess where. It’s fun to guess where other people are describing, and how you might imagine it differently. It also challenges you as a writer to not just rely on visual details.

If you need some inspiration, feel free to use the photo I took of the beach in Nosara, Costa Rica, below.

Watching the sunset every night was a community affair. Photo is mine.

For the Journal Writers

This isn’t so much a prompt as a suggestion. In what I’m sure will be *shocking* news to everyone, I use writing to process my thoughts and feelings. I often journal when something bothers me, or when I just can’t get let something go.

If you, too, find that you can’t seem to forget that conversation at the bakery last week, or you have a nagging suspicion that your cat really does hate you, then I’d encourage you to journal about it. Writing about your feelings and experiences is still writing, even if there’s no chance of it ever being published or seen by others. If you keep perseverating about something, it’s there for a reason. Investigate why.

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If you ever end up in one of my creative writing classes, chances are high you’ll work on one of these during class time. Sometimes all the imagination needs is just a little push to send it off into storyland.

What writing prompts inspire you? Do you have one that you use to help jumpstart your creativity? Let me know in the comments! And if you do try any of these, let me know! I’d love to know your thoughts and see what writing you produce.

1. The only good thing about Amazon becoming as big as they have is that they are now interchangeable with Skynet. You need a big evil corporation that’s doing some shady shit? Just substitute Amazon and it’s entirely believable. No questions asked.

2. For our purposes here, let’s not get into 2nd person, though you can absolutely do this exercise with 2nd person if you wanted to.

3. But for the love of God - DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. *I* will hunt you down if you think I’m giving you permission to steal other writers’ works.