The Beauty of Prompts
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. ~John Steinbeck
Sometimes it’s tough to get started on a writing project. Sometimes you get stuck in the middle. Sometimes ideas just won’t come. In all these situations writing prompts can be helpful.
Perhaps you are sitting down for a regular time of writing, and you just don’t have any idea what to write. Find a writing prompt online. A couple of good places to find prompts are at www.writersdigest.com/prompts and at www.warren-wilson.edu/~creativewriting/Prompt.
Prompts can be story ideas, pictures, or challenges. One that I used recently involves writing a short story using only dialog. I thought it would be difficult, but it turned out to be very easy, once I got going.
Perhaps you are sitting down to work on a story you have already begun and can’t get back into it. Sometimes you just must clear out the cobwebs and start again. Writing a story or poem based on a prompt can do that for you. It gets your mind on something else for a while and lets your brain come back to the original story with more clarity, and perhaps, a new vision.
Perhaps you want to do something new, but the words and ideas are elusive. Find a prompt that gets your brain moving and follow it through. You may be surprised at the short story or poem you create. You never know, it may even become the basis for a novel!
Please recommend this post to others by clicking the little heart. Leave your favorite sites for prompts or a story about your use of prompts in the comments. I would love to read them and respond!