Ten Best Writing Prompts
A lot of sites offer writing prompts. Simply searching google for Creative Writing Prompts will reveal different web sites devoted to offering you hundreds of different prompts to help you start writing. We even offer our own collection of writing prompts that are designed to get your brain churning and figure out the story you want to write. However, I'll be the first to admit that when I read writing prompts, I often find them ridiculous. They rarely seem applicable to the writing I want to do, and often seem prone to get you to write more goofy works than actually producing successful pieces that will help you think of new stories to write. As such, I've decided to offer a collection of my ten favorite writing prompts to help you inspire people's desire to write.
The Six Word Memoir
This is a popular writing prompt because it's so easy to start and finish. Try and tell your life story in six words. Examples of these include "Partied a ton, then had kids" or "Buried my cat, kept her memory." Every six word memoir is a great starting point for a longer narrative.
Write a Bedtime Story
Telling a child a bedtime story is a great way to build out an imaginative place where anything can happen. You might not have a child, but pretend you do and write out the magical story you would tell.
Stealing Your Inspiration
Courtesy of Finding Forrester, you don't always have to write your own book. Read the first page or even first chapter of someone else's book, and then take the story in your own direction.
It Can't Get Any Worse
This is one of my favorite writing prompts as it is built around humor. Start with the idea that it can't get any worse, and make it get much much worse for the person in the story. How they react to each event can build a great story.
It's All in the Title
Similar to the idea of stealing an author's work, take their title instead. Using a title as your jumping point, build out the story you think that title implies.
Giving Life to the Inanimate
Take a lifeless object that we might interact with everyday, and share its perspective on the world around you.
Bigger Picture to Smaller Scope
Start a story with the mile high description of a place, and zoom in and describe the place close-up. The things happening there and the way the place changes will build the story for you.
Missed Opportunities
Our lives are built around missed opportunities. Think of a time when you could have gotten something you wanted, but let it pass you by. If you don't know of any, think of a time when you wish you could have gotten something else, and go from there.
Single Location
Take a single location and build the story around the coming and going of people. Everywhere from an elevator in a building to a table at a restaurant, the stories of people that visit that spot will make a story.
Meaning of a Song
Listen to a song and think about the story that surrounds it. If the song is very narrative like already, build a story around that song's narrative. If the song is more emotional, write about the events that might have inspired the song.
This is just a taste of the writing prompts available, but these are the ones that help me the most. They offer you the opportunity to build a story based upon outside experiences and see where it leads you. Ultimately, I think the best cure for writers block is to go outside and do something, but these are a great way to start your mind thinking when you just can't get the words down on paper.
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