Welcome to the first addition of one of my old writing prompts to the “exclusive content” section. (Though I’m posting them new as blog posts, too.) These will be some little peeks into my creative process, and sometimes some extra semi-canon bits from my fictional worlds.
If you’re not a writer yourself, the concept of a “writing prompt” might be totally foreign to you. Since this is the first prompt post I’m doing, I’m going to start with a bit of an explainer. If you’re an old pro and would rather skip right to the prompt, here’s a link to jump down to it.
Prompts are Writing Practice
Musicians play scales, athletes lift weights and run laps, ballet dancers do barre exercises. Whatever your activity of choice, practice is a big part of it. For writers, that practice often comes in the form of writing prompts.
Let me start with a clarification, because the way I (and a lot of writers) use the word “prompt” is a bit muddy. A “writing prompt” is anything designed to be a starting-off point for a bit of spontaneous writing. It might be a short phrase, a first line, a picture, a set of circumstances, or any other sort of creative trigger. But, as writers, we also tend to refer to the snippets of writing we do from prompts… as “prompts.” So, when I use the word “prompt,” I might be talking about the trigger, or I might be talking about the piece of writing itself. Hopefully context will make it clear each time.
How Writers Use Prompts
The way writers use prompts can vary as well. Some use prompts in their “real” projects, meaning the books or stories they actually finish for publication–often with the actual “prompt” part edited back out in the end. Others use these merely as practice sessions. Personally, I’m mostly the latter, but I’ve definitely produced some gems over the years that have wound up being reworked and expanded into actual stories. I also very often use characters from my actual books/series in prompts as a form of character development.
A writer might do a prompt or two at the beginning of a writing session, to get the creative juices flowing, or they might reserve a set day of the week for doing a few in a row. They might be done alone, or as an activity for a writers’ group. Very often, a timer is involved. I used to do prompts with my old writers’ group, Creative Minds Collective, which is where many of the older prompts I’ll be posting come from. The way we did it was at the beginning of each meeting, someone would set a timer for ten minutes and pull a prompt from a box of them we kept. Then we’d all write for ten frenzied minutes. Often, we’d then go around and read them aloud for the group.
Prompts are quick and dirty: unplanned, unedited, and usually incomplete. Several of my old ones stop not only mid-sentence but mid-word, as the timer went off and I quit typing (or writing: the really old ones were handwritten then transcribed later.
Types of Prompts
I mentioned it above, but there are endless types of writing prompts. The ones I first discovered, which will be the basis of a lot of the old prompts I’ll be posting, came from a writer named Judy Reeves. She had a few books/kits with prompts, but most of the ones I and my writers’ group used came from a boxed set called The Writer’s Retreat Kit. It’s out of print now, but you can still find reasonably priced used copies. (not an affiliate link, since it’s strictly used these days.)
Judy Reeve’s prompts are what I think of as the “standard” type. Whether that’s because they’re what I knew first or because they really are the most common, I honestly can’t say. They’re just simple, short phrases to give you a theme and general direction. Here are a few of hers, to give you an idea:
- Behind lace curtains
- On the eve of the funeral
- In the meantime…
I’ve seen other books of prompts that had images, single “spark” words, and first lines. I lot of prompts start with “Write about…” I’m not actually crazy about those, especially because they tend to read more like journaling prompts. But, when faced with a journal-style prompt, I just journal as the character, and all is well.
My writers’ group had a method we developed that we called our prompts “grid.” It was just that: an excel file with columns for things like character, setting, genre, style, theme etc. It had a function to do a random shuffle of the columns, presenting us with a set of parameters. Sometimes it was fine, other times it was… insane. I can’t find the old version of the grid, with the shuffle function, but doing a random pull with a D20, here’s an example: romance, dystopia, tragic, autumn, cynical anti-hero. That’s doable. More than doable: that’s Romeo & Juliet meet The Hunger Games. But another pull gives us: western, puzzle, children’s, zoo, vigilante. That’s… harder.
A few of my old prompts will be grid prompts. A few new ones might be too, if I’m feeling brave.
I’ve seen all sorts of other tools. There are dice out there. I have a really cool card set called “Storymatic” that’s pretty nifty and a lovely, big book of prompts by Bryn Donovan. (these ones are affiliate links.)
The Prompts I’ll be Posting
I have a confession: I haven’t done prompts regularly in quite a while. Part of why I’m setting up a format on the website for them is to force myself back into the habit.
So most, if not all, of the prompts I’m going to be posting at first will be old ones. And don’t worry, I’m not just dumping my old notebooks whole onto the site: most of them I’d never subject another human being to! I’m going through and reading them all, and picking only the best ones.
Well, the best… and the ones that are so bad it’s entertaining!
Finally – Today’s Prompt
This prompt is from, as the title suggests, February 2011. It was done alone, at home, not with my writers’ group. It was a combo prompt, according to the note at the top of the page, though I don’t for the life of me remember where I got the first part of it, the “cryptozoology” theme. The second half I’m about 97.5% sure is a Judy Reeves prompt.
I have zero memory of writing this, but I came across it a while later and was wildly entertained. I don’t see myself ever doing anything more with it, but I think it’s a fun read. Posted with zero editing, so excuse my draftier-than-a-first-draft typos!
February 1, 2011 – Home – 6:34 pm
Combo prompt… theme: Cryptozoology prompt: write what you didn’t do
I didn’t do it. I swear, it wasn’t me. People will tell you it was; they all think it was my fault. But I didn’t do it.
Yes, I was in the lab that day. Yes, I’d been working on the project for a good six months by that point, but so had plenty of others. And yes, I know I was alone working late that night, but it just wasn’t me.
Besides, what’s the big deal anyway? I mean, it’s not like they’re locusts or something. This isn’t some Biblical plague coming down on our heads. It’s just faeries.
And faeries are cute. Right? I mean, come on, who doesn’t love Tinkerbell?
And yes, I know, people keep filing reports about their cats being taunted, their milk being turned sour, the flowers in their gardens being stolen to make clothes. But really… how cute is the idea of little flower clothes?
All right, yes, I heard about the zoo. About the swarms attacking people on the street. But really, those were a fluke. Just a band of rogue faeries; they’re not all like that. I worked with them for six months before I let them– I mean before they escaped. I didn’t let them get away. Not at all. I told you; it wasn’t me.
Not me at all.
And really, the accusations that the coins and jewelry they steal, all the sparkly and shiny things that they cart off magpie-style, are coming my way are simply preposterous. Faeries most certainly do not work for humans; they wouldn’t go around stealing for anyone, let alone me. If and when a faerie steals an object, it’s because they think it’s pretty, not because of the berries I– I mean, it’s not for me.
Not at all.
And all the speculation about why I no longer work in the lab is completely off-base as well. No, it’s not because I’m making so very much money off of the trinkets my alleged faery-mob supplies me with. I left the lab because of all of the unfair accusations.
And all right, I admit I’ve been seen going in and out of a particular pawn shop a goodly number of times, and yes, that shop’s inventory of jewelry, coins, and other shiny objects has been increasing over the past several weeks. I believe that those using words like “exponentially” are being overly dramatic, however.
And furthermore, there is simply no evidence whatsoever that those trinkets are coming from me. I sold that man my grandmother’s old silverware, and some records, and a pair of antique ice skates.
So, in summary, I did not loose the faeries on our fair city. I did not train them to retrieve valuable items from jewelry boxes and vanity drawers for me. And I most certainly have not been selling those items for personal gain.
I wouldn’t even know how to train a faery; I’m not even sure it’s possible. My job was simply to observe them and keep them fed. And to find out what things they liked to play with, and posit theories as to why. It wasn’t me who discovered that faeries were real after centuries of myth and legend, and it wasn’t me who failed to lock their cages the night they all got away. I was working late that night, as I’ve said, but I was taking inventory of the toads, and cleaning their crowns. I wasn’t even in the room with the faeries.
Not me.
Nope. No way. I didn’t do it.
I wouldn’t even know how.
