Fiction Writing Prompts
Create A Fertile Imagination

One of my favorite ways to find inspiration is to create or find some fiction writing prompts. Once I read a few of these, my imagination takes off and I can't stop writing till it runs dry of ideas.

But how many kinds of writing prompts are there? And just how should you use them? How often?

Here's how I find and use writing prompts.


An Infinite Variety of "Seeds"

I've come across fiction writing prompts for just about any part of writing a novel. Bits that encourage you to pay attention to detail. Two intriguing sentences that could begin a novel or short story. A prod to create a list of traits for a character.

The options are as endless as your imagination. Journal or blog writing prompts, for instance. Poetry prompts, seasonal prompts. I've even seen lists of prompts aimed specifically at various ages of children; writing prompts for kindergarteners, for example. And writing prompts can be found in plenty of places.

I like creating my own. I just keep my eyes open for people who intrigue me, situations that make me laugh and scenes I just can't erase from memory. Then I write about those things.


Nurturing Your Growing Imagination

I use fiction writing prompts to spark my creativity when I'm having a tough time figuring out what to write next, or how that character gets out of such a sticky situation (makes me think of someone covered in honey...)

Even if it doesn't tie into the novel I'm working on, the distraction of something entirely different tends to restart my momentum on the piece I want to be writing.

I also use writing prompts to practice.

Practice what, you say?

Writing, of course! Writing description, filling out character sketches, creating believable plot sequences, pushing my limits beyond what I've done before. After all, "write everyday" is a great way to get good. And using writing prompts to exercise your skills is a great way to write everyday, at least briefly.


How Often Should You "Water" Your Seeds?

For some, fiction writing prompts can be addictive. If you're one of those, and you do nothing but play with writing prompts, get yourself help! (Just kidding.) That's great, as long as you aren't trying to learn how to write a novel. If you are, though, eventually you have to go beyond prompts.

No reason you can't spend ten minutes a day with a writing prompt. Or only once a week, if that works better for you. I tend to only use them when I'm between projects or stuck on a plot line. Though if you present me with one, I invariably can't stop my mind from percolating it until something bursts free. Usually at 5:00 am on Mother's Day!

So use prompts as often as you get the urge. Everyday if you're practicing your craft. Less if you prefer. There are no hard and fast rules.

Above all, if you use fiction writing prompts, have fun with the exercise. And let them plant fertile seeds in your imagination. Then reap what you've sown.

Here, just to get you started, are three writing prompts to play with.

Enjoy!

1 - Create a scene or short story incorporating these four items: a green bus, a three-legged wolf, a white horse and a mysterious note. (This one came from our mother-daughter book club group a few years back, and yup, it woke me at 5:00 am on Mother's Day demanding to be written.)

2 - Pick a favorite character from a novel you enjoy. Change the sex of the character and describe him or her in this new form, including a few specific characteristics that would still make this character fit the novel he or she is in.

3 - Choose an object you see everyday in your bedroom. Describe it in enough detail we can see it, hear it, feel it, taste it and smell it (so long as it has all five types of characteristics. If not, use as many of the five senses as possible).