Writing Prompt - Photographs

Sometimes, all you need is a little push to overcome writer’s block. One simple push is in your phone: your photographs.

You can create your own writing challenges with a photo and a probing question.

Step 1: Scroll through your photo album until you find a picture you like.

Step 2: Ask a question based on the picture. You’ve got six starters – who, what, when, where, how, why. Pick one and build a question with it. 

Step 3: Now write a story that answers that question.

Step 4: Now that you’ve done the predictable, rewrite the story changing something so that the outcome is unexpected. For instance, if the picture looks like a romantic setting, write about a serial killer who goes there to bury his victims. The unexpected will grab a reader, shock them, engage them.

Here’s some writing prompts I’ve created from my phone album:

What lies around the bend?

Who brings the protagonist here, and why?

Why did the lights go out?

From where does the protagonist know the person they meet on this path? Are they happy to see them? Why or why not?

Share your stories and any pictures/prompts you create!

Writing Prompts

I’ve been thinking lately about how I want my blog to be structured. I’ll be honest. The infrequency of posts sometimes reflects my perfectionistic nature. I’m a writer, so I want every word on my site to be crafted with eloquence and beauty. But that isn’t how writing really comes, is it? Eloquence and beauty come through endless revision. From walking away and coming back. Viewing with fresh eyes and cutting what you love, only to find an even better way to express yourself. But who has time for a process like that with a blog?

So, I’m breaking out of my perfectionistic tendencies. Sometimes, I’ll create a post to get creative juices flowing. It may be an idea all mine, or I may give links to sites I’ve found helpful. So, let’s give it a try, shall we?

Today’s Writing Prompt: Mad Libs!

Remember playing these? My friends and I could come up with some hilarious, albeit completely ridiculous, stories with those books. And, lately, I’ve been loving the idea of using their prompt method to inspire my own little tales. Here’s how it works:

 1)     Have a friend (or many!) give you one of each of the following:

Animal
Song reference from the 1990s
Name of a river
Proper noun
Color
Mixed drink
An inanimate object

2)     Now use all their answers to create your own story.

It’s that simple! Don’t have any friends handy? Google each one. Then roll a set of dice and use that number’s link to fill in a blank.

Here’s a couple more lists, in case you want them:

 1)     A vehicle, a weapon, an exclamation, a day of the week, a famous artist, a favorite retail store, and a steamed food.

2)     A travel destination, a sport, a reason for despair, a body part, a quantity, a favorite song, and the name of a beloved book.

Want a bigger challenge? Grab that set of dice I mentioned and roll. Based on what number you get, craft your story with the following guidelines:

1)     Make it a murder mystery.
2)     Write in second person.
3)     Set the story outside.
4)     Tell the story from the perspective of a child or someone with a mental disability.
5)     Make it into a romance story.
6)     Tell the story from the point of view of an outsider observing the story and tell how it makes them feel.
7)     Write without using adjectives.
8)     Include a theme of broken promises.
9)     Make the narrator’s audience a priest.
10)   Use an accent with one character.
11)   Make the setting at least 200 years ago.
12)   Write the story from one person’s perspective and then again from another’s.

You can make your own Writer Mad Libs, too. Either make a list of what seems like random things or ask friends to give you the prompts. Or, roll the dice and take whatever you find that correlates to that number on your friends’ Facebook pages. Then rise to the challenge. You’ll be amazed with what you create!

Happy writing and share what you create!