Ten Writing Prompts for Better Writing

Valerie Steimle

Relaxing at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on a Friday night always results in “writing” research for my brain.  Sometimes I’m like a sponge and can’t get enough information about how to be a better writer.  Then other times I just vegetate.  A couple of weeks ago, I was in sponge mode and found an issue of The Writer Magazine and started taking notes on whatever I could find.  I always need more ideas for my weekly editorial articles so I read about more prompts to help me get ideas. Accumulating writing prompts tucked away for a rainy day is very helpful and this is what I found:

Ten Prompts for More Writing Ideas:

1. Turn on the TV or radio for a few seconds and write down the first phrase you hear. Then write for a half hour about that phrase.
2. You discover a loose floorboard in a corner of your attic.  Write about what is underneath.
3. Imagine the best or worst possible thing you could receive as a gift from someone and write about opening the package and how you would feel about receiving that gift.
4. Think of a favorite accessory or piece of clothing from your past: hat, scarf, glove, belt, or buckle. Write on the images you see. Or choose a picture (like some I have posted) and write about how it makes you feel.
5. Recall a place from your childhood that intrigued or frightened you.  Describe.
6. Your phone rings in the middle of the night.  What happens in the next ten minutes?
7. Pick up a minor character from a favorite movie or TV show and explore the main plot from that character’s point of view.
8. Plan the perfect crime…..you have ten minutes.
9. Describe the first time you drove a car.
10. You find a bomb in an unlikely place.  Timer says 10 minutes. Now what?

Take a few minutes to write every day. This will improve your writing skills.

So there you have it.  

Ten ideas for a story or just practice. 

  

Happy writing.