Category: Prompts

  • What nourishes you? Prompt #636

    Prompt: What nourishes you?  Write for 15 minutes. Use sensory details:  sight, smell & sound.

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    Next: Picture the kitchen in the house you grew up in. See the table and chairs, the counter, the cupboards.

    Open a cupboard . . . or walk into the pantry. Take a look around. Open the spice cabinet. Breathe deeply.

    Prompt: What food reminds you of the kitchen in the house where you grew up in? Memories surrounding that food?

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    Prompt: Take a few words from previous two freewrites and expand, or describe, using smell and sound. For example, from “The Martian Chronicles by” Ray Bradbury:

    “There was a smell of Time in the air tonight . . . What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like, it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theatre one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded.”

    Use sensory detail: Smell

    What does rain on asphalt smell like?

    What does a crunchy red apple smell like? 

    Mentally walk through an apple or a pear orchard where the earth has recently been plowed. Describe that earthy smell.

    What does a redwood forest smell like, deep in the grove where it’s quiet?

    It might smell old or ancient and calm. What does old, ancient, and calm smell like?

    old . . . smells like parchment paper

    ancient . . . smells like musty book

    calm . . . smells like summer rain candle

    Use sensory detail: Sound

    What does old, ancient, calm sound like?

    old sounds like coughing and wheezing

    ancient sounds like rattling breath

    calm sounds like church . . .  sitting in an old Catholic church in the middle of the afternoon with no else there. That’s calm.
    The neurological impact of sensory detail

    Imagery and sensory detail ala Adair Lara Prompt #277

    33 Ideas You Can Use for Sensory Starts Prompt #278

    Marlene C

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  • Memory Lane . . . Prompt #635

    Today’s Writing Prompt has four parts.

    Part 1

    Imagine you are going on a trip. Cost is no object. You can go anywhere and take anything you want.

    Spend a few minutes writing what you would take.

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    Part 2

    Mentally add safety items to your suitcase, or duffle bag, or backpack. You might have already packed some of these things.

    Medical supplies, bandages, antiseptic.

    Flares, flashlight.

    Things to protect you: sunscreen, a soft pillow for a cushioned landing in case you fall, a safety net to catch you.

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    Part 3

    Go on a trip down Memory Lane.

    Choose a time in your life when something deeply affected you or was troubling.

    Write about a difficult time, a pivotal moment, when something happened and you were not the same after.

    If you experience a strong reaction while you are writing, stop writing. Shake out your hands, or look up, take some deep breaths. Look out a window.

    Remind your body that you are safe at this time.

    Write about a difficult time, a pivotal moment, when something happened and you were not the same after.

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    Part 4

    Travel back in time, again. This time, go to a lovely moment. A time of peace and calm. Who was with you? Or, were you alone?

    Describe the scene, like you would see it unfold in a play. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear? Use sensory detail as you write about this memory.

    Bring in smells if you can . . . clean laundry, sheets dried outside on a clothesline, a shirt being ironed, fresh lemons, strawberries. The smell of the ocean, diesel fuel. Freshly mowed lawn.

    Bring in sound: The iron hissing on the shirt, the bang of the screen door, the clang of a bell. Waves washing ashore. Bicycle tires crunching on gravel. The crunch of autumn leaves as you walk on them.

    Write about a special time that makes you smile every time you remember this moment, perhaps a time when you felt at peace.

    How to Write Without Adding Trauma

    Writing as a Path to Healing

    Marlene C

  • Sad about missing . . . Prompt #634

    I am most sad about having missed (in recent months, weeks, days) is . . .

    I’m looking forward to . . .

    For that to happen, this will have to happen . . .

    I believe . . .

    #amwriting #justwrite #iamawriter

    Marlene C

  • Right now . . . Prompt #633

    What’s happening for you right now?

    Be in the moment.

    Write about whatever is on your mind.

    Write what your heart wants to say.

    Marlene C

  • Fortunes in cookies. Prompt #632

    Today’s Writing Prompt:

    Write fortunes for fortune cookies.

    See what DSBriggs did with this prompt on the Sparks page of The Write Spot Blog.

    #amwriting #justwriting #iamwriting

    Marlene C

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  • Cozy mystery writing . . . Prompt #631

    Pretend you are a mystery story writer. Or maybe you actually are a mystery writer.

    For this prompt, think cozy mystery.

     One of your characters has met his/her demise.

    How did it happen?

    Who is the surprise character who did the deed?

    Why?

    OR: Write about a book or an author you especially like.

    Cozy Mysteries are a subgenre of crime fiction taking place in a small, socially intimate community. The detective is an amateur sleuth.

    Examples:

    Nancy Drew books

    Donald Bain & “Jessica Fletcher” in “Murder, She Wrote”

    Bree Baker: Seaside Cafe Mystery Series

    Lilian Jackson Braun: The Cat Who… series

    Rita Mae Brown: Mrs. Murphy and company

    Marlene C

  • Luck . . . Prompt #630

    Luck!

    Do you make your own luck?

    Definition of luck:

    ~Success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.

    Good luck symbols:

    From pigs in China to shamrocks in Ireland, different cultures have their own good luck charms:

    Conch shells ~ Elephants ~ Oranges ~ Bamboo ~ Rabbit’s foot

    Write about luck and or write about a good luck charm.

    #amwriting #imawriter #justwrite

    Marlene C

  • The truth is . . . Prompt #629

    Today’s writing prompt . . .

    The Truth is . . .

    #amwriting @iamawriter #justwrite

    Marlene C

  • Poem from character sketch . . . Prompt #628

    Prompt #1

    Think about someone important in your life.

    Someone who made an impact on you.

    Write a list or a few paragraphs of events in this person’s life.

    It could be milestones or simple everyday things.

    Prompt #2

    Turn what you just wrote into a poem with these suggestions:

    Make this a numbered poem. Each stanza gets a number.

    Each stanza is four lines.

    Each stanza represents a chunk of time in the person’s life, perhaps by decade.

    Example:

    1.

    Love child

    Tossed around

    Whose arms held her?

    Who comforted her?

    2.

    Showing off

    Late for work

    Three times

    Not a charm

    Thank you to Susan Furness who suggested this prompt at Recovery Writing of Idaho, organized by Norma Jaeger.

    Image from “The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections.”

    #justwrite #iamawriter #freewrites

    Marlene C

  • Games . . . Prompt #627

    Write about:

    ~ Childhood games, favorite games, games you played over and over again.

    ~ What games do you like now?

    ~ What game would you like to teach someone?

    ~If you don’t like playing games, write about that.

    Marlene C