Category: Prompts

  • Use photos to inspire your writing. Prompt #206

    You can use photos as writing prompts. Choose one of your photos, or a photo you remember and write about it.

    First, look at the photo (if you can). Write all the details that you see. Write about what happened before and after the photo was taken. Write about your feelings connected with this photo.

    Photos might remind you about activities, important occasions and details that you may have forgotten.

    Larry and Car

    Did Great-grandpa always wear a hat? What was his first car? Where did he work?

    Siblings. What did Grandma think as her son went off to war?Hyne siblings.Mother

    What did his sisters think? Did they send him off with special remembrances from home? Did they listen to every radio broadcast about the war? Did they watch events play out on television? Are there any letters from that era?

    Margaret.Graduation Day

    Grandma’s graduation day photo doesn’t look like today’s graduation photos. What were Grandma’s plans after graduation? Did they come true? What happened after she graduated? Who was the first one to graduate from high school in your family? The first one to graduate from college?

     

    Brides! Wedding photos! Do these types of formal occasion photos live in your photo album? Bride on her way to getting married.Are they formal photos? Casual photos? Any videos? Tell the backstory of these wedding photos. Tell about the people in the background. How did the bride and groom meet?

    There are over 200 prompts on The Write Spot Blog. Photos accompany every prompt. You can use any of these photos as jumping off points to inspire your writing.

    If you see a missing photo, please let me know. Some of them have mysteriously disappeared.

    Marlene C

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  • Something good that came from . . . Prompt #205

    Broken glassToday’s writing prompt: Something good that came from something bad.

    Set your timer for 15-20 minutes. Write. Don’t think. Just write.

    Okay, you might have to think a little before writing on this prompt. Once you choose a topic. . . then . . . write without thinking. No editing, no censoring. You can destroy your writing later, if you want.

    For now . . . just write.

    Marlene C

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  • Alarm . . . Prompt #204

    Alarm clock turquoise                           

     Today’s writing prompt: Alarm   Five alarm chili

                

    Fire alarm.wall.gold              Fire Truck                 Fire alarm.wall.red

    Marlene C

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  • What challenged you as a . . . Prompt #203

    Today’s writing prompt:  What challenged you as a fifteen-year-old?

    Marlene.Tonga RoomWhen the prompt is a number or an age, you can adjust to whatever calls to you.  For example, with this prompt you can write about what was challenging when you were thirteen, or fourteen, or sixteen.  The exact age doesn’t matter. I chose fifteen because that is a pivotal year for some people.

    Marlene, Tonga Room, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, Junior Prom, 1965.

    Marlene C

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  • How to be a better writer

    Many of us want to learn how to be better writers. The answer is very simple:

    WRITE. Write some more. Keep writing.

    It’s true!  The more you write, the better writer you will become.

    Here are some things you can do to improve your writing.

    READ. Read whatever you like to read. Read the genre you are writing in. Read other genres.

    BE SPECIFIC. ’57 Bel Air Chevy, not car. Sycamore, not tree.  Foxtrot, not dance.

    USE STRONG VERBS. Keep a list of strong verbs in your writer’s toolbox for easy reference.

    Resources for strong verbs

    Thesaurus in any format: Paper, on your computer, internet.

    Books:

    Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing by Constance Hale.

    Strong Verbs Strong Voice by Ann Everett

    Websites:  Tip Sheet Using Strong Verbs  and Writing Tips: Use Active, Precise Verbs

    WRITING MAGAZINES often have article to improve writing: Writer’s Digest, The Writer, Poets & Writers.

    WORKSHOPS & CLASSES: Internet search on “writing” will yield a variety of results for writing workshops: Day-long, weekend, conferences, writing teachers online. If you add your city or county to your search, results focus on writing activities in your area. Consider UCLA Extension online classes.

    The Sonoma County Literary Update is an amazing compendium of writing resources.

    Summary, how to be a better writer

    • Write.
    • Read.
    • Be specific.
    • Employ strong verbs.
    • Peruse writing magazines.
    • Attend workshops and classes

    Pen, gold background

     

    Whatever methods you use . . . Just Write!

    Marlene C

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  • What’s under your bed? Prompt #202

    frog2-150x150Today’s prompt: Write about the monsters under your bed.

    Oh, you don’t  have any monsters under your bed?

    Well then, what’s in your closet?

    Marlene C

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  • Hope . . . Prompt #201

    HopeToday’s writing prompt is inspired by Ron Salisbury’s poem “The Ride Southbound.” When the writing prompt is a poem, you can write about the title, a line or a word. You can also write about Hope. Just write whatever comes up for you.

    The Ride Southbound by Ron Salisbury

    When I jerked open the cab door, Hope was sitting in the back seat,

    Prada dark glasses and lip gloss.  This is mine, she said,

    but we can share until 34th street. What’s at 34th street? I asked.

    Just a sale at Macys.  The driver put my two-suiter in the trunk

    and the extra bag on the front seat, I climbed in with my briefcase

    and umbrella.  Is it gonna rain? she asked.  You never know,

    I answered.  What’s with all the bags? It’s been a long trip.

    You need all that stuff?  Most of it, at least I thought I did.

    The traffic on 7th Avenue slowed then didn’t, other cabs

    cut us off, it was noisy, complicated, but we were there

    in no time at all.  Haven’t we met before? I asked.  Probably,

    she said.  I meet a lot of people.  Did we like each other?

    Hard to say, she answered.  She leaned over and tapped

    on the window behind the cabbie.  This is where I get off.

    Good luck wherever you’re going. Standing on the sidewalk,

    holding the door open, she said, Look at this, and hiked

    her skirt to show me a small purple birth mark on her thigh.

    I can’t always be perfect.

    Ron Salisbury is the author of the recently published Miss Desert Inn. He writes and studies in San Diego State University’s Master of Fine Arts program, Creative Writing.

    Marlene C

  • Suicide Doors . . . Prompt #200

    Today’s writing prompt is a poem by Ron Salisbury. You can write on the theme of the poem or the mood. You can use a line or a word for the writing prompt. Ready? Read and write. Just write, without  worrying how your writing will sound.

    Suicide Doors

    Don’t put that in a poem, she said.

    What? Don’t put what I said in a poem.

    We talk and a week later I find what I said

    in one of your poems. What’s the matter

    with that? He’ll find out. He doesn’t read

    poems. His friends will tell him. His friends

    don’t read poems. Just don’t put me in your poems.

    How about I make it in the 1960’s

    and it happens in my 1951 Merc with suicide

    doors, I got a D.A. haircut, smell of Bay Rum

    and your angora sweater comes off on my sport coat.

    Then what happens. Well, we could be in love.

    We already are. I mean the crazy 60’s love

    before birth control pills and we both smoke

    and sneak bourbon from your father’s liquor cabinet

    and try to figure out how to get some Trojans

    because they’re not in every grocery store

    and you have to ask the druggist for them

    because they’re kept behind the counter

    like cigarettes are now and because

    he knows everyone in town, it’ll get around

    so we drive all the way to Dexter on Saturday

    night and I’ll try to be cool and see if

    I can buy some and if I can’t we’ll take

    our chances anyways. Do we do it in the

    back seat? Yeah, the Merc had a giant

    back seat. And you won’t use any thing

    I said in the poem. Sure. Ok, but

    bring a blanket and you have to go slow

    and give me time to hang my sweater

    over the seat so it won’t get ruined.

    Ron SalisburyRon Salisbury, author of Miss Desert Inn, (Main Street Rag Publications) lives in San Diego, CA, where he continues to publish, write and study in San Diego State University’s Master of Fine Arts program, Creative writing. Publications and awards include: Eclipse, The Cape Reader, Serving House Journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, Spitball, Soundings East, The Briar Cliff Review, Hiram Poetry Review, A Year in Ink, etc; Semi Finalist for the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize – 2012, Finalist for the ABZ First Book Contest – 2014, First Runner-up for the Brittingham and Pollak Prize in Poetry – 2014, Winner of Main Street Rag’s 2015 Poetry Prize.

    Marlene C

  • What is a good life? . . . Prompt #199

    What makes up a good life?

    What are the ingredients for a good life? If you could combine essential ingredients to produce a good life, what would those ingredients be? Is there a secret ingredient?

    If there was a recipe for a good life, would people embrace it? Would they conform or rebel or ???

    If you were going to stitch qualities for a good life into a quilt, what bits and pieces would you need? What would the final piece look like?

    Is this even a fair or answerable question? Are there too many variables to consider?

    Charlie BrownIf you could create, cajole, conjure, form, shape a good life, would you? What would it look like. . . that good life many people strive for.

    Today’s writing prompt: What do you think a good life is all about?

     

     

    Marlene C

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  • Spooktacular or . . . ??? Prompt #199

    Halloween blog hop

    Smallest ghostJoin the festivities. Click on Halloween Blog Hop. Scroll down, click on a blogger’s name and you will be transported into a new dimension.

    WRITING PROMPT:

    Spooktacular or Spectacular or Meh . . . What was Halloween like for you as a child? Did you go trick-or-treating? Costumes: Homemade or store bought? Bag to hold goodies: Pillowcase, plastic bag, plastic pumpkin, or ???

    Halloween GhostYou can also write from your fictional character’s point of view.

    Writing Prompt: Describe your childhood Halloween.

    OR: Describe a perfect All Hallow’s Eve.

     

     

    Marlene C