Category: Prompts

Today’s random words writing prompt:  honey, drunk, fast, feet, power, languid

You can also use the photo below as a writing prompt.

It will be fun to see what you do with this!

Writing Prompt: Change

Or: Changes or Change is coming or Change is about to happen.

What do you have to say about change?

Do you like change? Hate it?

What about that change jingling in your pocket or purse?

Write about change.

What do you think about tattoos?

Do you have a tattoo?  What is it? Where is it? Why?

If you don’t have a tattoo, would you ever get one? If yes, what do you envision it will be?

Imagine you are on a tropical paradise vacation.

Sitting on the lanai, hearing the waves lap against the shore.

Smell the ocean breeze.

Feel the soft wind on your face.

See the light curtain billow in the gentle breeze.

Settle back in your rattan chair, cool refreshing drink nearby.

Hear the ice clink against the side of your glass as you sip your refreshing drink.

Hear the gentle wind chimes.

Breathe deeply, enjoying the fragrance of fresh, tropical flowers – the heady scent of orchids, plumeria, roses. Perhaps pink, climbing roses.

See a piece of fruit. . . an orange. Feel the bumpy, heavy skin. Peel it. Feel the texture of the orange free of its heavy skin. See the uniform sections connected into a symmetrical arc of segments . . . .a globe. Carefully, slowly pull on one of the segments. So slowly that you see the burst of juice that squirts out. Inhale. Smell the refreshing fragrance that erupts as the orange is broken into segments.

Prompt: Write about a favorite time that involved family, friends or food.

Or: Write about a vacation.

Just Write!

Picture the house you grew up in. Or, any house where you have lived.

Walk into the kitchen. See the table and chairs, the counter, the cupboards.

Open a cupboard door. . . or walk into a pantry.

Take a deep breath. Notice the smells.

Open the spice cabinet. Inhale and . . . what are those many and mysterious smells?

Prompts, multiple choice:

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

OR: What nourishes you?

Or: I grew up with . . .

What if you start from reality and then use “worst case scenario” to do some writing?

Here’s how it could work: Recall a time when you desperately wanted something. Could be a good grade on a test, or a good health check-up, or the biopsy comes back negative, or a divorce, or the cute guy/girl to notice you, or a good job, or any job.

Just choose a moment when you really wanted something. Now, shift . . . as you write about this desire, this longing. . . the narrator becomes a character in a story. We’re no longer talking about “you.” We’re focusing on A Character Who Wants Something.

Next, as you write, throw in some curve balls, some roadblocks. Give that character an obstacle to overcome. . . the worst case scenario. What is the worst thing that could happen?

For example, the character fails an important test, doesn’t get into college, can’t get a job, becomes homeless. . . keep going. . . what is the worst thing that happens?

Or, the biopsy comes back negative. It’s cancer. Lots of doctor appointments. Sleepless nights. The character feels betrayed by his/her body. Lots of decisions. Surgery? Chemotherapy? Radiation? Keep going. What happens?

What if He wants a divorce, but She doesn’t. There are children involved. The divorce happens. He happily dances off into the sunset. What if She falls apart? She can’t function. Can’t get up in the morning. Gives her children cereal for dinner with orange juice because there is no milk. What if she sinks lower and lower and then . . . what happens?

Prompt: Start with something real, creating a character who has a problem, a need, a desire. Then. . . what if?

Inspired from July/August 2015 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, “Preparing for the Worst,” by Benjamin Percy.

Use these words in your freewrite: cook, chant, winter, smear, blue. Try to incorporate sensory detail.

You know the five senses: see, hear, feel, smell, taste . . . and that elusive sixth sense.

The sixth sense is known by various perceptions: common sense, telepathy, intuition, imagination, psychic ability and proprioception (the ability to sense stimuli arising within the body regarding position, motion, and equilibrium).

Proprioception is further intriguing with this definition: The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. In humans, these stimuli are detected by nerves within the body itself, as well as by the semicircular canals of the inner ear.

Example of proprioception: Right now I know my ankles are crossed under my blankets.  (Thank you, Kathy, for this example).

Wikipedia definition of sixth sense: a supposed intuitive faculty giving awareness not explicable in terms of normal perception. “Some sixth sense told him he was not alone.”

Thank you to my Facebook Friends for helping with the definition for the sixth sense. . . Karen, Kathy, Sarah, Rich, Katie, Terry, Ransom, Brian, Robin, Jordan, Elizabeth, Ginger and many more . . . many thanks!