Writing prompts are designed to spark your imagination and help you dip into your well of creativity. Using prompts, setting your timer for 15-20 minutes and writing freely, with no censorship, no editor sitting on your shoulder = a freewrite. Write whatever bubbles up for you. Write freely, write openly, write until your heart is content.
Today’s prompt: Penny for your thoughts.
Today’s Writing Prompt . . . This Old Barn.
Or: If this barn could talk. . .
What do you think this barn was used for? Did you grow up near a barn like this?
Either write what really happened or make something up.
This old barn . . .
Part Three of a three-part series of writing prompts inspired by Susan Bono’s Jumpstart Writing Workshop.
A rewarding aspect of writing is when writers create scenarios that offer illumination for readers . . . that “aha moment.”
Inside a Snowflake
Tiny snow droplets slide into the snowflake
as it falls to the ground. if you listen, really closely,
you can hear the sun crunching together.
The weather is stormy—a snowstorm
with little snowflakes inside the big snowflake.
A girl lives in the snowflake, with golden hair in pretty braids
with a ribbon on the bottom.
At midnight she watches the snow fall outside the snowflake,
and the icicles drip. the next day she goes out
on the frozen lake and ice skates.
Sparks of ice fly up behind her.
By Emily Osborn, Grade 3, Poetry In The Schools
I love this fun and creative perspective, “. . . little snowflakes inside the big snowflake.”
Our unique ways of seeing things and capturing our thoughts in the written word can inspire readers, “Oh, I never thought of it like that.”
But how do writers access those sparks of creativity? Just Write. Be yourself. When you sit down to write, shed your inner critic, get in touch with your child-like world of discovery.
Writing Prompt: Write about being inside something.
So many possibilities for this prompt. You can write what you learned, what someone else learned, what your fictional character learned. Just write!
Hey there. . . Hi! If you are a first-time visitor, Welcome! I’m glad you are browsing The Write Spot Blog. Welcome to all readers and subscribers. I’m always happy to have readers and contributors participate in The Write Spot Blog.
“We” is me — a one-woman show. It’s just me, Marlene, offering inspiration and writing prompts to spark your writing.
Prompts are posted on Wednesdays and Fridays. Use these prompts however they best work for you. One suggestion is to set your timer for 15-20 minutes. Sometimes the best writing gets done with the pressure of a deadline. Write fast and furious.
Do not expect “perfect” writing. No one will read your freewrite, unless you invite them to. Freewrites come from within you and burst out during this time of writing freely. Sometimes when we’re writing freely, our mind takes a 90 degree turn and pretty soon we’re off, writing about something completely unrelated to the writing prompt. That is absolutely fine. This is the best kind of writing. This type of mind wandering is perfect writing.
The Write Spot Blog is a place where you can experiment with different types of writing: serious, personal, humorous, reflective, personal essay, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, screen writing, letter writing.
It’s a place where you can work on your writing and play with writing. You can be yourself (memoir/personal essay), you can be someone else (fiction), you can be a reporter (non-fiction/ essay).
As you observe the world and its quirky inhabitants, explore your findings through writing. Work out your problems by writing. Write about your feelings. Write what you observe. Write about your day, your family, friends, your job, your wishes, your dreams, write about your frustrations. Make up stuff. Just write!
How to get into the mood to write.
Natalie Goldberg talks about writing practice.
Take a step. Start the journey. Explore by writing.
Paris stairs by Jim C. March
http://jamescmarch.com/JimPhotos/index.html
Write about a time you were scared.Share your writing here, on The Write Spot Blog.
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Photo Credit: Pro_Deluxe Photography by Jeff Cullen
This seems to be the time of year to make lists. I am normally a list maker, but I get real serious about it starting mid-December. With all the “kids” coming home for the holidays, I mentally list where everyone will sleep. Then I gather blankets, quilts, comforters and pillows. Some unlucky family members have to sleep on the floor. Can’t be too bad, because they keep coming back.
Then there are the other lists: shopping (gifts, groceries), meals (breakfasts, dinners. . .I’m not used to cooking for nine), party planning (food, drinks, moving furniture), holiday cards (cards received, cards sent) . . . okay, probably too much information. But yes, I am that serious about making lists.
I’ve been thinking about bucket lists. You know . . . things you’ve always wanted to do and some day you will.
I’m wondering, what’s on your bucket list?
For fiction writers. . . what’s on your fictional characters’ bucket lists? You can use this as a way to get to know them better.
If you want, you can make an opposite type of list: Things you no longer want to do. Things you never wanted to do. Things you will never do again.
Helpful lists for strategizing your holidaze: “Rewrite Your Holiday Scene Prompt #210”.
You! Yes, you. What hurts right now?
Write about that.
Or write about what is hurting your fictional character.
Writing Prompt: What hurts right now?
What if you have written your memoir, or are in the process, and it just isn’t working? What to do?
You might decide to publish your work as fiction based on fact, rather than memoir. Adair Lara’s article might be helpful: “10 Ways to Tell if Your Story Should be a Memoir or a Novel” in the January 23, 2012 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine.
You can use prompts on The Write Spot Blog for inspiration, especially, “Make a list of pivotal events, Prompt #40” and “How to write fiction based on fact,” Prompt #41.”
If you don’t want to write about what happened exactly as it happened, you can use the emotions you felt during the event. Tap into those emotions to write strong scenes.
Sometimes it’s helpful to see examples of ideas you want to pursue. The following novels are based on fact.
Half-Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls, is considered “A True-Life Novel”
Captive of Silence, by Alla Crone, is a “roman à clef.”
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
We’ll explore the topic of where to publish personal essays in next week’s “Just Write.”
Meanwhile, keep writing. Decide later what you want to do with this precious writing.
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.
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?
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?
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? 
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.