The Value of Writing Prompts
By Uma Girish
I often feel like a motor car, for I have starting trouble.
Pen poised over paper, I wait for the words to trickle.
Rarely do they gush from the word "go."
When my brain does the freeze-mode act, I flick the computer on and run through my
"Favorites" list. I look for a writing prompt that will thaw my machinery. I pick one that catches my fancy,
then set my timer and start to scribble.
I don't know about you, but I'm a big believer in the value of writing prompts to rev up my writing session. A
writing prompt lubricates my creaking creative joints and limbers them up nicely so they can do cross-stretches when I need fresh, inspiring ideas. Believe me, it works.
What I do is very simple. I give myself a program to follow.
1. For the next fifteen minutes I will write non-stop.
2. I will correct nothing; I will simply let my thoughts flow, whether they're good, bad, or ugly.
3. I will not think about grammar, punctuation, and syntax; I will let the words pour out of me.
4. I will start my writing session with a positive reinforcement - I KNOW I CAN DO THIS REALLY WELL.
When the timer goes off, I zoom back to the real world, and find I want to write more. When I read what I've written, I cringe, groan, shudder. A lot of it needs re-working, but I invariably spot a gem or two in the huge word rubble. Gems that I can polish and buff for later use.
I've actually sold a lot of work that started out as ordinary writing prompts and morphed into personal essays and short stories. What happens when I consciously turn off the Inner Critic is that my writing is unshackled, my ideas flow freely. I find a glimmer of something, the beginnings of an idea, a phrase I didn't think I could produce. All valuable grist for the writing mill.
Many of us have trouble deciding how to start, and what to write when we arrive at our desks. I have at least 4-5 jobs on my To-Do list but I sometimes cannot figure out if I'm in the mood for a personal essay, a work of fiction, or an article that needs to tap into my reporting skills. So I choose my
prompt of the day. Write about jealousy. Sounds simple enough. I've been jealous a million times, over issues big and small, and I can surely unearth one anecdote worth telling. I follow my instinct and slowly feel the sluice gates open wider and wider.
There was a time when my writing day got off to a predictable start with a prompt. With my top-heavy To-Do list I find myself diving into my assignments right away these days. But I always turn to a
prompt to rescue me from dry days and find that it unclogs word passages and frees up idea highways.
Sites that offer writing prompts:
www.writersdigest.com
www.thefirstline.com
www.herspace.com
www.eaze.net
www.creativewritingprompts.com
www.kafooey.com
Uma Girish is a freelance writer based in Chennai (India), and mother of
an 8-year-old. She writes both adult and children’s fiction. Her articles on
parenting, freewheeling columns and short fiction have appeared in newspapers,
magazines and websites. She is currently working on a book on ‘Reading to
Kids.’
