Okay, so I couldn't think of anything I really felt like blogging about today, so I did what I normally do when the river runs dry: I went out wandering around on the web, looking for inspiration. I spent more time traveling than I perhaps should have--I'm sure I could have found a more productive use for my time--especially since, in the end, I decided I really didn't want to blog about the 4-year-old who shot his babysitter for accidentally stepping on his toe or the cross-dressing Harvard-educated dermatologist who hung himself after shooting his wife. Really--what do you say?
So...being both an English teacher and aspiring writer, I was excited when an idea occurred to me: use a writing prompt! I googled "writing prompts," "writing creative prompts," and "writing romance prompts," and several sites came up. I started scrolling through each of them, looking for something to jumpstart my creativity, when I realized that most people really have no idea what a "writing prompt" is--and isn't. So this blog will be dedicated to educating the GP on "How to write an effective writing prompt." :-)
Basically, a writing prompt should start in the beginning or middle of the action, and it should end before the action is concluded. It should inspire the writer to complete the thought and/or story with his or her own ideas.
Not effective: "Describe someone you know."
Why? While it inspires you to write something, it doesn't really spark any creativity. Instead, you could use: "She's the most amazing woman I know, and I'm better for having known her. Her gift to the world is..."
Not effective: "You find a person you are attracted to has a dark secret."
Why? This is a summary of a plot point. This is not a writing prompt.
Effective: "Tessa gazed at Gary, her teeth nibbling worriedly at her lower lip. It was only a matter of time before he discovered that..."
Why? This is a writing prompt. The writer is prompted to finish the sentence and the story: before Gary discovered what? That Tessa was a vampire? A single mom? A convicted felon? A cross-dressing Harvard dermatologist who had just shot his wife? (naa-nobody would believe the last one...)
Not effective: "Girl meets guy and they fall in love, only to learn that he is still seeing his former love interest because she’s strung out on drugs and threatening suicide. Guy doesn’t want to be the cause of that happening."
Why? Again, it's a plot summary--not a prompt (and a really convoluted one, at that).
Better: "Jennifer shot out of chair the instant Mike left the room, snatching his phone from the bedside table. Quickly, she thumbed through his text messages, skimming each one until she found..."
The point, of course, is that a writing prompt, well, prompts. I should want to finish the thought. It should stimulate my creative juices, send me off and running in a direction that I hadn't even considered.
So...to ensure that each of you has mastered the objective of this mini-lesson (to identify and create an effective writing prompt)--and just for fun!--share a prompt or two with the rest of us! We can always come back here when our muse has abandoned us... :-)
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5 comments:
You're exactly right--a writing prompt has to, well, gee, prompt some writing! It needs to lead into something, usually a discovery that will spur character and plot activity, and the best way is to drop the prompt right before it finishes.
Likey so: There he was. Just standing there, waiting. She took a deep breath and headed toward him. In her pocket, her fingers curled around--
Around a gun? A letter? A key? Why is it important? And who is he anyway? How does whatever's in her pocket tie into him?
Oh, I think I see an RWA proposal in the making here!
Oh, it's soooo good to see you back blogging again!
Oooooh! I didn't think of that, but you're absolutely right: this would make a great proposal for RWA, wouldn't it? There were some really, really bad prompts out there. Really. Horrible. ;)
And for an activity, we could do a round-robin writing circle, where everyone picks up the story from the prompt provided by the person before them, and ends with a prompt for the person after them...! How silly do you think THAT would get? :D
As someone who used to love to write but sadly hasn't written anything for fun in, well, years, I think this would be a wonderful place for me to start. How silly could I get? Is she his half sister from the alcoholic father that abadoned him when he was three? Is she his first love...the one who always stays just this close to his heart and he has to make the decision to tell his wife that he saw her?
It sparks my imagination which is, of course, the whole reason yours are effective and the others are not. I could write a character profile in my sleep but trying to get the story from a point from a point of entry like yours is so much more intriguing.
I'll contemplate these and let you know what comes up.
Okay, so here goes. Just remember that it has been a very long time:
"I was standing next to the hors d'ouevres table as I am known to do. I scanned the room not focusing on any one face just feeling anxious and realizing that the outrageously expensive heels I frantically bought that morning, were half a size to small. I took a sip of the saccharine punch, my finger tapping the plastic cup.
Will anyone notice? I wondered.
As I grimaced at the glittered banner: "Welcome Class of 1997! Twenty Years Too Fast" I heard from behind me...
"Karen, you're the last person I expected to see here."
Okay, it's me, Lisa again and I realize that this is probably way too long for a prompt but it was the best I could do today with blizzard warning fever, Barbie music warbling in my head, Pokemon names threatening to replace my own, and aches and pains in places I never even knew I had. It was fun even if it is horrible.
Lisa, not at all! This is perfect...I wondered:
Will anyone notice what? That she lost 200 lbs.? That she had a sex-change operation? That she dyed her hair? And why would she be the LAST person someone would expect to see there? It seems like more than a "Gee, she didn't RSVP!"
Great job! A+ :)
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