What's the Deal with Writing Prompts?
We’re constantly inundated with new ideas. We see them on TV and other visual media, read them in books, and perhaps research or create them on our own, if we’re feeling inspired.
This can be a good and bad thing, right? An abundance of ideas would seem to lend itself well to a lot of great creative work. But, sometimes it’s just too much. We have so many ideas at the same time that we don’t know where to start and we just kind of shut down.
We writers hate this. Both the feeling that we have no “good” ideas and the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many ideas and not knowing where to start. This is where writing prompts come in handy!
What is a writing prompt?
A writing prompt is usually a short phrase or sentence that has a multitude of directions it could lead, should someone use it for their writing. You might remember using prompts at school when you were young. Things like “Describe your dream vacation” or “Tell me about your summer vacation.”
A more “adult” or intricate example might be: “A stranger shuffles up to your front door and paces around the front porch for several minutes before ringing the doorbell. What does s/he say?”
Who uses writing prompts?
Anyone can use a writing prompt!
Young writers
Old writers
New writers
Experienced writers
People with anxiety who aren’t “writers” at all
People who want to learn to appreciate their lives a little more who also aren’t “writers”
Anyone who wants to create something but isn’t sure where to start
All writers get “stuck” sometimes, and writing prompts can help. Even if they can get you out of your own head for a little bit. But writing prompts aren’t just for writers - they can help anyone who wants to be more mindful, or just wants a place to express themselves in a way that doesn’t make them worry about where to start.
When do I use a writing prompt?
Many people use prompts for lots of different reasons. Certainly we use them in school to get students writing (much to their dismay sometimes), and creatives often use them to spring into new genres or ideas. These are the most common reasons I’ve seen and heard for using writing prompts:
You’re stuck. You had a great character in mind but you have no idea what he’s supposed to be doing. You had a great setting but nobody to inhabit it. You had a dream or an event that sparked a great idea, but when you wrote it down, nothing else came to mind. The list could go on and on. Everyone gets “stuck” every now and again, so using a writing prompt to get you out of that rut can be super helpful.
You feel like your current idea is boring. You have a great character and a storyline, but you’re just not feeling it. And maybe your readers aren’t either. You just wrote 50 pages and when you reread it, it’s just blah. So, the issue wasn’t that you didn’t have an idea, or that you were stuck, but maybe your idea just isn’t the one for you right now. There are certainly many creative writing prompts - maybe you even find one that spices up the work you’ve already done!
You want to try something new. Just like we tend to read specific types of books because we like them, a lot of times, we tend to write pieces we like or we are within our comfort zone. Using a writing prompt can be really great to get you out of your box!
Where can I find writing prompts?
Because we are a largely digital society now, writing prompts are EVERYWHERE. If you Google it, there are 145,000,000 results for a simple “writing prompts” search. When you search Pinterest for “writing,” the very first suggestion is writing prompts, which will lead you to all sorts of images and visuals containing writing prompts for your use. There are also books upon books of published ideas for helping you get started writing.
The amount of writing prompts available can be almost as overwhelming as having too many ideas and nowhere to start! The good news is, whatever it is you need help starting, somewhere out there is a prompt that can help you. You just have to search for it.
What kinds of writing prompts are there?
This is an interesting question because a lot of people assume writing prompts are purely creative or only for creative writers. Or that they are just for kids or younger people.
This is not the case, though! There are tons of writing prompt types.
There are writing prompts for pretty much anything your heart could desire!
If I use a writing prompt, isn’t that someone else’s idea?
If you were to copy and paste someone else’s words and use them as your own, that would be a problem; however, prompts are there to help you! Most of the writing prompts you look at are barely more than a phrase.
This is because they’re just meant to get you thinking, not to write anything for you. If the prompt you want to use is about a large bird named Thompson, you are the one who will create Thompson as a character - NOT the prompt. S/he will be your large bird who can do whatever you want her/him to do!
The other thing to note here is that if you found a prompt on the internet (maybe it’s inspiration at first sight?), you are definitely not the only one who’s seen it. In fact, there are probably lots of people who have! And they may be full of great ideas about it, too. This doesn’t change how the writing prompt resonated with you, or that you had a brilliant idea. You are the only you, so even if your idea is a little similar to someone else or something you’ve read, your voice will be different than everyone else. Take that idea and run with it!
Rachel, have you ever used a writing prompt? What do you think about them?
I will be completely honest with you: I have not used a writing prompt to start any of my own creative writing. When I was younger I was brimming with ideas I thought were brilliantly original (even though they were not). I wrote all the time about lots of things!
A poem from around 2010 (ish?) about being 30. It's surreal now that I'm closer than ever!
My current work features a lot of situations and inspiration from my own life, and I honestly started it because of a dream. You can read more about it here. Because my novel is drawing on experiences I’ve already had, I have plenty of material without a prompt.
I also keep a gratitude journal every day, which some people like to use writing prompts to begin. Because my gratitude journal is not rigidly structured, I know I would have a hard time keeping up with prompts. Moment of truth? I would not do it if I had a list or prompt I had to read every day beforehand. The challenge of remembering what I’m grateful for on the bad days is enough of a challenge for me without adding in other ideas.
I have used prompts to try my hand at poetry, which I am admittedly not good at. I am definitely not a poet at heart. The poetry that I have kept, however, is alright because it was loved and worked on throughout an entire semester. I would never have thought to write about any of the subjects unless I had been prompted first.
In the end, the choice of whether or not to use a writing prompt is completely up to you.
You are the mastermind behind your own writing, after all! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with looking at things from a different perspective sometimes; in fact, I encourage you to do so.
Even if you’re not a writer and want to express yourself in a way that’s NOT crying on your spouse/best friend/dog/other pet’s shoulder, writing prompts can be a fantastic option. You don’t even have to worry about where to start!
What experiences have you had with writing prompts? Where & when did you use them? Did it go well? I’d love to hear about it! Drop me an email or leave a comment below.