A Dozen Dependable Writing Prompts To Get Warmed Up
And how to use them effectively.
The idea behind writing prompts is simple. They aren’t meant to serve as the inspiration for what your writing project is about. Writing prompts are more for warming up. After all, a significant problem with facing the cold, unforgiving blank page is getting started.
With prompts, you’re given something to write about — but only for ten minutes or so. Or for just a few paragraphs. It’s to get your fingers moving, your mind working, and your inspiration unstuck.
Try these in order, or with whichever strikes your fancy. Don’t dismiss them out of hand. Try a few and see yourself if they don’t jumpstart you into putting words on a page.
A dozen prompts
The source for these prompts come from many places. Some I was introduced to back in college. A couple, I think, were from a book. A few were more recent prompts presented to me by fellow writers during kaffeeklatches and on Twitter.
In fact, I have many more than just twelve. Still, twelve seems like a good number to start out with if you don’t have many writing prompts of your own, or if you’re just starting to experiment with writing prompts.
Let’s give some a try, eh?
Write about why you want to write.
This is the most basic of warmup questions. Sometimes that’s all you really need. One thing I will reveal to you… your answer is going to change over time.
Seriously.
The reason you write today is going to be different from the reason you write ten years from now. Write down your thoughts about this and maybe save them. In ten years, see if I’m not right.
What was the last piece of writing you read that inspired you?
Me? Personally? Like… the last piece I’ve read lately that’s inspired me?
That would be the Fran Lebowitz Reader. I’m a big fan of hers and often thumb through my volume of her writing whenever I need to get into a specific frame of mind. I have no illusions that she’d think I was any kind of a decent writer, but I can cook a good steak, and I think she’d approve of that.
I also often pick up The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. I do this for both spiritual centering, and to admire his use of language.
Whose writing inspires you? Write about it for a bit.
Read the last letter you received, write a story using the first sentence of that letter.
I know. Who writes letters anymore? For that reason alone, though, any letter received should be kept — almost like an heirloom. The last letter I received was from my aunt, who is moving to an assisted living complex. The found some old letters she saved from my late mother dating back to 1970.
My aunt’s letter began, “I found some letters from your mother.”
What a great way to start a story. How does the last letter you received begin?
Describe your ideal room.
It probably wouldn’t surprise many to know it would be a large room full of bookshelves and comfortable chairs. There may be a fireplace and some nice Persian rugs on polished hardwood floors. And a small, but well-stocked coffee station close at hand.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
What’s you’re ideal room like? Is it a lot like mine? Or so very different?
What’s your ideal city? Write an imaginary walk through its streets.
I’m a big fan of Boston, Massachusetts — particularly in the early winter when it’s brisk, but not yet buried in snow. I’d have lunch at a Vietnamese noodle shop in Chinatown, then take a train to Harvard Square. Many of my favorite stores and hangouts are no longer there, but the area still has a lot of charm.
Spend ten minutes writing out your walk through your favorite city.
Write about a time you witnessed injustice.
This one is supposed to get you riled up. I still have vivid memories of watching police viciously beat some black teens for riding their bikes in the street. This was back in the 80s — long before ubiquitous smartphones. There was nothing I could do to stop it, but at least I know they weren’t killed.
Writing about injustice and other upsetting things isn’t pleasant. Still, you can harness and redirect some of that energy toward something constructive.
Write about a kindness you experienced.
I ran out of money while studying in the UK one year. I took to the streets and played guitar — badly — for enough spare change to keep myself fed until it was time to fly back home. A very sweet homeless woman gave me 20 pounds. I tried to refuse, but she was adamant. She even used a friend of hers to distract me, so I couldn’t stop her from leaving. Thanks to Maeve, I actually ate hot food that night.
Writing about kindness can be as rewarding and as energizing as writing about injustice. Give it a go.
Describe a favorite object from your childhood.
Okay, dork alert… I miss my old slide rule. I’m totally giving away my age by admitting this. A slide rule was a tool used to make calculations before calculators became affordable for everyone. I was a bit of a science nerd when I was a kid, and I was fascinated by how a couple of pieces of wood could perform such advanced math.
Don’t take too long. When you think of a favorite object from childhood, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? I bet it wasn’t a slide rule, but I bet it was pretty cool. Write a paragraph or two about it.
Describe an object you found on the side of the road and how it ended up there.
A sneaker. A baby carriage. A broken bathtub. A soccer ball. These are things I saw on the side of the road the last time we took a long road trip to Pennsylvania. Some items are easier to imagine how they got there than others.
The baby carriage definitely has a story behind it. I only wrote a few paragraphs about that and never concluded if it was a tragic story. The point was that it got me thinking and writing. After a few minutes, I was able to shift into my main project.
I still think about that baby carriage sometimes.
Describe what you think the world will look like in 30 years.
Thirty years ago, I was in my early 20s. My computer had 256K of RAM, and the fact I even owned a computer made me somewhat odd. I could go online, but it was a vastly different experience than it is now. TV was different as well. You watched TV on the network’s schedule, not yours. And long-distance phonecalls could cost a fortune.
What will the world look like 30 years from now? I’m usually terrible at predicting the future, but it’s fun to try.
Find a photo in a magazine and tell a short story about it.
Don’t go nuts. Make it a super short story. A few paragraphs at most. Unless, of course, you find yourself on a roll and think you can make an interesting full-fledged story.
But the point of this prompt is to find a photo in a magazine that inspires you to write something. It doesn’t even have to be from a particularly erudite magazine. I’ve got a local real estate magazine right here. I live in Rhode Island, so there are lots of pictures of beach property.
Last night, I wrote a couple of paragraphs about two lovers stealing a boat moored in front of one of these houses and sailing for the moon.
What does a random picture in a random magazine inspire you to write?
Pick an interesting person. Ask them three questions and answer them.
Ben Franklin is the most interesting person, living or dead, I can think of. Over the years, I’ve asked him hundreds of questions in my imagination, and he’s answered most of them. Thus far, however, he has refused to say what went on at those parties at the infamous Hellfire Club.
Who would you ask questions to? How would they answer? Would they answer?
Now get going
You have a dozen reliable prompts that have served me well in the past. You may even find that you can use these as inspiration to come up with your own original prompts.
However you go about it, the goal is to make writing a little easier. A little less hard.
A bit more natural.
Try a prompt. It may surprise you.
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