Got writer's block? Want to experiment but don't know where to start? MMM is all about creativity, and we've put together some innovative, original writing prompts to stretch your imagination, challenge your habits, and encourage you to take risks in your writing. If you use one of these ideas, feel free to leave a link to the resulting piece in the comments section -- we'd love to see how these prompts have inspired you!
#1: Visit a local antiques store (or eBay), and find an interesting item. To whom might have it belonged? How did that person acquire it -- did they buy it, steal it, inherit it, or find it? Where was it kept -- outdoors, in a home, in a castle, in a shop..? Was it a celebrated centerpiece, or a mundane, unnoticed object? If it could talk, what stories would this item tell? Start writing... #2: Write a "6 degrees of separation" poem. Randomly choose a subject to begin your poem with, and another random subject to end it with. Now, try to get from the first idea to the last in six lines or less. Opposites work well with poems like this (for instance, try going from "ugliness" to "beauty"), but the real challenge comes in when you choose two completely unrelated things: for example, try writing a poem that starts off talking about "food" and ends with "space." Be creative! #3: Keep a haiku journal for thirty days: try to sum up your day -- or a specific moment of the day -- in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Can you keep it up for a whole month? #4: Find a word whose meaning you do not know (some ideas: alacrity, chary, gelid, sleekit...). Don't look up its definition -- start writing. You might include the word in your piece, or simply record feelings and ideas that it evokes. When you're done, grab a dictionary and find its meaning. How close or far off were you? #5: Find a tape recorder, and "write" out loud -- compose a poem or piece of prose by speaking it, instead of putting it on paper. (If you're not comfortable talking, just whisper it into your recording device). You can also do this with a friend: take turns speaking until you make up an entire story or poem. #6: Choose a colour or shape, and make a list of every object within your immediate surroundings that has that colour/shape. Can you use each item on your list in a poem or piece of writing? #7: Choose an emotion. If it were tangible, how would it look, smell, sound, taste, and feel? Make a list of five sensory descriptors for the emotion (for instance, happiness might be yellow, smell like strawberries, sound like guitar...) and use them in a poem or piece of prose without mentioning the emotion itself. Ask someone to read your work. What emotion does your imagery conjure up in their mind?
Article by Oksana K. [Editor]
Image credits: Stock Exchange (Lusi); Angelique; Oksana K.; and others.
0 comments
Post a Comment