Prompts & Cues #BeatTheBlock

Although I have so many novel ideas, I sometimes like to take a break and just write a little something totally unrelated, usually 10 page short stories that I don't need to spend days planning and plotting, because I've found that I'm a pantser when it comes to short stories--well there isn't a real point to planning something so short in my eyes.



If anyone is actually suffering from writer's block, then I strongly suggest buying a book full of prompts, I have one, "The Writer's Book of Matches - 1,001 prompts to ignite your fiction" however, I have seen a lot of websites where you can visit and they'll give you free writing prompts, it's just as simple as going to Google and asking "1,001 writing prompts" please and sure enough it'll spit out a few links which I'm sure will all be good.



I've also seen features on blogs where they put up a different picture and people are supposed to take inspiration from it and write a paragraph or something. I'm not sure, I've never really looked into it, except the pictures they put up are really nice and I can understand why people would be inspired by them.



Every writer will take something different from a picture or a prompt, some people write fantasy and so will turn their prompt into that, other people write romance, so they will incorporate love into their prompt.



I just flipped through my book and found a nice one, it's nice because it can be manipulated to do anything. I can think of lots of different ideas for different genres. This exercise is also good if you've been told that you need to incorporate one genre into your writing or one that you want to get better at.



"I know you're not religious, but why don't you try praying anyway?"

One of the things I immediately noticed about this prompt was that you character could be male or female and their prayer could be anything. I was thinking something selfish because I know a lot of religious people who prayer for other people, and it's always seemed quite sacred to prayer.

ROMANTIC -- "to fall in love", a typical female lead, perhaps she's just broken up with someone and she wants to fall in love again, of course she will, but then there's her ex-boyfriend--that could be the drama in the romance.

FANTASY -- perhaps all of their prayers are answered, and they could prayer for something and not want it. A usual one which I always seem to think of is praying that you had a different family or they weren't your sibling.

DRAMA -- after brushing religion off all of those years and taking the chances on the words of a friend, your protagonist could become religious and change their whole life, which in turn messes with the lives of everyone else--a partner, children, career, hobbies, social life etc.

MYSTERY -- a religious nut believes that God is coming down to Earth to kill the sinners, or something like that, and slowly people are dying, one by one (if you've watched Harper's Island, I was thinking that) there are people obviously trying to figure out and this religious nut is all like "prayer" "redeem yourself" --someone you see on the streets holding one of those cardboard signs that read 'REPENT' in blood red paint.



I know that there are so many other genres, but they are just a few suggestions as to how a writing prompt doesn't have to limit you in what you write. It is also a good exercise to extend the tendrils of your imagination and let ideas free fall and land where they may.



Happy Writing Guys & Gurls! :)

~Joseph Eastwood