Writing Prompts by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I love using a wide variety of writing prompts. They’re great for triggering further ideas.

Sometimes they’re enough for me to picture a potential character. Sometimes the prompt gives me a theme. Sometimes, especially with opening line prompts, I have a way into a story and I then create the best character to meet the needs of that prompt. I’m unlikely to have a character with their head in a book taking part in an action story, for example. (It’s not impossible but it’s unlikely I’d do it). 

Writing to prompts regularly has helped me get used to writing to prompts set by anyone else. This is useful for competitions with set themes. It’s also handy for responding to writing exercises set by workshop leaders at events such as The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

I set prompts for the monthly Zoom meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. I join in with the prompts on the night and, along with the others, get more flash drafted during the evening. I see this as a win!

Coming up with prompt ideas for this is making me dig deeper into my creative well. This keeps me on my toes as I have to work out how these prompts would best suit the group. 

All prompts I respond to are making me invent stories I would not have thought of in any other way and encourage me to think laterally.

Mixing up the prompt types I use encourages further lateral thinking. I’ve found great uses for a random number generator. For example, the generated number(s) could be part of an address where the action takes place. Or it could be a time (I’ve used this as a countdown) or converted into money, either of which could have huge significance for my characters.  

The random question generator is fabulous for themes. I also use the old school method of a book of proverbs. Proverbs don’t date much. There will always be room for stories with a theme of, for example, a stitch in time saves nine.

As well as using random picture generators, I have picked random pictures I’ve taken from my phone to use as prompts. I use story cubes too.

I recall when I first started going to writing events, I was terrified if an exercise was set. There can be a kind of blind panic you won’t be able to think of something or, if you do, it will be rubbish. But writing to prompts regularly helped me overcome this. 

Firstly, it made me realise I could produce something. 

Secondly, with practice and in talking to other authors, it slowly dawned on me the purpose of a first draft, which is what a writing exercise response is after all, is just to get something down. Perfection isn’t expected. Is there a perfect story anyway?

But if you are looking for ways into creating more stories, I’ve found prompts, from a wide variety of sources, is fabulous for this.