Today’s 15 minute writing prompt:
You’ve just met the Grim Reaper! Describe the circumstances of your meeting and the Reaper!
Did the Reaper meet your expectations in appearance?
Was the Reaper there for you?
Would you care to share here any lines that you wrote?
I’m going to start with the idea that the presence is neither grim nor dressed as a scary dude with a scythe.
I’m going to remember being with my mother in law - after a long illness bravely borne - as she took her last breath and slipped gently and peacefully away.
I’m going to remember a dear friend contacting me, when I couldn’t get to see her during her last hours, and saying with her usual fearlessness: “This is…fascinating.”
What an incredibly beautiful affirmation! I love what you brought to this prompt (and to your loved ones).
Brilliant!
I have a question for others about writing prompts. Do most of them typically try to put you personally into the prompt situation? I personally get creatively blocked by prompts that ask me to put myself in the situation. Is it just that it is easier for people to put themselves in it and it’s meant to be easy to get your writing flowing?
Probably no one would ever care if instead, someone responded to a prompt with a character in mind instead of themselves, but for me to do that, I have to overcome all that internalized training to be sure to ‘write to the prompt’ for essays and submissions.
Do others struggle with writing prompts in this or other ways that seem hard to explain on the surface?
I have never found it easy to write to prompts that are specific or situational because I dislike the narrow parameters they create. They tend to shut down my creativity. I do so much better with more abstract prompts, such as descriptive words that conjure images, sensory prompts, i.e., sights, sounds, scents, etc., of different times or places, or intense emotions that I can apply to characters and then figure out what happened to cause that emotional response. These type of prompts trigger my imagination to create scenes or envision characters and can help me overcome writers block.
I absolutely hope that you substitute anything that you like.
A prompt is more about taking 5-15 mins to write something creative, anything creative, the prompt is just seed of an idea if you need someplace to start from.
I am impressed by folks that can switch up what the prompt is suggesting, even substitute animals or fantasy beings or other book/movie characters for themselves.
(There are prompts that suggest those kinds of scenarios as well)
I also applaud anyone saying this writing prompt doesn’t work for me, BUT this idea/prompt over here does, just as much as I applaud folks that used the writing prompt suggestion to their best ability.
Truly there is no right or wrong way to use them. I suggest them in hopes of inspiring a little writing you-time.
I shall look into some other prompt styles, please let me know if any pop up that work better for you? So I can supply more like it.
I will include more prompts in this style.
I’m thinking if I do a few prompt suggestions in different styles folks can pick the one they feel charged by, does that sound like it might be interesting?
Any one else feeling conflicted about writing prompts?
Is there anything I can do to help?