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Start Your Writing With These: #4 of Prompts
Sometimes you can write about your novel or project to gain insights
There’s nothing worse than feeling stuck. A novel has bogged down, a story gone off the tracks, an idea for an article or piece just didn’t come together in a way that felt original. Sometimes writing is just about raising possibilities for your brain to mull over, until a bigger inspiration hits.
Too often we write with the prize in mind (publication) instead of more deeply exploring what it was we set out to achieve. We hurry, we push before the idea is ready, we want to be done and move on. But if we simply write about what we are writing, step back and do the spade work before planting the seedling, new possibilities emerge.
Fiction: Write about someone you remember vividly from childhood, using everything you can think of, every memory, every encounter, all the ups and downs. Was it someone on a pedestal? Was it someone you disliked from the start but you didn’t know why? Was it your best friend who you haven’t thought of in years? Then look at how to turn them into a fictional character. Start by giving them a new name, moving them to a new town. Then look at the material you have and write down three possible story ideas. Write the opening paragraph for each idea. Just to see what happens.
