Spring is here (finally!) along with good intentions to get more writing done and to finish a major project by months’ end. (I hope to be able to share it when I post June’s writing prompts.)
I hope that the longer days have inspired you to get outdoors more and do some walking. Walking is shown to help creativity, and I need all the help I can get in that department. Here’s a quote from an article in Psychology Today by Linda Wasmer Andrews: “A study from Stanford University showed that, when people tackled mental tasks that required imagination, walking led to more creative thinking than sitting did. … Across four experiments, from 81% to 100% of participants produced more creative ideas while walking, as compared to sitting. What’s more, when those who had walked sat down afterward, the creativity boost lingered — great news for anyone who takes walking breaks and then returns to a desk.”
Okay. No excuse now. Get walking and have a wonderful, creative may.
Here are your writing prompts for May.
Use one, some, or all of the words in one of these groups to create a story or poem.
- Tired, recording, glasses, orange, rain
- Midnight, message, last, sounds, glow
- Caught, under, laugh, shock, eyes
- Instant, ocean, dunes, escape, breeze
- Network, intricate, flaw, time, over
Here are some opening lines you can use for your story.
- I belonged here.
- “Do you think dreams mean anything?”
- When I inherited a 100-year-old house, no one told me that a ghost came with it.
- The guards were at the door.
- The suns slipped behind the horizon.
- Sometimes, I should just keep my mouth shut.
- I hadn’t like Henry when we were both 8 years old. I wasn’t expecting things to be different seeing him __ years later.
- If you want a friendship to unravel in a hurry, get caught telling a lie.
- The sunlight warmed my face—such a relief after so many cold, grey days.
- One more mountain to climb.
Perhaps one of these titles will inspire a story: One More River, Sheltered, The Princess Who Cried, No Escape, The Lights Go Out, Batter Up, Ben Benjamin Tells a Story, Too Late, Flying Lessons, Pack Rat. Something Has to Give, Guardian Angel.
Use one of these short dialogue excerpts to crate a scene or start a story.
- That place is haunted.
- No such thing.
- I dare you to prove me wrong.
- Look! In the ditch.
- What?
- Kittens.
- I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
- Where?
- On the screen.
- That’s not good.
- Happy Birthday!
- Do I know you?
- You will soon.
If you get stuck for a story idea, consider the time. Look at a clock or think of a clock and pick a random time, say 1:28 a.m. What could people be doing then? Coming home from a party? Waking from a nightmare? Working in an all-night gas station? What could happen to create a problem for your character before 1:30?
Hope you have a writerly month ahead!