Writing Prompts for Writer’s Block

When you are a writer not all creative days are equal. Some days the muse or creative gods turn on the faucet of ideas; other days, you feel like you’re stuck in the Mojave without flora, fauna, or even a trickle of H2O. Those are the days when you try to do anything but write, and even taking time to floss each individual tooth seems more interesting than staring at your blank computer screen or that glaring piece of white paper. Even famous writers like Coleridge experienced writer’s block.

On those out-in-the-creative-wasteland days, follow these simple writing prompts to get your mental motor in gear and to jar loose that lodged lexicon.

1) Pick a piece of artwork on your walls, or if your walls are blank, find one on the Web. Instead of describing what you see in front of you, write a detailed backstory for why the artist created that particular piece of work. What was s/he thinking? Why were those colors and forms used? What was s/he trying to portray? Was it a gift for his lover? A way to work out anger or madness? A response to a sermon? Let your mind fashion the story any way you want.

2) Write your name up the screen on either the left or right side or all scrambled on the page. (Small children do this with their names down the page, but you need to write your name up the page.) Now create a story or poem that connects all of those letters somehow. Don’t cheat and move the letters around. Making your brain focus on the letters and trying to work out a cohesive piece around them will help jar you into creative mode.

3) What is the most ridiculous thing that has ever been said to you? Was it in a bar? Was it in a classroom? Usually truth is much stranger than fiction – so write it down. Capture the scenario that led up to the quote and explain what happened next. Turn it into a short story or an epic poem or even the start of a novel.

4) If you could add something to your body, what would it be? Eyes in the back of your head? Another arm and hand but this one with a claw? Write a fantasy tale about what life would be like with this extra gift.

5) Open a dictionary at random and write down the first three words you see. (Memorize their definitions if you aren’t familiar with the words.) Now, take those words and use them in a poem, short story, or even just a scene. How can you fit them together without the writing seeming forced? Once you start writing don’t stop until you cannot think of anything else to say.

Though these are just five tips, using just one of them should help you overcome the obstacle that is writer’s block. Ideas are all around us if we just know where to look, and if we just realize that all of life – every little detail, every little happening – is fodder for the next expression on the page.