What Writing Prompts Can Do For You

by Theresa Gauthier

A writing prompt is something with which we all have some level of familiarity even if we don’t realize it. Even grade school students have been faced with an assignment to write about what they did over the summer or about their hero or even about a favorite historical character.

These early prompts pry a few pages from most school children. The assignment follows most of us through high school and college, and even into our professional lives—depending on the profession.

Some writers don’t easily embrace writing prompts. I’ve spoken to a few that seem to feel it’s a waste of time to use one since they don’t intend to use whatever they write from one in whatever big project they’ve dived into. 

I like a good writing prompt. I've bought several books worth of them. (The 3  A.M. Epiphany and Room to Write to name two.) Mostly because it gives you a way to practice or a way to get started. Often, I would spend so much time ruminating over my opening sentence that I’d never get anything done. The opening never seemed good enough, so in a sense, I was sabotaging my projects my obsessing. 

I started using a writing prompt to get started. I’d pick a bit of a song or a favorite line from a movie or TV show, whatever struck my fancy or embraced a tone I wanted to emulate. That would be my opening line. It freed me up from the obsession and took off the pressure. I didn’t have to be brilliant. I’d just have to replace the line later. 

    This worked wonders. Giving myself permission to just jump into the story I wanted to tell gave me options. Often I’d find the perfect “opening sentence” was somewhere further down the page, but even if I didn’t, I was always able to craft one once I was able to take the story from concept to written piece.

It’s not a new idea by any stretch, but it worked for me. 

Prompts can be far simpler, of course. You don’t need a full sentence or a phrase. One word will do. Open a dictionary to a random page and pick a random word. You can do this by closing your eyes and pointing to the page or rolling a pair of dice and selecting an entry that corresponds with whatever number you roll. Lucky number seven? Seventh entry on the page! Done!

I once asked my sister to give me a line. It took some convincing, but eventually she gave me something and I was off writing as fast as I could. 

There are any number of ways to create a prompt. There are websites that do it for you, and there are even books and journals full of them. 

However you decide to choose a prompt, the important thing is not to forget to change it—unless of course there’s some good reason not to.

Remember, when writing is the goal, whatever gets you started is a tool worth using.