We are all familiar with the saying “Practice Makes Perfect.” That saying definitely applies to a freelance writer. The more you practice writing, the better your writing skills will become. I have read that truth in every single writing book I have read. Many expert writers declare writing practice to be essential for success as a writer.
But practicing isn’t always easy. The hardest part is getting started. How many times have you sat down to a blank piece of paper and found that your mind was equally blank. You couldn’t think of a single thing to write about. Believe me, you are not alone. Ask any teacher who ever gave her students an assignment to write about anything they wanted, how many just sat there staring at their papers. As adults pursuing a writing career, we can find ourselves in that same position. The fountains of creativity just do not seem to be flowing for us at the moment. It’s a horrible feeling, but not an impossible situation.
Creative writing prompts can fuel your imagination. At the very least, they can provide a starting point for your writing. They give you an initial topic. You may write on that topic or find yourself steering into a different direction from the starting point, which was the prompt. It doesn’t really matter whether you stick to the topic or adjust it to a new angle. The important thing is that you end up writing. And that’s the whole purpose of creative writing prompts. They inspire you to practice your writing skill. Some of the writing that you do in response to creative writing prompts may actually end up as marketable articles.
Creative writing prompts are available in different forms. There is one web site that provides a one word writing prompt. It is located at http://www.oneword.com . Other writing prompts may be phrases or complete sentences. There are many books available that provide creative writing prompts. One such book is the Writer’s Book of Matches. This book inspires fiction writing and will definitely help you combat writer’s block.
Another good book for creative writing prompts is The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing. The exercises and games in this book will help you shut down left brain thinking and release the right brain flow of creativity.
There is one more book of creative writing prompts that I thought worth mentioning because it is unique. Instead of using just words as prompts, it uses pictures accompanied by a word prompt to inspire your writing. The name of the book is A Picture Is Worth A 1000 Words: Image-Driven Story Prompts and Exercises For Writers. Many of the prompts focus on a specific point of the writing, such as openings, descriptions, or character developments. That allows you to work on areas of writing that you feel need improving.
Any of these books have good creative writing prompts to get you started practicing your writing. Or you can head on over to OneWord.com each day for a one word prompt to kick you into writing action. Whichever you choose, just write, write, write!
Creative Writing Prompts