Many of these prompts are borrowed from other work workshops and creative spaces that offered a lot of places to pause and to active some fun story telling. My challenge would be to consider and explore several of these – possibly offer yourself at least 10-15 minutes to explore each prompt, and see where it takes you.
The magic of this is that prompts can be found anywhere, so consider some places to find inspiration: review your photos, grab a word or a quote from a book, go out in community, go to a book launch to see if they have a prompt or two, visit a museum and see what inspires you.
These prompts were mined from a variety of workshops I’ve attended. Just as I’ve started to catalogue different responses to prompts, I also created a document that houses all the prompts that I’ve received to be able to look back at them and revisit them when I need to. (If you attend workshops, definitely explore recording prompts you receive from others. If you did not come up with the prompt, make sure you are not actively monetizing or earning money from others prompts or ideas.) Here is a snapshot into 15 fun prompts for the summer season (all unrelated to summer) that I’ve collected to share with others:
1. A Significant Dream Write a story, poem, or essay about a character who has a dream that changes their life in a significant way
2. The Secret – write a letter to a community that addresses a secret being kept in the community. It could be an open secret or it could be that some people know and other people don’t. But the secret isn’t good. It’s causing harm. It needs to be addressed. Imagine the scene of the incident and the secret. Use interesting language to address what you think the community should do. Be creative in the solutions you offer.
3. Meals, Meals, Meals - What is your favorite or one of your favorite dishes or meals? Write about this meal? What is the history of this meal? Who has made it? Who has gathered to eat it? What senses, memories, experiences, and futures does this meal evoke?
a. Consider writing from the perspective of someone eating this meal for the first time, or someone eating this meal for the last time.
b. From the perspective of the chef.
c. A close look at one of the key ingredients
4. Contradictions, Paradox, Opposites - Write a piece in which you define “contradiction,” “paradox,” and “opposite” using personal definitions of the term
5. Someone whistles at night / evil spirits prompt – in many indigenous communities, a common warning is whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home. Write a piece about someone who whistles at night.
6. Midnight countdown prompt – Write a piece that features a countdown to midnight
7. Ghosts - Write about a haunting or a ghost. Feel free to interpret the words “haunting” or “ghost” however you see fit.
8. Pull up a playlist (either one you recently created or one that was created for you.) Pick one of these song titles. Write about wherever this song title takes you. Draw inspiration from the song itself, a word in the song title, or the full song title. Draw inspiration from an instrument in the song, a memory it evokes, or wherever else it takes you. Extra credit: use one word from the title at least 5 times in your piece.
9. Talismans - Write about an object that has “talismanic power,” that heals. How does it empower the narrator? What are its healing properties? Who did it belong to? How did it come into the narrator’s life? It could be a bathrobe, a piece of jewelry, a house, etc.
10. Of Two Minds - Write a scene from the prospective of a character that is of two minds
11. “The ___ who ____” - Write a piece starting with the line or title “The _____ who _____”
12. The Devil & The Angel prompt – write a piece responding to the idea of “the devil and the angel on your shoulders”
13. Comms of different times - A message/letter/email to the main character to the same someone-else during three different time periods.
14. Five Senses Exercise - Select a scene or setting from an existing story you are working on. Examine each of the five senses by capitalizing a phrase (i.e.: Under Smell you have WASTE/SHIT or FRIED FOOD followed by a description of how it enhances the setting).
15. Changing Seasons - Write a story that takes place either at the start of a season or during the changing of seasons.
I also share a variety of prompts throughout this year, so if this tickled your fancy, definitely explore some of these prompts that are framed with a bit more backstory and context. Such as…
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