Sometimes our creativity needs a jump start just like the battery of a car. However, a writing prompt can often hinder the spontaneity of the creative process. Above is a piece of Canvas Stationary with a check box list of options for the pen. Maybe it’s still intrusive to the creative process or maybe it isn’t. Either way its goal is meant to get the pen moving and you writing.
There are about 10 potential prompts on this check list. I chose to write about my most vivid dream. Below I wrote one stanza in the space below. It read:
“I remember a house
of a Victorian nature
whose key was lost…”
I had this dream when I was maybe 9 years old. I was in this weird house that I had never seen before. For some reason I was frantically looking for some key. I didn’t know what it was to or the reason. Nevertheless, I was determined to do so. What I remembered most about that dream was the resolve to find that key was with me upon waking. I searched for it in my desk and a few minutes later realized…there wasn’t any key, it had been a dream. I never have forgotten that dream. I sometimes remember that “lost key” when I feel, in a word, lost.
This writing excercise made me realize that even though writing prompts are prescribed or prewritten, what we generate are still our own pieces. After all every journey begins somewhere and writing is no different.
What is your opinion about writing prompts?
Love Write,
j.ajabad 2012
