Writing prompts

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Ashmash467

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Alright guys, when you get stuck, what are some of your favorite writing prompts to get you jump started again? Do they help? Do you listen to music or do anything else to get the creative juices flowing?
 

regdog

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Please keep your hands and feet inside the thread while it's in motion. Thank you
 

Ashmash467

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That is funny because I did that, then I killed off the guy. It was horribly tragic and heart wrentching but now his wife is trapped in a castle with said hubbys twin brother who begins to fall for said main character.
 

Motley

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I love writing prompts for practice or starting a story. I use anything from browsing art sites to fiction plot generators to random groups of words. If I get stuck in a project, I usually jump to another piece and work on that for a while. Sometimes my brain just has to stew a bit longer in the background to come up with what happens next.
 

Ari Meermans

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I find writing prompts too restrictive, but I'm pretty sure that has as much to do with my literal-mindedness as it does the prompt itself. Ray Bradbury kept a list of nouns in a notebook he carried with him. Whenever he felt blocked or wanted to let loose and write, he'd pick a noun from that list and write about it. Everything he could think of. I didn't learn about that tip early enough to keep any sort of substantial list, so I periodically grab a noun and work with it. Trying that did surprise me by what it does, in fact, let loose from the depths of my noggin.
 

Carrie in PA

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I love writing prompts. I have the writing.com app that generates prompts in a variety of ways (It's $1.99, but totally worth it, IMO), or I'll browse Pinterest, or if I'm feeling particularly adventurous, I'll just google "writing prompts" and see what comes up.

I love that they're zero pressure, but still valuable, because time spent writing = practicing. I've gotten tons of decent short stories out of prompts, one novel, and a massive file full of garbage.

Prompts let my brain relax and play for a while, and then I can get back to my real work on my WIP.
 
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