“Hey, do you want to marry me?”
I almost peed on my pants when I heard that question. It was not something I’ve been waiting to hear, but it was unexpected and decidedly unromantic. Believe me! All I did was share a bag of popcorn with him at the cinema, and now I have to marry this guy?
“Why?” I asked.
“Ha! Ha! You’re so funny. Come on, let’s get married. Don’t you want to marry me?”
Okay, let’s stop it there for a moment.
Do you want to know my answer?
Or, you can FINISH MY STORY …
This is your writing prompt.
It is hard to start writing when you are staring at that white screen on your computer, and nothing is coming out of your head.
Writing prompts are guides to help you jumpstart your writing.
It can help you stimulate your creativity and help you spark new ideas for your work. It enables you to generate a new topic to write about.
Writing prompts may be a simple sentence or a question, or a topic you could elaborate further. It can also be a scenario or a picture you can write about.
Let me give you an example. I used a television commercial for a brand of coffee when I was writing a scene on a marriage proposal. This is the romance novel that I am currently working on.
So here it is, take a look at it.
On some occasions, Jonie would spend the weekend with Philip at his apartment. She particularly loves the breathtaking view of the waterfront from Philip’s bedroom window. She daydreams about the freshness of the seashells and the water from the marina. Her daydreaming was interrupted for a few moments when Philip poured steaming water in her cup.
“Sugar?” he asked. Jonie nodded without saying a word, and then quickly reached for the bowl of sugar that Philip placed on the table. While still looking out at the window and watching the waves, she scooped one teaspoon into her cup, followed by a second one when an object with a loud metallic sound fell in her cup. It caught her attention, and she quickly stirred the cup and scooped the object out.
“Oh, Philip,” her eyes bulged out with surprise.
Philip took the object from the teaspoon. He went down on his knees and carefully placed it on her left ring finger.
“Jonie, there are not enough words to describe how much love I have for you, and I couldn’t think of the best way to do this except to ask you to marry me. Would you marry me, Miss Jonie Riviera?”
So, here you go. The above scenario was an imagined event that was generated from something so simple as a television commercial.
Writing prompts are straightforward to use, and they come very useful when you are searching for something to write.
In any field of expertise like artists, performers, or even authors like us, need to hone our craft to get better at what we are doing.
The only way to improve our writing is to continually write and have the willingness to learn to grow as better authors.
Let start filling in our treasure chest with bits of prompts like photos, a sentence, a question, a word, a scenario we saw on the TV, and anything we come across. All these are little gems that will come handy one day.
Who knows, you might finish a whole new story only using your responses to these prompts you kept in your treasure chest.
Perfection requires practice. Our imaginations are our tools to make writing more natural and less complicated. Sharpening our imaginations by regularly writing will make us better writers.
Now, think about the time when that special someone in your life proposed to you and asked for your hand in marriage. What about you guys, planning that important event in your life and dreaming of a perfect time and place to ask that lovely lady for her hand in marriage.
It is a good place to start. You’ll never know. Once you start writing you may end up finishing a whole story.
Good luck.
Dream big and make it happen.
Cheers!
Ninagracia
Ninagracia 