All five of my published works were the result of a prompt, as is the massive World War I novel I’m working on now.
I’ve written a number of other projects but, curiously, my own ideas seem to go nowhere. It’s only when an editor or a friend suggests something that my imagination flows and the project is purchased.
I’m not sure what that says about me.
Got any ideas? 🙂
What is a writing prompt?
Daily Writing Tips explains it this way:
“A writing prompt is simply a topic around which you start jotting down ideas. The prompt could be a single word, a short phrase, a complete paragraph or even a picture, with the idea being to give you something to focus upon as you write. You may stick very closely to the original prompt or you may wander off at a tangent.”
I recognized the value of a prompt on one of my first writing projects–written to pay back a debt to my then-boyfriend. He wanted a story in exchange for fixing something. I couldn’t come up with an idea of what might entertain him, so I asked my father to give me a title, any title, and I’d write a story to match.
A mischievous sense of humor was his stock in trade. Dad laughed. “How about The Creature that Ate Bakersfield?”
Uh, thanks, Dad.
I wrote it, though, and the boyfriend married me so obviously I’d found some way to turn a prompt into action.
Creative writing prompts are readily available on the internet, of course. You can view some here, here and here.
Prompts are also important in other areas of our lives, in particular, prayer.
I’ve recently written a post describing how to pray for someone for a lengthy period of time.
I personally don’t need more than a few prompts to pray–tell me the person’s name and the general problem. I don’t want to know more than that because I believe it limits my ability to “hear” the direction into which the Holy Spirits is sending me to pray.
(The internet, of course, has sites full of prayer prompts. You can find some here, here and here.)
Since the Holy Spirit is the one who interprets our “moans and groans to God,” I believe he also prompts the earnest pray-er in what to pray about.
That means I “sit” with the specifically limited knowledge that I have about an individual’s situation, and that person’s name. I close my eyes and think about that individual. I try to imagine what they’re thinking and feeling as they go through a circumstance, and I pray “in that direction,” just telling God what crosses my mind.
I “sit with” that person’s image and request and pray in every direction, about every facet–often using the tradition “who, what, when, where, how, and why?” as I pray. As explained in my prayer post, I praise God for whatever comes to mind, repent any part I may have in the situation, ask on behalf of the individual and yield the results in God’s hands. I wait until I feel done, and then I say ‘amen.”
Obviously, I have an imagination–I’m a novelist. I’ve also been a lay counselor for most of my adulthood–I’ve encountered lots of different situations over the years.
But most importantly, I believe the Holy Spirit provides the best prompts for prayer–and He knows far more than I do about prayer and that particular individual.
Prompts are given for action.
They’re to get us moving in the right direction, whether in writing, prayer or even making it to the dentist on time. They’re a tool, and as such are a help. The rest is up to you.
Tweetables
How often do you need prompts in your life? Click to Tweet
The value of a prompt. Click to Tweet
Do you think the Holy Spirit is the best prompt of all? Click to Tweet
Meanwhile, what do you make of that photo at the top of the blog? What does it inspire you to write or pray? 🙂
Prompts are quite useful. They do help with focus. An outline is one form of prompt that many writers use. A yearbook from high school or college is a good prompt for remembering the good, bad and ugly happenings of long days spent with people who wove interesting stories while they may or may not have been learning.
The LEGO soldiers in your photo remind me of many trips to the store to buy the requested sets which were always too expensive. Also, when our home was broken into we figured the intruder was stopped by all the LEGOs that tripped him up. Since all we had of value was books and LEGOs we assumed the intruder was not into those although thinking back it could have served as a good way to clear the floor, “I guess the thief really loved your LEGOs.” I have other memories of LEGOs, like stepping on them barefoot in the dark. Worse than a stone bruise. Hmmm…I could probably write a book about the joy and pain of LEGOs. They are like bricks of gold to some boys and girls and to parents who are young at heart.
My ten year old walked into his room to discover younger siblings had left the Lego all over. He came out shouting, “what am I supposed to do? There are shards of Lego all over the floor!”
I’ve always loved that image–shards of Lego! 🙂