Listing Your Way to a Good Writing Prompt

Writing Prompt: Lists (20 minutes)

This exercise provides a way to find out what it is you really need to write about, the subjects and themes that are so important to you that you'd don't even realize their effect on your life.  This exercise is particularly useful for writing memoir, and it can also be adapted for poetry.

Step 1 - Choose Your Subject

To start, first choose a place, a subject, or an event.  Generally, you want to find something which you are intimately familiar with - your childhood bedroom, for example, or a memorable trip you've taken.  I recommend taking the first such idea that comes to mind, regardless of how emotional or dull it might seem - you'll find there's probably a reason it's the first thing you thought of.

Step 2 - Write Your List

Next, begin writing a list of nouns associate with this place, subject, or event.  Write continuously - don't pause to think about the nouns, just write them one-after-the-other.  You might end up repeating words, and that's perfectly all right - the goal is to keep the pen to the page.  For example, I might write about the inside of my refrigerator (it just came to mind):

ketchup
mustard
bouillon
soy milk
orange juice
sweet potatoes
mold
oranges
mold
mold
oranges
ham
eggs
pancake mix

It seems like a simple list, possibly a little too revealing (Mold shows up three times?  Why am I so obsessed with mold?  I don't see it in my fridge that often...)  Yet this list carries interesting meanings for me.  Normally, I don't have ketchup - I never buy ketchup.  But I have some that a friend gave me when he moved to another city, and my girlfriend loves ketchup.  I could write a story about how she also likes Thai fish sauce, and now I have a bottle of the stuff in my apartment.  Then we have the sweet potatoes, my favorite food.  It's sad when I have to throw them out because of mold.  Especially since I have to cook for myself to save money.  And saving money is part of my larger plan to become a writer - which would take me to larger topics like how I relate with my family, how I chose my apartment, and other areas of my life I wouldn't post online.  Then we come to the ham, eggs, and pancake mix.  No, there's no pancake mix in my fridge - and no eggs, either.  But breakfast is my favorite meal (particularly pancakes), and my mom simply refuses too cook messy food on the stove in the morning.  So no pancakes, and I spent much of my childhood eating eggs from the microwave - again, this leads to interesting ideas for further writing.

Step 3 - Write Like the Wind

The key to the exercise is to write quickly.  Jot down as many nouns as possible over the course of five minutes or so.  And then, once you have a good list (twenty nouns, more or less - sometimes I go with ten, other times I don't hear the muse until I hit fifty), set a timer for ten minutes.  You can go longer, if you like, but use the timer - it pushes you to write faster.

Now the fun part - writing the thoughts that come from your list.  Timer set, write what you're thinking.  Write whatever comes to mind.  Go as fast as you can, never raising the pen from the page (or never pausing your typing).  Don't worry about typos or grammar - these things can be fixed later.  The goal is just to get the thoughts out on the page, wherever they take you.  It may feel chaotic at first, but you'll find that a hidden order emerges as you write.

Step 4 - Repeat

The beauty of this exercise is that you can do it anywhere, anytime, without a specific prompt to start with.  Even if you're just waiting in line with a couple minutes, you can jot down the first five words that come to mind and then scribble away from association.  And a nice variation would be to rearrange the words into a poem.  Or, if you're primary aim is poetry, then simply write out lists of rhyming words - you'll be amazed by the associations you find.

Happy Writing!

Ryan

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January 22, 2010: The Door

Freewriting and Memoir

Today, we turn to memoir for our inspiration.  As a freewriting tool, memoir is one of the best ways to reach deep into the subconscious mind in the search for inspiration.  However, it can sometimes be difficult to face past memories, let alone share them with the world.  This is why we never require anyone to share every story for a freewriting workshop - your writing is yours, to keep or to share as you wish.  And I urge you to remember this always - write whatever comes to mind, regardless of what others might think.  You have my permission to tear up any story you don't like.

So, first, please set your timers for 10 minutes (you may take 15 minutes, if you prefer), but don't start the clock just yet .  Once you're ready, please read on.


Now then, for today's prompt:
This prompt is one I personally enjoy.  It's a very simple prompt, and this is why it works so well.  Yet before coming to it, we're going to use a few minutes to center ourselves.  Often, writing feels challenging because it's hard to let go of the stresses of the rest of the day.  But for right now, we're going to do just that.  First, I'd like you to go ahead and take in a deep breath - a deep, soothing breath.  You may hold it a moment, and then let it out.  As you read, know that the shape of these words has been fitted to your next deep breath, and you're already taking in that deep breath.  You're letting it fill your body because today, now, this moment, you have only words and this breath.  And you let it out as a feeling of peace descends.  Breathing, now, is soft.  It is deep.  It is regular and comfortable.  You are enjoying this moment because today, as you read, you imagine a staircase.  It is a tall staircase, lit only enough to guide your way up to the landing.  And you are glad to be on this staircase.  This staircase, it leads to a door, one which you have never opened.  But there is something you want to write about, and it lives behind this door.  You have always wanted to write about it, and you are glad that today has come.  Because today, at this moment, you are at peace with your words.  Today, we relax as we take one step up, and then another.  For this subject - this very important subject you have always wanted to write about - is more than words.  It is an image.  It is a shape.  It is a collection of sounds you hear in your waking dreams.  And just now, at this moment, as you take each step nearer to the door, you hear these sounds coming from behind the door.  And so you reach forward, turning the knob, and opening your door.


Describe what you see.  Write as fast as you can until the time stops.

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