Creative Club #3

Variations on prompts, and writing as play.

It turns out that there are many ways to approach a writing prompt, and as we get deeper into the In Writing Creative Club, I’m mulling over the options.

They can be quite substantial. When I first interviewed the novelist Liane Moriarty for Grazia magazine, she told me that her book Apples Never Fall came from a prompt written by her sister:

In 2019, I was having what I was calling The Year of Joy … I had this self-indulgent idea that I would take a little bit more time with my next book and that I wouldn’t get started on anything new right away, but that I might write some short stories or shorter pieces. So I asked my sister to send me a prompt, and she texted just a few sentences, which described a bike lying on the grass and some apples lying next to it, and that became the opening chapter. It was funny because it was meant to be just a little bit of inspiration, and instead I sat there and wrote a whole novel from those few lines.

I’m going to call that a scene-setting prompt: a few sentences that describe a situation. Should we try one in the In Writing Creative Club at some point? I worry that some writers might find it restrictive – but others might find the parameters helpful. In Liane’s case, her sister knew that her novels often included a mystery element; I haven’t wanted to make assumptions about what you might write.

Lots of self-help practices use journalling prompts that are more soul-searching, like ‘What I would tell my 18-year-old self’ or ‘Three things I’m grateful for’. I think these exercises are really valuable and might be something we’ll dip into occasionally, but I’m more interested in fostering creativity here than self-awareness. I know there are subscribers to In Writing who are accomplished fiction writers, but most people stop writing stories when they leave school (or much earlier). It’s quite daunting to return to that as an adult; it can feel silly.

It’s not silly. It feels good. Have a go, if you haven’t already.

I’m interested to hear how different prompts land in our Creative Club – what sparks creativity for you and what doesn’t. I found the first one (‘It had become impossible to sleep’) easier to work with than the second (‘What I didn’t know ten years ago’), but should writing always come easily? Maybe it’s good to be forced to dig deep. Some writing days are just harder than others anyway.

What I personally like in a prompt (at the moment, anyway) is something quite visceral – sensory description gives a quick way into imagination – but also minimal, so I have freedom to do what I want with it. Today’s prompt falls into that category.

As usual, please use it as a springboard: see what pops into your head, and go with it. I’ve loved reading what you have been sharing in the comments, and I think sharing work in general is a very healthy practice for any writer. (It’s also very easy in the comments under these posts, because it’s a closed group and everyone’s very kind.) Please try sharing something this week if you haven’t before – between 50 and 300 words is great.

So, here is today’s prompt: