A Grand Title

Think of the worst possible title that you can for a short story or poem. Then, write that short story or poem – and try to make it really good. 

Story on Shuffle

Write out a point-form outline for a short story. Every new point should indicate a new event in the plot.

Next, mix up all of the points so that they’re in completely out of order. Do your best to logically, narratively connect the new sequence of events.

Randomly Generated Writing

Here’s an intricate one: this website will generate random strings of numbers for you (we recommend starting with one string of 10-20 numbers). Use the first letter of each spelled out number (1 = One = O, 2 = Two = T, etc.) to start off each new sentence or line of writing.

A poem generated by the line 123456789, for example, would have to look like this:

O

T

T

F

F

S

S

E

N

…with you filling out the rest of the first word and line, of course!

Option 2: Instead of using the letters that begin each number, assign letters to each of the numbers and generate a new sequence. You might make A=1 and Z=26 or could do it at random.

Getting Dreamy

Sometimes, the inspiration that we need has already emerged from within us, and we don’t even realize it. Think about the last dream you can remember and use it as inspiration for your next short piece. Was the dream crazy nonsensical? So are many great absurdist works of literature. 

Phone Prank

Let’s think about phone conversations—specifically, all the ways in which they differ from face-to-face ones. Try writing a short, in-person scene, and then rewrite it again as phone dialogue. What changed? Which do you prefer? Would you rather turn into a poem? And how can you use such differences to your advantage?

Promptly Familiar

Think about déja vu, and write something to evoke that feeling of foreign familiarity, of confused comfort. You could write a full-length science fiction novel about a secret, sinister explanation behind déja vu… or a four-line poem focused on a single moment. That part’s up to you!

Strange Happenings

Think of a stranger that you’ve recently seen in public (and if you can’t remember, then pay attention next time you’re out). What were they doing? What were they wearing? Were they in a hurry? Use the little information that you have about this person to create a short fiction piece about them. Where do you think they were off to…?

Silver Linings

Write something short about something, or multiple things, that are negative or sad. The twist: you also have to somehow emphasize the silver linings. Lots of opportunity to be creative and poetic!

Poetry in People

Time to do some snooping. Next time you’re in public this week, subtly listen in on a conversation. Write it all down (nothing too intrusive), and then turn it into a poem! Creativity encouraged.

Spring Cleaning

Write about a spring cleaning- real or fictional. Embody that feeling of having both lost something (clutter, energy…) and found something (forgotten treasures, peace of mind…).

For Nighttime

Writing often investigates what it means to be alive, and being alive often means going to sleep. Sleep is a very whimsical  experience–and it happens to be shared by all of us. Write about the mystical, muddy moment between consciousness and slumber.

A Little Cliché

Most of the time, writers are advised to avoid chichés. You can’t deny, though, that a lot of them contain some charming imagery. Your prompt today will be one of the clichés from this list; the challenge will be to go as creative as you can get.

Hot vs. Cold

Winter, for many, is the a time of extreme sensation: of cold, mostly, and of an overindulgence in blankets and warm drinks meant to counteract the cold. Conflict is also great for writing, and a back-and-forth tension between hot and cold could come out quite nicely in a creative piece. Take a shot at capturing that feeling.

Future You

Write a letter from your future self detailing what will come for you in the next year. You may find yourself laying out your writing goals, or you may end up writing out a completely fictional narrative. It’s 365 days of possibilities, and so anything goes – just be creative!

Make You Look

Write a 100-word scene about two people making eye contact for the first time.

Bad Advice from Good Writers

Today, I ran into a good article about bad advice from writers (http://lithub.com/on-terrible-writing-advice-from-famous-writers/)

Some of the bad advice is so bad it’s hilarious:

“Include a beautiful woman with raven locks and porcelain skin, preferably quite young, and let her die tragically of some unknown ailment.”

–Edgar Allan Poe

or

“Write only when you have something to say.”

–David Hare

(well, how the heck will you know when that is if you don’t write?)

This last one may be the worst of them all:

“Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.”

–Elmore Leonard

The writer of the article, Danielle Dutton, says, and what of “Woolf and her gorgeous “Kew Gardens” (“From the oval shaped flower-bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks spreading into heart-shaped or tongue-shaped leaves half way up and unfurling at the tip red or blue or yellow petals marked with spots of colour raised upon the surface; and from the red, blue or yellow gloom of the throat emerged a straight bar, rough with gold dust and slightly clubbed at the end. The petals were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue and yellow lights passed one over the other, staining an inch of the brown earth beneath with a spot of the most intricate colour”), so thick with visual description it seems almost to become a garden itself?

Your prompt: pick something so small, so overlookable, you might not see it were you not prompted to spend attention and time engaging with it, and describe it in Woolf-ian detail. Let yourself enjoy that thing, the words you use, the essence of it.