Writing Prompts That Don't Suck
I promise I won't ask about your protagonist's astrological sign.
I hate writing prompts. I would rather touch my face in a crowded grocery store in the middle of a global pandemic than complete another one of those character interviews.
You know the interviews I’m talking about? The ones that ask gutless questions like, “What’s your protagonist’s most embarrassing moment?” which, in my head, sounds more like, “wHaT’s YoUr PrOtAgOnIsT’s MoSt EmBaRrAsSiNg MoMeNt?!” Or worse, “If you peeked inside your main character’s nightstand drawer, what would you find?”
Writing prompts are supposed to spark ideas, but they’re usually more like writing repellent for me. Still, I find myself succumbing to them occasionally, usually when I’m looking for ways to deepen a piece of writing. Here are a few non-prompt prompts that give me useful nudges.
The things I read prompt me to write more than anything else. I often choose reading material based on what I’m writing so I can gather my own prompts from it.
For instance, I’ve been reading books with Gen X characters for the novel I’m writing, which led me to Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s remarkable book Fleishman is in Trouble. These lines got my wheels turning:
“People under forty had optimism. They had optimism for the future; they didn’t accept that their future was going to resemble their present with alarming specificity. They had velocity.”
So, I wondered, in what ways has my protagonist lost her optimism? Her velocity?
Things that are intended for personal development (rather than character development) often give me that urge to write, too. One New York Times Modern Love column included a list of 36 Questions That Lead to Love, which cited a study that “explores whether intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them ask each other a specific series of personal questions.” I decided to go over these questions with the protagonist in the novel I’m writing (even though none of the questions had anything to do with cheese). Doing so led to a heightened sense of intimacy and connection with this character.
The prompts I enjoy most, though, are exercises that encourage me to be messier and more experimental. The best prompts encourage lightness and playfulness on the page, two elements I often sacrifice in my process. My friend Athena Koppe recently posted a fun prompt she came up with: whenever she opens a new bottle of wine, she’ll go to her typewriter and write for 30 minutes about whatever the wine was making her feel, taste, or think.
So as you can see, you often don’t need to seek out writing prompts. Instead, I encourage you to learn to notice prompts that already exist around you. Learn to look for that glimmer in everything you consume.
The books featured in this issue of Lonely Victories are linked to Loyalty Bookstores, a group of black-owned independent bookstores in Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD. I hope you’ll do your part in supporting black-owned businesses with me!
What kinds of writing prompts help you write?
I asked a handful of fellow writers to tell me about their favorite prompts and research sources. Here’s what they shared with me.
“I write fiction, but I love reading a lot of nerdy science stuff. It’s a great way to spark creativity and to mine for new metaphors.” —Sarah
“In David Sedaris' virtual Masterclass, he talks about how sometimes when you're living a moment in time it ‘feels like a story’ and you just know you will be able to write about it later. That prompted me to start mining my memory not for things I find funny in retrospect, but instead for times I felt like, ‘Wow, is this really happening?’ It helped me tap into a different set of memories.” —Alison
“During quarantine, I’ve been following Suleika Jaouad’s isolation journals and the prompts have been very thought provoking and motivating—even if it’s just for a journal entry. Sometimes it turns into more.” —Taylor
Want to be included in a future issue of Lonely Victories? Answer some questions on upcoming topics and I may include your response!
Really Digging This
Here’s what I’ve been reading, looking at, listening to, and loving lately.
I just finished reading Kiley Reid’s novel Such a Fun Age, and it is, hands-down, the best book I’ve read this year. It’s just as important as it is delightful.
My friend Kalee urged me to read Elizabeth Ames’ latest novel The Other’s Gold, which feels like an adult version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in the very best way.
To make WFH life a little bit more fun, Verve Records recently released a playlist called Work From Home with Astrud Gilberto. It’s been playing on a loop in my house.
Tell me about your lonely victories.
“Spent all day Saturday writing! ” —Wendy
“Starting in February I set a goal to write a minimum of 550 words for my novel every day (without using extra words from the day before to get a head start). So each new day when I reach that goal is both a small and big lonely victory, because now I've got over 50K words of a novel I didn't have before.” —Julia
What’s a lonely victory you’ve had in your writing process recently? Tell me all about it here!
Another Bit of Good News
The kind folks at Hobart recently published one of my essays! It’s about Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, juvenile diabetes, and marriage—and it’s the most personal thing I’ve ever written. I’d love for you to read it. You can do that here.
If you’re wondering what happened to the interview portion of this newsletter, don’t fret! I’ve decided to start publishing writer interviews as their own issues of Lonely Victories. The writers I talk to have so many golden nuggets to share and I don’t want to have to condense them!
In the next issue, I’ll share novelist Laura Lee Smith’s thoughts on prompts and research. Stay tuned!
Special thanks to Aysha Miskin for the original illustrations + banner lettering and to Becca Wucker for editing this newsletter.
“Writing alone can give you a very deep sense of satisfaction and lonely victory.” —Greta Gerwig