creative writing journal prompts

creative writing journal prompts

Creative Writing Journal Prompts

1. Introduction

Imagine you have a stack of spiral-bound notebooks. Imagine you have a pen that writes like a dream. Imagine you are never at a loss for what to write. Creative Writing Journal Prompts makes that fantasy an achievable reality. This book is one of several delightful tools and ideas developed by author MoezArt. This and her other books are the result of much blood, sweat and “eureka!” light bulb moments, all designed to help writers nurture and grow their creative abilities and skills. With it, writers absorb a wealth of information presented in a logical, interesting and often humorous way. They get pointers, valuable advice and writing techniques. MoezArt believes practicing useful writing techniques in small, manageable doses is less intimidating and more fun. Writers in any genre can benefit from building their skill with this easy-to-use journal writing technique described as “Writing From The Right Side of the Brain.”

2. Exploring Personal Experiences

2.1 Personalizing the Prompt No two personal experiences are alike, no matter how it may seem at first glance. Each person walking down the street can witness a car crash, or the sunset, or the homeless man on the corner, but each person will see these things in a different light. They will notice different details, different nuances. They will have different emotional responses. It is these personal differences that provide an endless source of writing material. A good journal entry enables the writer to connect with past events, however insignificant they may appear, and in doing so derive new relevance. Writing about things you can remember allows yourself to dig deeper and discover new meaning. It is this act of contemplation that generates insight, personal growth, and transformation. As a result, your aim is to write in a way that invokes as vivid a recollection of an event as possible. Step back in time. What did you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste? What were you thinking? What were you feeling? Who were you then and how are you changed? All these questions act to color and deepen the experience. Finally, it is important to confront and explore events that were painful or uncomfortable. People have a tendency to bury their heads and avoid, but a writer’s job is to face these events bravely, try to make sense of them, and learn from them.

Sometimes, with my own writing, I must force my way through the mechanical stages because I despair of finding anything interesting to write about. – John Steinbeck

3. Imaginative Storytelling

Probably the biggest challenge is finding ideas. There are countless ways we can use to find an idea. The easiest way is to modify from an existing story, but imagine if the story is known having the same theme as the story that we will make, people will think it is plagiarism. If it’s just for practice, it may still be okay, but it will be problematic if we make it to be published. Everyone agrees that the best idea is the original idea. From there, there are simple ways like looking at the surroundings or by meditation. An idea can come from anywhere and anytime, so be ready at any time to note it.

Don’t want to be instant. Imaginative storytelling needs a process. When an idea comes up, note it. Start from the general outline, but if possible, note the details too because it cannot be denied that sometimes the detailed idea that first appears is often missed. And usually the best inspiration comes when we are away from the paper. If in unexpected time it comes up a new idea or detail, don’t be lazy to change the old idea. In result, we will get a better story.

This is a perfect thing for the people who want to enhance their mind to imagine. This section clearly gives the big point of what creative writing is. To write something, in this case a story whether it is fiction or non-fiction, is not an easy thing to be done. It is simple if we just put the theme and make a list from the beginning until the end. But if we want to give the reader the deep feeling about the story, it is something more. By following these steps, I can say that the story will be more interesting to be read.

4. Character Development

There are many strategies for character development, and your characters’ personalities and actions can provide endless possibilities for story ideas. The following prompts should help you to generate items on your character sketches. First, let’s start with some easy ideas to get into the mood of writing about personality. Make a list of a dozen character quirks. Then develop a paragraph for a character, perhaps using some of those quirks, but it’s also a good idea to make a character and then assign a few of the quirks. Now do the same for unusual habits; the more out of the ordinary, the better. Then, create a few scenarios where a character’s reaction is uncharacteristic due to stress or surprise, and brainstorm situations where a less than honest character is evasive or lying. Now do the same, but with your favourite animal. This is a fun way to start thinking about personalities, and with the comparative nature of the animal example it might give you ideas about changing their motivations, goals, or even the nature of the character. These prompts are designed to force you to think about how a character’s specific position in the world will affect how they see it. Start by considering how a character’s profession will colour their expectations and experiences. Now redo the same prompt with a different profession. Now do the same with social class. Imagine a character raised with a silver spoon in their mouth as opposed to one who has only ever known poverty. Come up with a task or situation and brainstorm how it would be done by two characters of different age, or of two different cultures, and consider the generation gap or clash of ideas. Now take an existing situation in your story, and consider really how a person with that character’s personality would act, rather than defaulting to a typical hero/rescuer stereotype. Data from all of these prompts can give you a terrific understanding of “how character x would do y given z” which can be invaluable for writing a strong consistent character.

5. Reflective Writing

The next day took an unexpected turn when… Who was involved? What were you thinking at that moment? How did the events impact you and others? This leads on to considering the consequences of your actions and how a situation could have been handled differently. What were you thinking and feeling at the time? This will reveal how the event contributed to a part of yourself that may have been hidden. The private thoughts and emotions can be described through writing and used as an analysis to explain the way one reacts to certain situations. This type of thinking is useful for generating a form of cause and effect that will aid in goal setting and increase the probability of changing a behavior for the better. Step by step, this process will unfold a deeper meaning of the experience and will end with an action plan to prepare for a similar situation if it was a positive experience or solve a problem if it was negative.

Reflective writing is one way to nurture creative thoughts. It is a succinct and precise form of writing to ensure the ideas are crystal clear. Reflective writing helps to make sense of what one has learned rather than staying at a surface level of knowing an event or an experience. It also enables the association of emotions with the learning process. Below are some questions aimed at stimulating ideas for reflecting on the past, present, and future.