How do you feel about using prompts for writing?

[Aditus]

 

As a member of GA's prompt team, I'm always thrilled with what authors do with our little nudges and I'm honored when they (the nudges) inspire a story, a poem, or make the plot bunnies hop to whatever outcome. Nothing is mine. 

[Valkyrie]

On 10/23/2023 at 11:47 AM, Joie J. said:

That is exactly why I signed up in GA. I was waiting to purchase the author's badge for when I have at least one finished story with multiple chapters in it. So far, I have written hundreds and hundreds of short stories, but no novel length story. I guess I just have to jump right in and start with what I have ready at hand. Short fics it is then. 

The majority of my stories are short stories.  I love the short story form to explore character sketches, different writing styles, changing POV, and other areas I want to work or questions I want to explore the answers to.  I would encourage you to go ahead and start posting your short stories if you are comfortable sharing them.  

 A lot of what I write has been inspired by prompts.  I have a whole box of prompt materials to draw inspiration from.  

Thanks to everyone who gave a shout-out to the Prompt Team.  Fridays are Prompt Day at GA, so keep an eye out for our weekly prompt blog.  The blog is currently on hold while we wrap up this year's anthology, but they will resume on November 10th.  In the meantime, you can check out previous prompt blogs here: 

 

[Joie J.]

3 hours ago, Aditus said:

 

As a member of GA's prompt team, I'm always thrilled with what authors do with our little nudges and I'm honored when they (the nudges) inspire a story, a poem, or make the plot bunnies hop to whatever outcome. Nothing is mine. 

Thank you so much for responding! Creator of prompts - I never thought of it but now your work sounds amazing!! It must be so damn hard to think of a thought-nugget that can spark wires in so many creative minds.

And you're right, none of those stories and poems are yours, ture. But then, you are the mastermind!

Edited October 29, 2023 by Joie J.

[Joie J.]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

The majority of my stories are short stories.  I love the short story form to explore character sketches, different writing styles, changing POV, and other areas I want to work or questions I want to explore the answers to.  I would encourage you to go ahead and start posting your short stories if you are comfortable sharing them.  

 A lot of what I write has been inspired by prompts.  I have a whole box of prompt materials to draw inspiration from.  

Thanks to everyone who gave a shout-out to the Prompt Team.  Fridays are Prompt Day at GA, so keep an eye out for our weekly prompt blog.  The blog is currently on hold while we wrap up this year's anthology, but they will resume on November 10th.  In the meantime, you can check out previous prompt blogs here: 

 

Thanks for responding!

I agree, shorts give you a lot of space for experimenting. Certain writing styles, I don't think will ever work in long forms but they work spectacularly well in shorts. For example, I once wrote a micro piece were I kept changing the tense on every alternate paragraphs to show persent actions and flashes of memories without explaining much.

That sort of writing won't work in long forms; at least not as densely as I used and throughout the story. Short is where you can try those fun tweaks.

Oh, I confess, I'm an inspiration-hoarder! I save pictures in both my laptop and my phone to use them someday. Random pictures that may seem redundant to others but not to me. You may relate, some pictures whisper to you at first glance!

Arbitrarily encountered pictures e.g. a corridor that looks too used but now empty, a front porch with a light on but the door is closed, a desk besides a window, an old terrace under a cloudy sky, rain glistened streets at night, a shabby building in a posh surroundings, someone standing in a crowd and yet so lost that he or she stands out - there are so many pictures in my folders!!! There are so many stories to tell. Maybe I need to clear out some memory spaces afterall 😅

Thanks for sharing the link. I'll be happily sharing my stories there, soon.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Joie J.

[wildone]

Heck, prompts were the avenue to bring a bizarre case in my past to come to light in fiction. 
 

it doesn’t always happen, but I want thank profusely all the people now and in the past, that have made others get the feeling to write  

[Joie J.]

5 hours ago, wildone said:

Heck, prompts were the avenue to bring a bizarre case in my past to come to light in fiction. 
 

it doesn’t always happen, but I want thank profusely all the people now and in the past, that have made others get the feeling to write  

Thanks for responding!

And here's to all the people now and in the past, that have made others get the feeling to write. Oh I got so many of such people in my life! To all of them...

[Thirdly]

As a person with overflowing plot bunnies in their heads that can't possibly all see the light of day in my lifetime...*creating* prompts for others to take and run with is a relief that the idea can come to fruition in some way without my feeling guilty for never bringing it to life.

As a person with overflowing plot bunnies in their heads that keep boffing and multiplying before I can choose one to fulifill...*using* prompts created by others, that I take and run with, is a fun respite from my ridiculously long project list which I force myself to limit down to 5 in cycles. I can then take a break, get out of my own head, and try to jump into the head of the new prompt character. 

It's all win-win to me.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Thirdly

[Joie J.]

1 hour ago, Thirdly said:

As a person with overflowing plot bunnies in their heads that can't possibly all see the light of day in my lifetime...*creating* prompts for others to take and run with is a relief that the idea can come to fruition in some way without my feeling guilty for never bringing it to life.

As a person with overflowing plot bunnies in their heads that keep boffing and multiplying before I can choose one to fulifill...*using* prompts created by others, that I take and run with, is a fun respite from my ridiculously long project list which I force myself to limit down to 5 in cycles. I can then take a break, get out of my own head, and try to jump into the head of the new prompt character. 

It's all win-win to me.

Thank you for responding!

Your process is very interesting, plus fun. One thing I definitely agree with is that running wild with a prompt has its own charm. And it really do helps to get out of all the noises in your head.

[JamesSavik]

Some prompts speak to you. Some of them don't. Sometimes you just don't have time to do them justice.

This one was fun: the Metamorphosis (with my apologies to Kafka)