Free as a Bird by Robert Duncan

Image: Adela Camilla Sutton

Whether it's a matter of pastries or freewriting prompts, variety adds a lot of spice to life.

If you don't know what "freewriting" is, go to Freewriting Basics and find out. I love freewriting, especially in a group setting. It is one of the best tools in a writer's toolbox, and that goes double for Write 'em Cowgirls. Many writers use prompts to get started, if they are not freewriting about a work that is in progress or something that is on their minds.

Build a collection of prompts. Then when it's time to write and you don't have anything else you need to work on, or you want to do something that will warm you up and get those creative juices going, you can pick a prompt and go for it.

This page includes many types of prompts that have worked well in my own freewriting group and in solo writing practice. While you can get a lot out of simple prompts with a ten-minute write, some of the more complex ones will be richer if you give them more time.

Remember, a freewriting prompt is NOT a "topic" in the sense of being what you are supposed to keep writing about. NEVER feel like you need to stick to the subject in a freewrite! Let your mind freely associate and feel free to change details such as gender, tense, or other details. A freewrite prompt is a springboard that can take you to all sorts of unexpected places. Hang on to your galloping pen and enjoy the ride!

Free to Dance by Laura Mitchell

Set your words free to dance across the page.

Prompt Ideas

One Word Prompts

Amazing pieces of writing can spring from a single word. You can start an envelope or jar and fill it with little slips of paper each holding a single word. Whenever you think of an interesting word, add it. Whenever you need a fast warm-up or burst of inspiration, pull one out (or poke around and find one that looks good), grab your pen, and write for at least ten minutes, starting with whatever pops into your mind when you read the prompt. Remember, there are no wrong answers in freewriting!

Here are some fun words to get you started:

Cowgirl, jubilee, roundup, gallop, beans, coffee, dust(y), trail, courage, cookie, cowboy, snow, sunset, sunrise, wild, varmint, prairie, drifter, ride, wild, rain, boots, squirt, range, home, red, tumbleweed, wind, ride, western, tornado, drift(ing), showdown, trusty, code, grit, sky, eagle, snake, pal, villain, desert, rocks, sage, country, urban, blue, stranger

Pick a word off that list, grab a pen or keyboard, and go. Just do it now. See where it can take you in ten minutes.

Two Word Prompts

Some of the leaps a mind can make when you take two words that are basically unrelated and use them for your prompt are even more amazing. Pull or choose two words from your envelope and see where the pair bounces you (if you are working in a group, you can have two people each select a word and not reveal them until both have chosen). One of my favorite freewrites ever was the one I did on the two words "sword" and "rainbow", and I am several thousand words into a story that began with a freewrite using the two words "snow" and "castle.

"Write About" Prompts

"Write about" prompts can vary from the mundane (a trip to your favorite store) to the fantastic (digging up an alien device in your back yard), to abstract and interpretive. Here are a few examples:

Write about…

• A simple twist of fate
• An outdoor activity you enjoy
• Digging up something completely unexpected in a garden
• The blues
• Building trust
• Your favorite meal
• An elder who gave you good advice

Wish Nest by Lisa Kairos

Here is one artist's interpretation of a wish nest. What does your wish nest look like? What will you put in it? How will you keep it warm and safe while it grows?

I/Me/My Prompts

These prompts are open-ended statements that include the word I or my or me (though even then, it is only a springboard and can turn to third person or first person for a fictional character or whatever, if that's where the write takes you) sometimes go deep, are sometimes hilarious, and are always worthwhile. Examples:

• My favorite fragrance is…
• I really hate it when….
• I love the feel of a good…
• I wonder why more people don't….
• I laughed so hard the time…
• One thing that really bugs me is….
• I was up to my elbows in…

Line Prompts

A line—a grouping of words that strikes your fancy—can be a ticket to some excellent writes. A line is often part of a sentence, but sometimes it might be a whole one. You can look for lines in things you read or watch—novels, poetry, articles, movies, plays, whatever. You can also come up with lines of your own, either from your own writing or by playing with word toys like Magnetic Poetry. I keep prompts from myself and other members of my writing group in one envelope and prompts from books or other media in another. One of the funniest entries for the lines from my group envelope transpired when one woman—who is also a farmer, raising alpacas among other things—arrived late and breathless, and announced, "I would have gotten here sooner, but I was almost home when the wheel fell off the truck."

Here are a few recent ones from my ever-evolving Magnetic Poetry board:

• beneath a cold moon
• find eternity over open water
• we wander like honey
• white winter blow — sing this sad sky
• the mystery of this neon night

Image: Jupiter Images

Writing boldly only involves figurative heights. Don't be afraid to take a flying leap!

And here (with permission) are some from other writers I admire:

• "The stone smiles deep in its secrets"
  (In the Teeth of Time, "Menemshaw Beach" by Judith Searle)
• "Midnight or morning, the dark takes its own time"
  (Moments of Past Happiness, "The Porch" by Kathleen Spivack)
• "…moving through spring's tender green
  to full summer plumage and rustling gold,
  then stripping to the elegant skeleton—"
  (In the Teeth of Time, "Aspen" by Judith Searle)
• "How beautiful. Not only the past
  in its nurturing colors, but
  today, tomorrow, how beautiful we are."
  (New York Poems, "Home Movies on Broadway" by D.H. Melhem)
• "At the blue moment
  when the balance shifts,
  when the day
  breathes into its own shadow
  like the unlit side of the moon,"
  (Moments of Past Happiness, "Windows" by Kathleen Spivack)

Bubble Man by Brandon Colbert

All the elements, in one vibrant image.

Element Prompts

In element prompts (we're edging into story starters here, but they are also useful for freewriting), a combination of prompts for different elements of a story are chosen to work with. Have a separate envelope or jar or box for each element, and consider making each element a different color in case they get scrambled. Possible elements include:

• Person/Character, which could be a name or a description or a role. For example:
  • Elderly woman, always wears makeup, lives for Bingo
  • Samuel Darby Smitherfield
  • A captain with a busted ship
  • A young woman who can't make up her mind
  • A cheeky middle-aged waitress
  • A refugee from a distant war
  • Lilac Andy
• Place/Location, which can be something specific, like downtown Kansas City or something general, like by a river or in the suburbs. Places like:
  • A bus station at night
  • A campsite by a remote lake, accessible only by canoe
  • Downtown in your favorite city
  • A bar in a small western town on Saturday night
  • A shabby room in a run-down motel
  • A mountain lodge
• Situation/Set-up, which means something that is happening. What's going on? It could be anything from a trip to the zoo to an argument or a tornado on the way.
  • A big storm is building in the distance; the air is crackling with electricity and full of thunder
  • The whole family is coming for a big holiday dinner and a major appliance has broken down.
  • Receiving a major inheritance from an unknown relative.
  • A trip to an arboretum or park or greenhouse
  • A fishing trip
• Object. It could be a monkey wrench or a silk scarf, but give your character something to play or work with.
  • A silver trinket
  • A piece of antique furniture
  • A special rock or stone artifact
  • A dented flashlight
  • A lucky charm
  • An awkward-to-carry, bulky box

Image: Raul Del Rio

Highly detailed images can be a treasure trove for a freewriter.

Visual Prompts

Anything from a snapshot or greeting card to a postcard or picture cut from a magazine or calendar can be a visual prompt. If you don't want to cut up your own magazines, many recycling centers are fine with people taking things out of the bins to reuse (please recycle what remains when you are done with it). Antique stores often have a pile or basket or box of vintage postcards for sale very inexpensively, and some of them even include old handwritten messages, which can double your prompt value. Keep an eye out for good visual prompts to add to your collection.

When you work with a visual prompt, do take time to really look at the whole picture before you start to write. Examine small details as well as large. Maybe the focus of the picture is a girl in a garden, but it may be that the pansies off in the corner or the lilies by the gate are what hold the biggest connection for you. If you don't have a strong first thought pulling you in another direction, one good way to start an image prompt write is by beginning to describe the image, as clearly as minutely as you can, as long as you feel free to follow along when your mind begins making associative leaps.

Image: Gina Bristol

Letter Prompt

Try writing yourself a letter. It could be from your muse with suggestions on a knotty plot problem or it could be from a character in your story you want to get to know better. Just focus a little on who you would like to hear from or what you would like to hear about and start your letter.

Those are just some ideas for prompts.

How about taking a picture of an animal or person very different from yourself (thank you Jan Phillips) and freewriting from the point of view of that animal or person? One writing group I read about sometimes used Magnetic Poetry to create prompts. Each member would pick a few words and arrange them. When everyone had their words set, usually they would each pass their word set to the person beside them. In another group I heard about members would take turns bringing one prompt on which they would all write for 45 minutes or so, then share the results.

There are many types of creative writing prompts. If there is a type of prompt that you or your freewriting group like to use that is not listed here that you would like to share, email me with some details or examples so other Write 'em Cowgirls and friends can share the inspiration and enjoy a free write on the wild side.

Here are a few images of people and animals, if you want to try writing from a different point of view:

Image: Jan Phillips	Image: Terry Krueger
Image: Dorothea Lange	Image: Josh Wentz
Image: Jessica Eberl	Image: © Luc Viatour GFDL/CC
Image: Chris Hill	Image: Ray eye