Why not Kick-Start Your Writing with this Writing Prompt?

posted in Arts, Fine Arts Centers, Fine Arts Schools by Admin on June 13th, 2009

By Mike Sellars

creative writing prompt the ‘Why on Earth Would He Do That?’ exercise.

Here’s a bit of background before we get to the exercise proper. As writers, we are repeatedly instructed to ‘write what we know’. It’s a frequently chanted mantra in most creative writing classes. And it’s great advice. By writing from our own experiences, we are able to add depth, texture and verisimilitude to our stories. However, if we were to only write from our own experience, we would soon find ourselves in the role of biographer rather than in that of novelist or fiction writer.

In order for a tale to really shift up a gear, to fully engage with the reader’s imagination, there has to be an element of surprise, something they didn’t see coming. If we only write from our own experience, it’s almost impossible to achieve that element of the unexpected (unless we’ve been fortunate or unfortunate enough to have had an extraordinary life).

A piece of writing about a man fixing a photocopier is unlikely to grasp the reader if all it does is rely upon everyday experience. The story would evolve as follows: the man arrives, is taken to the malfunctioning appliance, assesses it, looks at his instruction book, opens up the photocopier, takes out a ball of tattered paper and says, “That was your problem, right there. Sign here.” Very unlikely to keep you up all night, turning the pages, is it?

But what if the photocopier technician did something that made you think, ‘Why on Earth would he do that?’ What if the photocopier repairman took a small tobacco tin from his pocket, opened the tin to reveal a loathsome cockroach and then let the horrible thing loose in the inner workings of the photocopier?

Why on Earth would he do that?

You tell me: you’ve got the beginnings of a story now. A strange story, true, but a story all the same.

This procedure can be applied to more or less any everyday situation to generate an (inspiring story starter. It needn’t be as creepy as the example above.

Try these:

1. What if the driver of your bus suddenly stopped his vehicle in the middle of a busy junction and began to weep?

2. What if the mailman, instead of posting letters through your door began posting cigarettes?

3. What if the woman who sits opposite you at work suddenly began shaving her head?

Why on Earth would these people do these things?

I hope you’ve found this story starter effective. The very best of luck with your writing!

Mike Sellars

For more writing prompts and story starters visit my blog

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