Ask Vivek: What is your favourite writing prompt?
Over the years, I have turned to writing prompts especially when I have felt stuck (a.k.a. “writer's block”). Writing prompts are a useful way to ignite the writing muscle, not unlike the ten minutes of stretching you do before hopping on the treadmill or begin lifting weights. I also use writing prompts as icebreakers in workshops.
My favorite writing prompt is this:
Write about YELLOW
Write about the colour yellow, without using the word. What comes to mind? What does the color yellow make you feel, what might it smell like, what associations do have with the colour?
What I like about this prompt is that it forces me to be imaginative. It is also challenging because colours are generally descriptive words. This prompt forces me to be descriptive of a description. Whew! I also like the versatility of this prompt—if I am not feeling inspired by yellow, I can write about turquoise or fuschia.
Writing prompts can be useful beyond warming up. During the writing process of many of my books, I have usually used a prompt in the form of a question. In writing my collection of short stories, God Loves Hair, my prompt was this: What incidents do you recall in your past that might have helped socially construct your gender (and/or sexuality)? Many of the stories I wrote were born from this prompt. While writing my book of poetry, even this page is white, one of my prompts was: “How would you describe racism in words?” Having a central question as a prompt can be challenging but can also give your writing or project a direction, as your goal then becomes answering this question.
Let me know in comments what are some of your favourite writing prompts. Or send me any writing that was inspired by my favourite prompt. Also, please keep sending me questions you would like to see answered here. Next week, we will delve into songwriting!
This week, I feel inspired by the new Solange album, A Seat at the Table. If you haven’t checked out Solange’s music, I highly recommend her last EP, True.
3 thoughts on “Ask Vivek: What is your favourite writing prompt?”
Hey Vivek, there’s a poem all about yellow in the upcoming Young Voices magazine! I’m including it below, to give people a preview of the great stuff they can look forward to in Young Voices 2016, coming to Toronto Public Library branches at the end of October!
Yellow
She wakes me up in the morning
with a blinding smile
that lights up my room
like a heavenly sundial.
She is the field of sunflowers
swaying in the hot summer breeze,
that wave at me,
she loves to tease.
She is the canary
perched high in the lilac tree
that sings her sweet melody
but she’s ever so prone to jealousy.
She is the sharp pencil
that scribbles this pointless poem,
laughing as I struggle,
my thoughts are completely muddled.
She is the bright raincoat
that makes me stand out like a beacon,
a small boat, barely afloat
amid a sea of strangers.
Yellow is my friend
despite her odd personality
she is always there to mend
and sweep me away from reality.
by Jordan MacDonald, age 14
This is lovely. I especially love the usage of rhyme throughout the poem and the range of emotion that is explored.
Hi Vivek,
This is a great idea! I am sharing your writing prompt with my Creative Writing students at Aalborg University in Denmark. They are reading an except from “I Am Afraid of Men” for our class on Memoirs.
Best wishes,
Anne Bettina Pedersen