While this is not necessarily psychology related, I thought I’d post this for all of you. This list of prompts/exercises is being developed because I couldn’t find anything like it in the various lists on the Internet. I’ve been looking for prompts or exercises to get my must awake. However, most of those prompts on the net are very restricted and/or seemed to be prompts for stories. They also didn’t work for genre fiction. I wanted a list of short suggestions that at the same time could be used no matter what genre a person is working in.

The idea for this came from a high school creative writing class. The teacher had us write about a character walking. As I remember it, there was supposed to be something distinctive about the walk and it was to be from the point of view of another character who is observing. I loved the exercise. (I must have to recall it so very many years later, even if for the life of me, I can’t recall the teacher’s name.)

In constructing this list, I thought about exercises that would help me and you develop our writing skills. I would suggest that you spend no more than a half-hour on each, though ten minutes should be a minimum. No editing. Write in what that teacher of mine called “white heat.” Just go for it.

Prompts/Exercises 1-10

1. Write about someone walking, from the point of view of someone watching. (This was from the high school assignment.)
2. Write a scene in which the weather figures significantly.
3. Write a scene about a character waiting for another in a bar
   1. The bar is in a casino/hotel
   2. The bar is in a poor or working class section of town
   3. The bar is high class
4. Write a scene in which a character is visiting a historic landmark.
   1. He/she has been there before
   2. He/she has NEVER been there before
5. Your character is fixing a meal
6. Your character comes across a dead body (can be anything)
7. Without dialog, show you character feeling:
   1. Bored
   2. Angry
   3. Sad
   4. Happy
   5. Anxious
8. What does your character see outside his/her window?
9. For some reason, your character is unable to see. Describe what he/she can perceive.
10. Show your character interacting with a companion animal.

When I get one of these done, I’ll post the result here in comments. If you want to  post your results, please feel free. And, of course, if you have any questions or comments, I’d be happy to hear from you.