Writers’ Notebook Help

Random Prompts

• What is your first memory?

• Write about a moment you experienced in which you were celebrated, if only on
  a small scale.  Have you had a special birthday celebration?  Did you star in a play?  Have you
  won a contest? 

• Have you performed or played in a public forum?  Take yourself back to that moment
  and write everything you remember down.  Then, try to write about what that moment meant to you
  then or what it means to you now.

• Write about something you deeply dislike.  Don’t hold back.  Here’s your chance to blast it!

• Tell a family story, one that gets told all the time in your family.  Dig deep into the details and make
  it your own

• Write a dream that a plant, a fish, a star, or a stone might have.

• Write about a belief you’ve discarded.

• Write an entry telling another person something that you are too afraid or
  reluctant to tell him or her.

• Write about a time you helped someone and how it made you feel.

 

Lists
Lists are an excellent way to generate ideas for writing.  They may even have
the potential to become pieces of writing on their own in the form of poetry.

• Make a list of the top ten experiences of your life.  Then, when you’re ready, look at your list and try to write about one of the experiences in detail.

• Create a list of the top 10 ways to make you smile.

• Write a list where each line begins with the same phrase or groups of words.  (For example, “I am . . . ,” “When I was young. . ., ,”I will never forget . . ., “ “I remember . . .” or create one of your own!)

• Make a list of your favorite things—keep adding as more things occur to you. 

• Make a list of common sayings or proverbs that you know.  For example, “The
  early bird gets the worm” or “What goes around comes around” or “Do onto others as you would have done onto you.”  Then when you’re ready, write about one of the sayings—how is it true for you, or how is it not true? 

• Make a list of your “pet peeves.”  Then when you’re ready, choose one and really tell why it makes you irritated.

• Make a list of all the things you hope to do before you die.

• Create a list of questions that have no answers.

• List all of the things that have happened to you only once in your entire life.

 

Try This!

• Stop and look at the Middlesex Core Beliefs that hang in your hallways everyday.  Actually read each one and think about all of them.  Then choose one to write about.

• Spend a few minutes looking into a mirror.  Just stare back at your reflection.  Then write a self-
  portrait, describing yourself in detail.

• Right when you wake up in the morning, write about the first thing that comes to mind.  It could be a dream, an idea, whatever.

• Read any piece of literature you like for 5-10 minutes.  Then attempt to write on your own, borrowing anything you want from what you read.  It could be one line, theauthor’s style, or even the topic.

• Find some old family photos and write about the people you see in the pictures, even if you don’t
  know them.  If you’re allowed, paste the photo into your notebook beside your writing.

• Write about a personal experience from any point of view other than yours. 

• Draw a map of the neighborhood where you grew up.  Mark places of importanceon the map.  Try to tell a story using one of those places.

• Think of any fairy tale, myth, or classic story.  (e.g. “Little Red Riding Hood,”  “The Three Little Pigs,” etc.)  Try to retell the story with your own twist.  Try setting it in today’s world and time or changing the ending.

• Look at a magazine and find a picture that appeals to you. Cut it out, paste it in your notebook and write about it.

• Listen to a piece of music that has a special meaning to you.  Write about it!

• Think of a color.  Take a 15 minute walk and make note of every place you see this color.  Then
  return to your notebook and write.

• Visualize a place you really love.  Close your eyes–can you see it?  smell it?  feel it?  taste it?  Write all the details so it feels like you are really there.

 

Spark Words
Choose any word from this list, and write for 10 minutes about whatever comes
to mind. 

BIRTHDAY
BLACK
CHAOS
CHEATING
DONUT
EMBARASSMENT
HERO
LOST
PET
SECRETS
SIBLINGS
SNOW
SUCCESS
SUPERSTITIOUS
VIRUS
WATER