Each morning I post a writing prompt and for the past few years, each morning I’ve done a writing prompt of some variety. Sometimes they are pictures or there is a theme. Sometimes I do exercises where I write only in dialogue or try to show an emotion or mood without actually stating the emotion or mood. There are hundreds of different writing exercises out there and I shift through them choosing the one that helps me with my current writing issue.
But no matter which ones I use to sort out my current story or mental kerfuffle, I always come back to the sentence prompt. It is my go to and the one I do every morning.
There are several reasons I like it. The first is that it instantly gets you away from the dreaded blank page. If you have the sentence starter than once you set your timer, the first thing you do is write down the sentence starter (or retype it). You don’t have to start with the sentence. I knew someone in one of my writing groups who would always use the sentence starters as the final line of her exercise, the punchline to her prose. Others use it to inspire what they write instead of using it as a literal start.
I like using it as my first sentence because it gets my hand moving. It’s inertia. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. In this case, a writing pen, or typing fingers, keep typing or writing after the initial sentence is copied down.
I also like it because there is no pressure. I didn’t create the sentence. I have no stake in whether the starting sentence is good or not. My sentences are marked down from books, magazines, newscasts, conversations. Some I can’t remember where I picked them up. Which is the point. I put them on cards and then tuck them away until I have forgotten where they came from and can look at them without tying them to a specific story or incident.
A lot of times when writing it is tempting to obsess about that first line. It is the all important hook. You can obsess and obsess about it until you paralyze yourself into writing nothing at all. Starting with a line that someone else put together for a completely unknown purpose eases some of that pressure. It is okay if it is a poorly written, trite, overly flowery, boring, or just plain bad line. you didn’t create it and it is no reflection on you. It is just a jumping off point for a writing exercise.
Speaking of no pressure, the writing you do for your sentence prompt should also have no pressure attached. Not only did you not create the sentence that begins it, but the writing you do in that fifteen minutes doesnt ever have to go anywhere. You can write it in a notebook and then tear the page into confetti if you want. It isn’t tied to anything. You are free to write the worst, most abysmal thing you have ever written in your life during those fifteen minutes. It is not something you have to edit around. It is not something you have to figure out if you write yourself into some sort of corner. Your inner editor can rant and rave about how stupid or repetitive an idea it is and it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that the writing exercises, like the ones here, are designed to keep you writing in spite of your inner editor. They give you practice in writing even when the little saboteur in your brain tells you that what you are writing is utter crap, or embarrassing, or rude or mean or whatever it is your brain tries to use to stop you from writing. It gives you practice in writing and ignoring that voice so that when you do move on to your regular writing, you can continue ignoring your inner nay-sayer, writing when you are writing and then editing once you’ve gotten your story out.
In addition to teaching you to control your inner editor, these sorts of practices prime the mental pump. It gets the words flowing and makes it easier to shift into writing mode, working on a piece you want to write.
It also gets you writing when you don’t feel like writing. there are days when I just don’t feel like writing. But on those days I can usually convince myself to sit down for just fifteen minutes to do my writing exercise.
“It’s just fifteen minutes,” I tell myself. “I’ve even set a timer. Surely you can do just that. And then when you are done you can go do something else if you want. Just do the fifteen.”
Usually at the end of the fifteen, I’ve forgotten that I didn’t feel like writing and my brain has already shifted into writing mode.
The additional thing that the writing prompt does is that it gets stories out of your head. Sometimes they are stories you didn’t know were in there. Many of the writing prompts are just mental cleaning and go nowhere. Others will end up being bits you can incorporate into your writing and some become stories in their own right. By sitting down and doing the fifteen minute writing prompt you can create a store of ideas from which you draw from later. You may pull out one idea from your stock pile and think that most of the writing should be trashed, but the idea that somehow came up during your fifteen minutes of floundering with words is one that grabs you and is worth working on.
Because that writing was just practice and isn’t tied to anything, you can brush the extra practice words off of the idea and use it more fully.
I am often amazed at what my brain kicks back. Sometimes I will get completely different stories each morning and sometimes when I am struggling with a particular concept, all of my writing prompts, no matter where they start will bend towards that issue giving me a different perspective, like viewing a kaleidoscope.
So whether you keep your fifteen minute writing prompt results, use them to line a bird cage or tear them up to throw yourself a weekly confetti filled parade on your way to the coffee pot, there is a benefit to doing them whether you are starting off writing, thinking about starting to write or if you have written for years. It is essentially writing done just for you. You never have to show anyone and are released from all constraints from politeness to the laws of grammar. Make up words and kick all commas to the curb if you want.
Just remember once the timer starts and the keyboard starts click clacking or the pen starts scratching it’s way across the page, don’t stop until the timer dings.
It’s just fifteen minutes. You can do it.
Ten til Midnight 