Writing Techniques : Writing Prompts

Hi readers, 

Today and to kick off the new ideas I've had for my blog, I'm going to look at writing prompts and how they can be useful to us writers. I'm sure that many people are already aware of them and for me in the last few months they have become something of a reliable source for generating ideas and starting my creative writing pieces for my short story blog. For those that don't know about them, prompts can take many different forms including single words, whole sentences, dialogue and images, (all of which sometimes come with instructions) and you can use them to inspire you to write.

There is no right or wrong way when using prompts and no one is going to judge you for using one! I normally start my opening line or paragraph with the word or sentence or dialogue, then continue the story from there. With image prompts I normally start with introducing the setting or the character, before trying to include as much as the image as possible. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a short story I wrote about a piano in the woods and it can be read on my other blog, here:     http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-soldiers-piano/ One of the best things I have also found about using prompts is that you don't have to begin the story with them, you could have them appear at anytime or not at all. For example, removing them in the finally draft or just not including the prompt at all. 

Let's now look at some actual prompts. The first one I chose was a written prompt and these kinds seem very popular. There are so many pages and websites out there that list a whole load of these and they can be so useful for starting off imagination and writing.   

The key to these prompts is that it gets your mind asking questions, which hopefully will make you want to write in order to get answers. So, for example this prompt makes you ask: who is he? Why is he knocking on doors? What happened at the other doors? What is going to happen next? This really does kick start your brain into wanting to find out and from there you should be able to write a story all around this prompt. 

My next prompt is an image one. I'm a visual person, it's how I learn and think best, so I love image prompts more because I find I get a really good use out of them and can create much deeper stories. This is one my newest images on my Pinterest board (Pinterest is a great website by the way and it lets you group things together under different sections. I've included the link to mine below). So, if I'm going to use this image I'd start my story by describing a character walking down this road and coming across this gate. The image, like the word writing prompt, helps to raise questions, for example: where is this place? what's beyond the gates? what's going to happen, if anything at all? 

The last thing I want to look at is physical writing prompt books, like the 642 Things To Write About one below. I own this book and have found it useful, though I just enjoy looking through it and giggling to myself more then actually using it for writing. There is a number of books and also ebooks available now packed with prompts similar to the ones above and they do work in the same way - get your mind and writing going-. Some of them even have blank spaces or pages which you can write in, so you don't feel stuck to your computer and notebook all the time. Some of the ebooks are even free to download like this one;  

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen. (linked below) I recently downloaded this myself and though I've not used any of the prompts, most of them look really interesting and do most of the setting up of the story for you.

Overall, writing and image prompts can be great tools to help with any writer's writing. They can get your mind and imagination working and your fingers typing. They can be used in a number of ways; as warm up exercises, the opening line of your story or perhaps in a group or teaching situation. There seems to be an endless supply of them too, so you are always sure to find one that you can use. Also genre and themes are always nearly neutral and you can use them how you want to. If you are just starting out using prompts I'd recommend searching around on the internet first and gathering lots of free ones - in fact I'd recommend that to anyone. Having the prompts in a physical book or ebook which you have to pay for can be useful if you aren't near technology, or you like your breaks from it. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a book, but in this case and with so much being free online, I'd recommend going down that route instead. 

I hope this has been a useful post and you can let me know by commenting if you wish. Also, if you have any other writing techniques you'd like me to look at and try out. You can follow me in a number of different places and these were linked in my last post, so feel free to check it out. Up next in a few days is my book review on Prince Lestat, so I'll see you all then.

Links and Images:

http://www.invyn.com/category/writing-is-like-quotes/

http://thesarcasticmuse.tumblr.com/post/82864997733

http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/fantastical-stories/

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Creative-Writing-Journaling-ebook/dp/B009GLMF7U/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420493456&sr=1-3&keywords=writing+prompts

http://poetryismedicine.wordpress.com/

Fill Your Soul and Writing With Music

Hi readers,

Here's another different post for this week, but I'm still staying with the writing theme. Two things actually gave me the idea for this post. The first was an article from helping writers become authors; 'how music affects writing process.' (linked below) Which discusses how listening to music can be important during writing and how it can have different affects. The second, though off topic, but just linking in, comes from a conversation about Sonic the Hedgehog Underground characters getting their own music themes. This was due to someone posting and suggesting pieces of music-which actually didn't match the characters- in the comments of that particular review on my boyfriend's YouTube channel.

Everyone has their own place and system for writing, even if you don't realize it or you do one or two simple things. I'd be shocked if anyone told me they just sit at their computer or notebook and wrote solidly for a few hours. Most people have chores or other jobs or must grab a coffee first. I'm not saying its impossible to just start writing straight way, but its rare to do that. At the start of my degree, I remember being given a task/writing technique to try, which meant that the first thing I had to do when I woke up was to write. Now it could be anything; a dream, a stream of conciseness, recording what I could sense, a story idea. It didn't matter as long as I spent my first awake moments writing.  I never actually got in the habit of that, but it was the beginnings of my thought documents, where I write a lot of stuff, mostly personal/story relented and often in a diary like way. It gives me a private space to just write and not think or edit.

I don't think I have an actual 'set' way of preparing myself to write. I know that I like to have eaten something and have a drink at my side. I will have checked out my favorite websites and updated things. I'll have watched some internet videos, but now have iTunes, Spotify, media player or my ipod on shuffle. Or else playing music from a certain artist or album. I still like to write in the afternoons and evenings, when I've had time to do other tasks and wake up fully. I've only recently become a fan of flavored coffees and have been drinking them to stay warm more then anything else! I might write in my thought doc or read a chapter/short story of my current book, before officially starting to write.

The one thing I couldn't write without though is my music. I find it impossible to work in silence or with the TV/movie on or with an internet video. The only time I've wrote without it was during school/college lunch times and free lessons, when I didn't have an ipod. Back then I was still learning about writing and found my stories very easy to escape into. Now though I sort of relay on music to help me escape. Listening to certain songs reminds of things, like right now Before I'm Dead by the Kidneythieves is on and it reminds me of the Queen of The Damned movie because it's part of the soundtrack. Thus, I think about vampires, Anne Rice novels and Lestat. It's not just about the lyrics or the singing though, when I write I feel more focused on the actual music. Is the beat fast or slow? Is it heavy or soft? Does it change or is it constant? How this going to affect my writing; speed wise, ideas/inspiration and the flow of the words?

In my brief research and thinking about it, I've found that music is a popular subject with writers. There are lots of different articles, posts and discussions out there. It was hard to stop myself reading them and becoming influenced by them whilst I'm writing this. There are recommendations for the type of music you should listen to whilst writing to achieve the highest out of it. I found some science also relenting to how and why music affects the brain -you can read all about that in the link below-. The interesting part is of course what you should be listening too. I half fancy following the suggestions and seeing what happens, though I'm very set in my choice of writing music!

This is a summary of the suggest way; (for it in full see the link to Keep It Lit below)

 Choose instrumental music. 

 Choose songs within a 50–70 bpm range. 

 Choose music with lots of repetition to encourage your brain to let go. 

 Consider the tone of the project you're working on. 

Pay attention to how you feel while listening to music. 

Experiment. 

 I recently got into listening to Natural Sounds-especially rainfall and stormy weather- I actually started listening to become more relaxed and sleep to, but I found it good to listen to during writing as well. The almost white noise/constant sounds just help you keep the flow going and also can help picture the settings a lot more. I've always said I write better when it's raining and now I can listen to it all the time without it actually raining! Brad McBride has a good YouTube channel for these; 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBoTun54dQmzQMTxWTdJ9Sg

Secondly, I've been listening to some Japanese instrument music. I'm not into classical or instrument unless its' heavy metal relented. My boyfriend got me into the Studio Ghibli movie soundtracks which I do like listening too, but I'm sure it's only because I know the music from the films. Expending out from this though, someone else introduced me to the Yoshida Brothers. I have found their music to be fascinating, though it can be a little bit too fast for me to write too. A YouTube channel for some of their music can be found here;  http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIvFJmgxa8wXAHs3AKVEsog

Another thing to consider relates to the second thought in my introduction; characters and music within the inner workings of the story. We are surrounded by music and sounds daily, but what about characters? In some stories music has no or a small role to play, whilst in others its' a major theme which helps the plot and reader along. For example Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, named after The Beatles song, has a large part in the plot and has other connections with the characters. Music and artists named in the story can say a lot about characters, (though it can also conjure up stereotypes for readers) and also the writer. So, what kind of music your character likes is important for making a complete picture of them, even if you don't include it in the story.

The last part of this is that the story within the lyrics of songs can inspire you to write stories based or around them. My MA dissertation piece was a story inspired by Bullet For My Valentine's Your Betrayal. That actually helped create one of my best non-vampire antagonists, who also fascinated my tutor. Though she did make me concerned about which part of me she had come from. Though as I looked at in another post some time ago; when we write we aren't actually ourselves...

Hopefully, that's been useful for some people. All the other links are below for you to check out. Next week I'll be back to a book review. I wonder which on it'll be though!

Images from:
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7967-words-and-music-our-60-favorite-music-books/
http://images.firstcovers.com/covers/flash/m/music_and_writing-12360.jpg?i
http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/words-worth-reading/


Websites:
 http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2012/12/how-music-affects-writing-process.html
http://www.backwoodsauthor.com/2013/08/26/guest-post-how-music-can-affect-your-writing-by-marcela-de-vivo/
http://keepitlit.squarespace.com/blog/2012/7/30/listen-up-how-music-affects-focus-creativity-and-mood.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bRvd4-oHA

Social Writing - Writers on the Internet.

Hi readers, thought I'd write something a bit different today. So this is going to be a sort of informal essay style post discussing how the internet has made writers more sociable and the positives and negatives of this.

I want to look at this subject more closely due to my recent activity on a site called Readwave. This website allows people to put/publish their writings, though there is an 800 word limit. The one thing that really attracted me to Readwave was their weekly challenges, which they have been improving. Every week there is a different subject (now four) which is often connected with a theme. Writing can be fiction, non-fiction and biographically. You can add images, tag lines and summaries. Also, as far as I know there's no limit to the stories you can put up, but you can only enter a challenge once. You get your own page for your stories and can have a bio. There is share buttons for social websites. The best bit about Readwave is that people can comment on your stories and can share them. My page can be sen here;
http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/

I think that's the key to most writing websites. The internet is allowing writers to interact in a new way which was not possible before. Writers know that they need isolation time and space in which to work, but afterwards, social interaction is needed. The writer wants and often needs a readers opinion and other minds to spot things that they have missed. Also new writers seek reassurance about they work. Thus the sites are very useful. The other side of this is that they allow readers to experience new genres and writers.

There are downsides to this though. A writer shouldn't let other people's opinions influence their on own every occasion. The writer needs to remain in control and do what they think is right. Over-posting needs to be avoided. The writer doesn't want to flood their page or their readers with too much at once by continuously putting up new or redrafted pieces. The writer also shouldn't think that just because they are gaining a large readership that they must post up more pieces to keep all the readers. Normally, posting once a week or month, the same as doing a blog, is a good strategy to have. Readers can become easily bored with the same or similar pieces.

 Lastly, don't let negative comments or lack of readers get to you. People always have opinions on things they don't like. Remember not to take it to heart and perhaps if they make suggestions you could see these as changes to bare in mind during redrafting. The internet is massive and there are so many other websites and stories that grab peoples' attentions. It can take a while to get a readership, the same with a blog and the way to do that is to keep publishing different stories and doing a bit of self-promotion.

There are all different kinds of websites for publishing too. Doing research into this could be beneficial for some writers, as if you have a piece on a certain topic or containing certain themes, which you wish to share with a connecting audience which some sites are tailored too. Fan fiction is a good example of this as some sites only accept fan related pieces and others sometimes don't.




For me, publishing on these websites does need to be taken seriously. That's because it is increasingly becoming the in between of officially unpublished and published writers. There are writers now who are earning a living through self-publishing online/kindle without an agent or a publishing company. Writers are also being picked up by agents and publishers after their work has been seen online. It can also be used as examples of writing for job applications or agents.

I publish though because doing the challenges means I have to write once a week and it's helped me get over my writers' block. It also allows for story subjects that are new or need a different take on them to happen. This is a good way to practice more and share your thoughts with others. I have also enjoyed reading and commenting on other peoples' works. That is something that really needs to be done, you need to give back as well as receive. Becoming an active member of a site can also attract more readers and help other writers to develop.

So there are a lot of good reasons why a writer should be getting themselves out there on the internet. That saying of you take out what you put in is very true and I believe that every writer will find publishing on writing websites beneficial in some way. It is a great chance to share your work, get a peoples' opinions and read the works of others. That idea of writers being anti-social is a fantasy, because we are a very supportive and respectful network.

That's it for this post then and next week I'm going to be writing a book review. It's going to be slightly different though. I hope this post has been helpful and the discussion can be carried on in the comments below. I've also included a list of websites for people to check out that relate to this post.

Images from:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg
http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-100-best-novels-1898.html
http://blog.moveguides.com/skilled-freelance-writers-wanted/


Websites:

http://www.readwave.com/
http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/
https://kdp.amazon.com/
http://www.lulu.com/
https://www.createspace.com/
http://www.writeandshare.co.uk/
http://www.writing.com/
https://www.fanfiction.net/