Your Writing Starts Here: March Prompts

Time to write!

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Hi y’all, and happy March.

I started posting these prompts in August and they tend to be my most popular newsletters. There’s some new people here, so I thought I’d include my primer on writing to prompts, which I usually link to.

A reminder: paid subscribers get all thirty-one prompts and a PDF of them, too.

A few notes before we begin:

--I know you know the drill about prompts, but here is a reminder to choose how long you want to write, then set a timer and write for that amount of time. Five minutes is good for short spurts, fifteen to twenty to really dig in.

--The idea is to write. And by that, I mean, write. Like move your hand across the page or your fingers over the keyboard. This is not a thinking assignment. It is not a gazing out the window assignment. It is a writing assignment.

--Sometimes the instructions refer to you, and sometimes, your proto. (I like to call the protagonist a proto because protagonist is one of those words I always misspell. Plus, I like the way proto sounds.) In all cases, the prompts apply to either writing from your own experience or making it up for your proto.

--I use the pronouns he, she, and they, interchangeably throughout. Emend as needed. Or use the one given and try writing from a different point of view for a change.

--Another great way to use prompts is to first write out your own memories or experience and then do the same for your proto.

--Prompts do not demand allegiance to their original meaning. They are a starting point. They are a way to begin getting words on the page. Let your brain and hand determine what to write. The prompt may describe a tree, and you end up writing about tin cans. That is fine.

--Remember, not all writing must be in service to your WIP. Writing something different can be fun. It’s okay, good even, for your writing brain to let loose once in a while and do something different.

--But prompts can also contribute to your understanding of your current project. You can use any of these prompts as starters for side writing to gain more knowledge about your WIP.

--Prompts are excellent warm-ups, a way to get yourself onto the page before your WIP writing begins.

--I’ve listed thirty-one prompts here, one for each day of March. You can use them in order, or pick and choose whichever appeals to you on a given day. I highly recommend printing these out so you have them available without opening a device. (So that you, um, write, as opposed to giving into temptation to scroll.)

The Prompts

1.

The wind howled.

2.

Sharp.

3.

4.

Are you ready?

And all the flowers burst into bloom.

25.

The books piled up, unread.

6

What’s that noise?

7.

Write about the last time you cried.

8.

Let it bleed.

9.

The moon rose over the ocean.

10.

But then there was that time that ….

11.

She was as meandering as a lazy brook.

12.

Eyeglasses, a fountain pen, a water bottle. Use all as your prompt

13.

Will the circle be unbroken?

14.

3Just biding my time.

15.

Oh, look. She did it again.

16.

Write about the last time you were sick.

17.

The forest loomed above her darkly.

18.

Stick to your knitting

19.

There’s something special about you.

20.

Today is not that day.