For my “Walking and Writing Retreat” guests
Before we dive in, a few tips that can help you dramatically improve your writing skills.
- Write Often, But Not As If You’re Chained to a Desk: You don’t need to become a hermit with ink-stained fingers. Just carve out some regular time to write, even if it’s just 15 minutes a day. Think of it like brushing your teeth—short, and sweet, and your brain stays cavity-free!
- The Outline – Your Story’s GPS: Preparing an outline is like setting your GPS before a road trip. Sure, you could wing it, but do you really want to end up at Plot Hole City? A basic sketch of your characters and plot will keep you on the highway to a cohesive story.
- Write What You Know: Setting your story in your hometown or basing characters on people you know is like having a cheat sheet for life. It saves you from hours of Googling obscure facts and lets you dive straight into the juicy stuff—like that scandalous love triangle based on your high school friends.
- Create a Writing Sanctuary (Or a Blanket Fort): Find a calm, comfortable spot to write where distractions are minimal. If your phone is a temptress to procrastination, banish it to another room. Your brain needs smooth vibes to churn out those literary masterpieces.
- Let Others Read Your Work (And Try Not to Burst Inot Tears): Sharing your writing is scary, like karaoke night for introverts. But fresh eyes can offer invaluable feedback and might even shower you with praise. Remember, even the best writers started somewhere—usually with a lot of red ink on their pages.
- Embrace Your Inner Genre Explorer: If you’re a romance novel junkie, why not take a detour into mystery or sci-fi? It’s like trying a new flavour of ice cream—sometimes you discover a surprisingly addictive new favourite (and it’s fewer calories than actual ice cream – dream on).
- Read Like a Bookworm on a Mission: The more you read, the better you’ll write. Absorb different styles, genres, and voices. Consider it a literary buffet where you can sample everything from Shakespeare to the latest dystopian teen drama.
- Keep a Quirky Notebook Handy: Ideas are like sneaky ninjas—they pop up when you least expect them. Keep a notebook (or a digital equivalent) nearby to jot down ideas, snippets of dialogue, or random thoughts that could be goldmines for your stories.
- Join a Writing Group (Or Start One): Writing groups are like support groups for your creative soul. They offer feedback, encouragement, and the occasional reality check. Plus, you get to commiserate with people who understand the agony of writer’s block.
- Celebrate Your Writing Wins (Even the Small Ones): Finished a chapter? Treat yourself to a cookie. Completed your first draft? Time for a take-away. Celebrating milestones keeps you motivated and reminds you that progress, no matter how small, is still progress.
Happy writing, and may your pen never run out of ink (or your keyboard out of battery)!
Time to play. Select one of these writing prompts, created specifically to help you improve your writing, and spend 20 minutes (and 20 minutes ONLY!) writing a story about it, with a beginning, middle and end. Then choose a second subject and once again, write a story about it.
| – Center a Story Around Your Best Friend: Creating compelling characters is often challenging for many blooming writers. It’s easier if you base a character on a real person. You can incorporate their personality and habits to make your main character more realistic. Use their quirks, habits, and personality traits – or maybe they have a secret double life as a ninja or are an alien from another planet. – Use Your Favorite Place as the Main Setting for Your Story: Whether it’s your childhood home, a cosy café, or a bustling city park, set your story in a place you love. This familiarity will help you describe it vividly. Then imagine that café is the headquarters for a group of eccentric detectives… – Your Character Finds a Letter They Wrote Years Ago but never sent. It’s filled with raw emotions—anger, love, regret, or sorrow. As they read it, they realize it’s also peppered with hilarious teenage slang and dramatic overreactions. Write about the circumstances that led to writing the letter, and their current feelings as they cringe and laugh at their younger self’s melodrama. – Write a Story About Your Younger Self Meeting Your Favorite Superhero/es: Picture your younger self suddenly meeting Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, or Batman. Add a twist by giving your younger self budding superpowers, like the ability to talk to animals or control time, and see how the superheroes react. – Pen a Story About a Fantasy World During Your Favourite Season: Do you have a favourite season? Choose your favourite season—be it summer, winter, spring, or fall—and create a fantasy world where this season holds magical significance. Maybe winter awakens ice dragons or summer grants everyone the power of flight. – Intermix Horror and Science Fiction: Genre-bending is becoming more popular than ever. Combine horror with futuristic technology. Imagine a world where humans must escape Earth due to climate change, only to find their new planet inhabited by ancient, terrifying creatures that defy scientific explanations. – The Emotion Translator: Your character invents a device that translates their pet’s emotions into human language. To their surprise, their cat is a sarcastic critic, their dog is a hopeless romantic, and their hamster has an existential crisis every Thursday. Write about the emotional rollercoaster of navigating these revelations and how your character copes with their pets’ unexpectedly dramatic inner lives. – Write a Day in the Life of Someone with an Unusual Occupation: Think about a day in the life of someone with an unusual job, like a professional cuddler, a pet food tester, or a dinosaur bone digger. Inject humour by highlighting the peculiar and unexpected challenges they face. – Write a Story from the Perspective of an Inanimate Object: Choose an inanimate object (like a coffee mug, a doorknob, or a traffic light) and write a story from its perspective. How does it perceive the world? What adventures or dramas unfold around it? – Imagine a Day in the Life of a Historical Figure in the Modern World: Pick a historical figure and imagine they’ve been transported to today. How would Cleopatra react to social media? How would Leonardo da Vinci tackle modern technology? – Create a Dialogue-Only Story Between Two Opposites: Write a story that consists entirely of dialogue between two very different characters, like a grumpy old man and an overly enthusiastic teenager stuck together on a long flight. – Write About an Unexpected Invention Gone Wrong: Imagine a new invention that was supposed to make life easier but ends up causing hilarious chaos. Maybe it’s a robot butler that misunderstands commands or a teleportation device that keeps sending people to the wrong locations. – Imagine a Strange Virus causes everyone in your character’s town to literally experience each other’s emotions. When one person feels sad, everyone else starts tearing up; when someone laughs, it’s contagious. Write about your character’s attempts to keep their emotions in check while dealing with the absurd consequences in a town full of emotionally synchronised people. – Describe a World Where Everyone Must Follow a Silly Law: Create a society where a bizarre law must be followed like everyone must sing every time they enter a room or wear hats that reflect their status (see picture below for inspiration.) Explore how this law affects daily life and relationships. – Write a Story Based on a Misunderstanding: Think of a simple misunderstanding that spirals out of control. Perhaps a character mistakenly believes they’ve won the lottery or that their cat can talk. The confusion leads to a series of funny and/or unexpected events. – Create a dialogue-only story between two characters stuck in an elevator: Write a story solely through dialogue. Capture the rising tension and potential bonding between two characters trapped in an elevator together. – Write About an Unexpected Friendship Between Two Very Different Creatures: Create a story about an unlikely friendship between two very different creatures, like a dragon and a squirrel. Explore how they overcome their differences and what they learn from each other. – Craft a Story Where the Weather Plays a Major Role: Write a story where the weather isn’t just a backdrop but a major character influencing the plot. Perhaps a relentless storm uncovers long-buried secrets, or a heatwave triggers unusual events in a small town. |
These prompts are designed to spark creativity, encourage detailed descriptions, and explore character development – hope you enjoy using them!
Reminder: Please note that everything on this page is copyrighted and can not be reused without written permission from the author Margaretha Montagu
