Writing Prompts: A Writer's Best Friend

It can be said with absolute certainty that every person who has attempted creative writing has, at least once, been stuck for ideas for their next piece – no matter how much they want to write. With this in mind, it is not surprising that the majority of writers have looked into, if not used, a premade writing prompt. This article explores the benefits of using writing prompts to provide inspiration for your writing.

Writing prompts are, without doubt, useful little things. Increasingly popular in the online community, they are often single words or phrases, and sometimes larger concepts like songs. Writing prompts can be just enough to spark that little flame of inspiration and remove that creativity-stifling pressure on a writer to come up with an idea; from there, it is up to the individual to create something with that inspiration.

Writing prompts can force writers to step out of their comfort zone, and write about topics they would not normally consider - which, no matter how the final piece turns out, can only be beneficial to their skill as a writer. Prompts can also be a fun way to challenge oneself to write more often, rather than waiting for inspiration to strike – for example, in the 100 Themes Challenge, where completing a piece for every theme is all that matters. Writing more often through the use of writing prompts can also be a cure for the dreaded writer’s block.

In the context of the Mibba community, writing prompts can be found almost everywhere. For those who would like to try out prompted writing, there are contests in the forums – songfic contests as well as specific writing prompt contests – as well as regular writing prompts in the Mibba Magazine blog. Offsite, a quick websearch will also provide entire lists and websites full of writing prompts, including popular challenges like the aforementioned 100 Themes Challenge.

From a writer’s perspective, addressing a community of fellow writers, I wholeheartedly recommend giving writing with prompts a go; not only will the practise improve your writing, but you may be pleasantly surprised at the results!

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