32 Comments

I use writing prompts all the time for quick fiction. The prompt and word count limit are good exercises.

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I tend to call these Writing Prompt Parties “writing fitness with friends” because it definitely gives me that exercise feel!

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Writing prompt?

What is that?

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A writing prompt takes many forms. It can be a single word (see my other comment), or a phrase or an idea. A situation, a what-if scenario, etc. You then take the prompt and use it to write a story.

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What is the October Fictionistas! writing prompt?

I don't quite get the set-up yet.

Owen

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Oct 5, 2023·edited Oct 5, 2023Liked by Nicole Rivera

Next week we will have a live writing prompt party on zoom. if you join us, you can get the prompt and write the beginning of a short story during the call, and then finish it up afterwards. If you don’t join us on the call, they will share the prompt afterwards and you can do the same. The idea is to inspire a new story that you might not otherwise have written.

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Thanks Jackie! I was just jumping in to respond!

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I use writing prompts quite frequently; for me I enjoy keeping up an ongoing storyline and trying to work each new prompt into it. Sometimes this leads to stories going in wildly unanticipated directions, which is when it gets really interesting.

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This reminds me of what one of the writers over in Stop Writing Alone stumbled into with bringing the same character back to each of the writing prompt parties. I am in awe of how she continues to find ways to make the prompts work within her world. It is so much fun to go on journeys like that!

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I'm part of a collective that offers up prompts of a single word. I participate regularly. I find that a single word prompt is a lot more liberating than a highly specific and detailed one. And when I view the range of thought and imagination that arrives from other participants, I think they probably enjoy working with fewer restraints as well.

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Single word prompts are quite wonderful. I have even played with foreign words as prompts — those magical “untranslatable” words that convey more than any single English word can are some of my favorite bits of inspiration.

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Thanks, Victor, but who supplies it, how and when?

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Oct 6, 2023Liked by Nicole Rivera

Looks like the Fictionistas team supply it, probably within the Zoom meeting itself.

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that is correct!

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Hi Owen,

We will share the prompt in the Zoom call next week, but will also share a post here in Fictionistas after the call in the event you can not make it to the live call.

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I upload writing prompts to inspire fellow writers and myself. Some writers groups I am with give out prompts too and they are great at giving a spark for you to write.

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I look for potential themes that might combine the prompts in some fashion. If I can’t, I pick one prompt, focus on it, and find a way to shoehorn the others into the theme.

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Oct 5, 2023Liked by Nicole Rivera

OK, thanks, Jackie, I'm up for that.

The Zoom call is at 23:00 where I live, so I might not be there, but I will write.

Regards,

Owen

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Like I said, if you can't join the Zoom call, Nicole and Heather will share the prompt we used immediately after, and you can write and share the link to your story in the following week's discussion thread if you wish.

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I generally only like using writing prompts when there is a hard time limit, because otherwise I overthink them. But in a writing prompt party like this, or something done in a writing workshop, where there is only, say 10 or 20 minutes to write, I don’t have time to plan out the story in my head so I just have to start writing.

in terms of how I approach them, what I do is hear the prompt, and then give myself maybe a couple seconds to orient myself, and then just start putting words on the page. I might decide to use an existing character or world, to make the choice between fiction and autobiography, or something else in those few seconds, but then I just start writing. and inevitably, I put something down that I never would’ve come up with otherwise. In the last two writing prompt exercises that I’ve done, I’ve written the start of scenes for my next book that I never would’ve imagined without the writing prompt.

One thing I struggle with is writing a complete story within the limited timeframe, or even finding endings with the benefit of time afterwards. I really wish there was a technique to figuring out an ending quickly.

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And amazingly, I just got off a Stop Writing Alone writing prompt call and actually came up with an ending today! 🥳

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Yes, I know, I read that, as you said, you had already said it.

Thanks for the clarification though.

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Oh I'll be there. I'll be there with bells on.*

*Don't worry, I'll keep my mic muted.

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Oct 20, 2023Liked by Nicole Rivera
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You can post it on the thread post!

https://fictionistas.substack.com/p/octobers-flashy-fiction-thread/comments

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I can't be bothered now.

The exercise was a waste of time for me.

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I didn't/don't know how to participate.

Nobody helped me, and nobody saw my piece.

That sums up to a total waste of time, that I shall not repeat.

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Owen, you shared your story in a number of places. You have participated. I responded to you to give you the link to share your story in the thread of the month, Jackie responded to you before I could get to you about when and how to find the prompt in the beginning of the month, and Heather and I are still reading this month's stories. The event is not over yet. The only live component is the Zoom call, but you are *in it* right now. I can understand that if you are looking for more face-to-face or one-on-one contact, this may not be the kind of event for you, but we see you, we have heard you, I thought we had responded to you, but please don't ever call your own writing of a new story a complete waste of time! We appreciate your participation and I genuinely hope you find the writing community that fits your needs whether it is here with Fictionistas or somewhere else.

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I lean toward the concise, pare form of Hemingway over the book length sentences of Faulkner or Joyce although I frequently have to fight my tendencies to ask myself “just where was that last period?” To me, a great sentence should impel the reader to go back to reread and think “I’ve got to absorb that!”

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Yeah I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing with my substack. At the moment, I'm mostly posting AI art that I've created of characters, settings, and inspiration for my novels, I do a quick update of where I am in the process of writing my first novel and that's about it for now. I don't want to serialize my novel on substack so I'm a bit unsure about what I can use my substack for, to be honest

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