Need a Nudge?

I love, love, love writing prompts. I never have problems writing for five or 10 minutes on any random topic tossed out by teacher or book. Starting a make-believe project is the easiest thing in the world.

I also happen to think they're useful. They get your brain in gear, just like warm-ups and stretches before you go for a physical workout. And if you can't do any other writing besides a quick exercise, it keeps your brain idling along in the right lane so that you don't have a cold start the next day, or whenever you get a chunk o' time to compose. (Are automobile metaphors worse than sports metaphors?)

One more thing: Nothing is riding on whatever you end up with: no editor will see it, your paycheck isn't connected to it, you're not going to get graded on it. This alone lets you practice writing without inhibition, and this fearlessness can serve you well in the rest of your writing.

I spent a little time poking around the Web for writing prompts appropriate for narrative nonfiction. I found a boatload of places that have prompts for school kids. Some of them are good for anyone. I loved clicking on options at Writing Fix. Others are aimed at people writing memoir. Use what's right for you.

So, here's what I found. (Look, a sweat-free way to exercise!)

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/
http://jc-schools.net/write/create.htm
http://www.writingfix.com/leftbrain/randomlistgenerator.htm
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html
http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/writing.prompts.html
http://www.memoirwriters.com/
http://www.omnicron.com/~fluzby/sister-share/journal.htm
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1492.html
http://www.cmmayo.com/d5mwe.html

category: craft