Prompts
Charlotte Rains Dixon  

Promptitude: What Makes a Good Prompt?

This is post #2 on those little devils, prompts.   (Read post #1 here.)

Question: what makes a good prompt?

Answer: whatever gets you writing.

When you're a writer, its all in service to the writing.  If you have a choice between doing almost anything and writing, you'll choose writing.  If you have a limited time in which to choose an activity, most writers choose writing.  Exercise or writing?  Writing. Cleaning the house or writing? Writing.  Putting another load of laundry through or writing?  Writing.  And so on.

I may not have made the bed in days, my office can be in chaos around me, and I've thrown the same clothes on day after day.  But at least I'm writing.  And when you are writing that is all that matters–the writing.  And the doing of it.  And when you are not writing, that's all that matters, too, the not doing of it.

Writers understand  conflict because we live with it every single day–that exquisite tension between writing and not writing.   If you're writing, life is good, no matter what else is going on.  If you're not writing, you can be the happiest person ever and still a little light is missing from the world.

Thus, getting yourself writing is paramount.

And prompts can help you with that.

So quit whining about them.

The best prompt is the prompt that gets you writing.  Don't think about it, don't hesitate, don't have an emotional reaction to it (I don't like that prompt), just pick one and write.  Because, its all about the writing. 

Here's your prompt for today:

The fish flopped on the beach.

Go to it.  If you feel like it, show us the results in the comments.  And have a great weekend.

 

 

0 thoughts on “Promptitude: What Makes a Good Prompt?

  1. Trisha

    Hehe, I am writing to a prompt every week this year, and it’s been great so far. It does really depend on what the prompt is, but so far I’ve always managed to come up with something…at least by the end of the week. 😀

    I already have some ideas for what to write to that fish prompt. lol

  2. Charlotte Dixon

    Hey Trisha, Come back and share a bit of what you write from the fish prompt, we’d love to see it!

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