By Stephen L. Brayton
In the last thirteen years I’ve been a member of at least
half a dozen writers’ groups. One of the reasons I stopped attending some of
them was apathy. Not that I didn’t care, but others didn’t keep up with their
writing projects. I understand how other commitments and schedules conflict
sometimes with writing. I’m not discussing those instances. I’m concerned about
those who attend meetings but don’t bring anything to read or share. It is quite
obvious the person just didn’t want to write.
However, there are times when forced writing doesn’t
accomplish anything but a headache wasted time. This I also understand. I get
to a point in my writing where I can’t seem to put anything substantive on paper.
Call it writer’s block if you want but most writers experience it at various
times.
In many of the critique groups I’ve joined, including the
current one, some may offer prompts to spur the imagination, juice up the
creativity, get people thinking and putting SOMETHING down on paper.
Writing prompts are familiar and there are various types.
Here's just one example: Each person writes down a place (i.e. setting). Then
everybody trades slips and the next person writes an emotion. Trade again and
the third item listed is an item. (Could be anything from an axe to a shoe to a
moped). Voila! Create a short story from the list.
My current group offers a weekly challenge. Sometimes it
will be a strange phrase seen in a newspaper or a certain subject or writing
aspect. One week it was using onomatopoeia. A recent challenge was writing bad
fiction on purpose, breaking all grammar and spelling and punctuation rules.
I often receive my prompts from television shows or radio
broadcasts or something will strike me as interesting in the current book I’m
reading. While writing my newest release, Alpha, I encountered many sticking
points throughout the story where I needed to put aside the manuscript and
write something else. I needed to focus on another topic, other characters, and
let the original problem work itself out. In time, the bump would be smoothed
over and I could continue on the book.
I don’t think writing prompts need to be difficult. Open the
dictionary at a random point, close your eyes and put your finger on the page.
Whatever word you’ve covered, type it into the Internet image search engine of
Google, Yahoo, or any other popular page. Who knows what you’ll discover. Some
pictures are related to the word only by a stretch of the imagination. This is
what makes it fun. Create a story from one of those weird word images.
‘Saaremaa ’ ‘macabre’
‘dybbuk’ ‘fibroma’
The world is a weird and wonderful place and you’re going to find some interesting pictures. I guarantee you won’t find a single word that doesn’t have an image, even if the computer must search long and far for one. If you’re more daring, turn off your filters.
One warning: don’t get hooked and spend all your time on the
Internet searching for weird pictures. Surfing the web can allow your mind to
roam free, but you’ll find hours have passed and you’ve accomplished nothing.
Remember to write.
_______________________________________________________________________
Stephen L.
Brayton owns and operates Brayton’s Black
Belt Academy
in Oskaloosa , Iowa . He is a Fifth Degree Black Belt and
certified instructor in The American Taekwondo Association.He began writing as
a child; his first short story concerned a true incident about his reactions to
discipline. During high school, he wrote for the school newspaper and was a photographer
for the yearbook. For a Mass Media class, he wrote and edited a video project.In
college, he began a personal journal for a writing class; said journal is
ongoing. He was also a reporter for the college newspaper.During his early
twenties, while working for a Kewanee, Illinois
radio station, he wrote a fantasy based story and a trilogy for a comic book. He
has written numerous short stories both horror and mystery. His website is: www.stephenbrayton.com He has two
blogs at: www.stephenbrayton.wordpress.com
and www.braytonsbookbuzz.wordpress.com