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Writing Prompts

Written Reality: Prompts
If you've looked at -- or used -- some of the writing exercises on Rejected Reality, you might be asking what's the difference between a prompt and an exercise. Really, aren't they the same thing. While the terms might be used interchangeably, the prompts and exercises on this site are different. The exercises help you find story ideas yourself -- and can be used over and over, as many times as you want, to stir your imagine. Writing prompts, on the other hand, are story ideas themselves. Instead of giving you a tool to find something to write about, the prompts give you a specific story to write -- whether it's the first sentence or paragraph, the ending, the central plot point, or that first catalyst that puts the events of the story in motion. Don't worry that by using a prompt you'll just end up writing the same story that dozens -- or even hundreds -- of other people have written. You won't. We all have different experiences that help define who we are and how we perceive things. So while a story prompt to write about a weekend on a beach might remind you of summers with your family in Florida, someone else might think about a picture of a New England fishing boat and write about that. Another person might write about the time she nearly drowned when she was trapped under an inflatable raft. And yet another writer might really push the creative envelope and set the piece in the Sea of Tranquility. Don't believe me? Get a group of writing friends together and have everyone write a quick fifteen minute piece using the same prompt. Then read the stories aloud. You'll be amazed at how different the tales will be.
Write a story about a pharmacist who just found a set of keys that he doesn't recognize in his wife's coat pocket.
Sara tapped her fingers on the counter. "So, how can I get a passport -- today -- if I don't have my birth certificate?"
David opened the envelope slowly -- although he didn't know why. He already knew what was in it.
Write a story about an elderly man who uses a knife instead of a trowel to plant flowers in his garden.
Jessica normally had peanut butter for lunch. But today she decided to have bologna instead.
Write about a woman who was winning an online auction for an antique necklace that she planned to wear at her wedding, only to be outbid with three seconds to go.
It was an old book, dusty and worn at the edges. Foxing, they called it. The cover was sort of like leather, but smoother, and white. And it smelled old. Like dirt, or barely soured milk. You know, that "old" smell that you can never quite put your finger on.

Written Reality: Prompts