Making Creative Space

Developing a daily (or weekly) writing habit is one of the best ways to make creative space. 

If your life is anything like mine, you likely have a million different things competing for your time and attention. When I was editing my book (which involved eight months of substantially re-writing chapters and sending them to my editor for feedback), I was also starting a job teaching at a local university for the first time. I was so busy and had two major (equally important) tasks competing for my time. But, oddly enough, this was the time in my life that writing felt easiest. Why? I wrote daily and without excuse. I made creative space.

Any creative writing that you do—be it on a napkin or as a five-minute email to yourself—will contribute to a more structured project. Sentences will spring up that you’ve written before, or a particular phrase or word choice will work its way into a scene or passage.    

I thought I’d share some of my go-to creative writing prompts. I’ll be revisiting them myself as I work my way back into developing a daily writing habit. I find that responding to a prompt feels like a more doable task than sitting down to start a major project. And the material that comes out of these kinds of short exercises almost always works its way in to the larger project that I have in mind.

Three of My Go-To Writing Prompts/Considerations    

     1. Anne Lamott says in the guide Bird by Bird that “plot grows out of character.” For me, focusing on character is often a way into a story. 

Ask your character—real or imagined—twenty questions. Spend some time getting to know your character before writing them into a story. If you are writing a real person, spend some time interviewing them before writing them into a story.   

     2. Following closely with the prompt above, consider Anne Lamott’s advice “find out what each character cares most about in the world…” in order to discover what is at stake.   

What is at stake for your main character? Write this down. This statement can be used as a kind of thesis to guide you along.   

     3. After I have a character in mind, I need to see them somewhere. Here are a few place-writing prompts that I often use to help me set the scene.   

Respond to the senses. You’re standing—bare feet to the ground—in this place. How does it smell? taste? feel? sound?

Write a simile to illuminate an aspect of this place.   

Thinking in story terms… what theme does this place lend itself to? For instance, winter on a prairie farm may lend itself to isolation.     

I’d love to hear about your go-to prompts and how you make creative space in your life. If you've respond to any of the prompts that I’ve shared in my posts, I’d love to hear if you found the exercises fruitful.   

Happy writing!