A Recipe for Writing

A writing prompt to whet your appetite

A Recipe for Writing:

Ingredients you need:

Firecrackers
Elephant
Clock
Exhausted

Combine main ingredients with other words. Mix, combine, moosh and make sure ingredients are main parts of your final dish. Fold in voice and creativity within a beginning, middle, and end. Add some conflict. Let marinate for a day and then bake. Before serving add sparkle and serve hot!

As writers, we start with basic ingredients: words, ideas, and our own voice. One of my favorite writing prompts is to simply start with a list of words. It is the perfect mix of parameters and freedom and results in endless possibilities.

The special instruction is to make sure that the words in the list are major components of the story.

The sharing of this type of prompt in a classroom or any group of writers is powerful because everyone starts with the same four words and every story will be different because of individual tastes, voice, and experiences.

It is a great exercise to do if your state requires prompt writing and you need to practice. It also is a great writing exercise for yourself or for your writers' group no matter how old they are!