Bradbury Triggers

As much reading about writing as I have done, I only recently discovered Ray Bradbury’s NOUN writing exercise. If you love lists and writing it is the perfect writing prompt. Here is the link to the Brain Pickings article outlining his unusual writing practice.

Inspired by Bradbury, I wrote my own list and have been writing 100–200 word pieces using one noun as a trigger. This exercise is unlocking stories hiding in my mind.

My First List of Nouns:

The night. The Dark. The empty. The foot. The drawer. The book. The manuscript. The eve. The house. The fireplace. The castle. The moors. The pool. The date auction. The class. The ring. The roller skates. The pen. The candle. The heart. The mirror. The run.

…

My Variation

I asked some friends over the weekend to text me a short list of nouns to use as springboards for writing. This variation is more in line with the random word prompt. The lists are not my own so the emotional story unlocking potential is not as prominent.

Here are opening lines of a story I wrote using this noun list: The Horse. The Banana. The Table. The Peanut Butter. The Glasses.

It was a rainy, too warm October day when the horse dropped dead in the middle of the pasture. He didn’t know what to do with death. Peanut butter freed a six year old’s horses around the corner. The little one hid in a closet and wasn’t found for 2 days. A peanut butter and banana sandwich can be…