The next type of prompt I'm going to be discussing is something that I used to use all the time as a child. I'd get family members to write between five and ten random words at the top of a sheet of paper and my aim was to use them all in a story.
You can do this by flicking through a book and finding ten random words, or you can use some of the prompts below.
1. Sun, Magic, Late, Flower, Coffee, Vapid, Jumper, Door, Phone, Jar.
2. Book, Dog, Shoe, Bank, Printer, Rabbit, Heart, Challenge, Science, Friend.
3. Key, Air, Love, Bark, Spray, Kiss, June, Fumble, Plant, Soul.
4. Boredom, Slippers, Snap, Duvet, Sudden, Red, Friday, Cat, Spoon, Like.
5. Chair, Life, Watch, Amber, Tap, Empty, Heels, Smile, Sticky, Pull.
When creating your own prompts, don't forget to use a mixture of nouns, verbs and adjectives - this will help drive the plot and give you ideas for abstract concepts such as emotion instead of just physical objects.
Also, you might feel that a set of words is pulling you a certain way. Set four makes me think of someone lying in bed with depression, but could this person have a fantasy world they escape to? If I were writing using set four I would set the scene relatively quickly before exploring this fantasy, but the cat or the spoon might bring them back to reality at the end for a sense of cyclical completion.
Don't forget to play around with the words - use different meanings; juxtapose them; use them in analogies. I have included a few words that have obvious double meanings, such as bank and bark, but are there any others? Could you change the spelling of the word to mean something new? Key could become Quay. June could be a name rather than a month. Really use your imagination when it comes to ten word prompts.
Analogies are a great way of fitting in words that are more obscure or don't necessarily fit with the theme of your story. For example, something might melt or slip away like an ice cream on a hot summers day, or a liquid might drip like the tears of a child throwing a tantrum.
Also, play with the order of the words. It helps if you write them at the top of the page of your notebook and cross off the ones you have used. If you've tried out a few and fancy a challenge, then you could try using them in the order they are given.
Your writing can be as long or as short as you want. You might go a whole page without using a prompt word, or you might have three in the same sentence. As long as you use all ten words, there are no other constraints!
Happy writing!
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