Recently, I've been very involved in writing. I've always loved creative writing and stories have made my life, from the nights that mum read us bedtime stories to writing my own to my 'boyfriend' in year 3 on Valentine's day.
As I went through my teenage years, I lost my love of writing. Reading was a chore and I tried to focus myself on attaining more superficial goals, acting and being amazingly brilliant at something that no one else was.
It failed miserably and I began to feel useless ... until A-level English when I got a considerably high mark in my creative writing coursework. From then on I poured all my energy into harnessing my creative writing talent. Writing, like every hobby, is like family; no matter how much you love them, there are always those days when they get a little bit annoying.
So, whilst studying I was on a bit of a break from writing. I did it casually and sporadically knowing that one day I would get back into it.
As summer rolled in, I begun to have more free time and so more opportunity to focus on what I wanted to do, not what anyone else wanted or required of me. I wrote a short novella (my third). I was happy with it once I began writing but the conclusion and overall development let me down.
I realised that there was no point just trying to churn out stories to say that I'd done it. If I was ever going to write a full length novel, I was going to do it properly. And that's when I enrolled on a 3 day creative writing course outlining the basics of novel-writing.
Before I took the course, I had always been quite stubborn. I didn't want to read books about other people telling you how to write books. I didn't want to read about how to write. I just wanted to write.
But, the course was actually a really productive and inspiring thing for me and I thoroughly recommend anyone to take it if you are interested. There was so much 'homework' that really got your creativity flowing and kept my imagination ticking over - but don't let that dissuade you.
I started to search for my own tasks to do in my spare time. And here's where I hit a dead end.
For all the vast expanse of the internet, it seems inconceivable that you are unable to find something that you are looking for. The internet is a compilation of a billion thoughts from more than a million people's minds and yet I couldn't find the one thing that was at the forefront of mine: writing prompts.
Maybe it's because I lack the vocabulary to explain to Google the contents of my mind, but I searched for days looking for suitable material. Everything was either aimed at primary school children or seemed a little too 'basic'.
I did however, find some gems, but there wasn't enough to supplement my daily challenge of completing a writing prompt. So I've come up with my own and I thought that it would be interesting to share them with you. Let me know how you get on if you decide to give them a try. I'll be trying them over the next few weeks.
It's probably worth saying that this list is nowhere near complete and I rustled it up within the past 20 minutes but I'll (hopefully) be adding to it as time goes on.
Here's my 'Super Test of the Imagination'
- What does 'sondungurous' mean?
- Your favourite food has just died: write a tribute for publication in a regional magazine
- Design and describe a flag that symbolises yourself
- Describe the taste of water
- Where did the duck-billed platypus come from?
- Describe the concept of heavy
- When is a leaf not a leaf?
- Explain 3 alternative uses for mashed potato
- Explain to an alien the concept of 'right' without using the word 'left'
- Design and describe a new item of clothing which embodies the words: 'empty', 'eighteen' and 'egg'. What is this item of clothing used for?
- How many elephants would it take to butter a piece of toast? Why?
- Your friend tells you: 'I have come from an apocalyptic time to tell you that the world will be taken over ... by robotic sausages." And you reply ... (Write for 10 minutes)
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