10 Ways Writing Prompts Can Support You to Keep Writing
by Brooke Warner
Read on Substack if you’d like to leave comments.
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If you’re not in total awe of the power of writing prompts, you’re not doing them enough. For a lot of writers, writing prompts aren’t in their practice. But I’m here to make the case that they should be. In the memoir classes I teach, I usually intentionally offer very little time to actually write when I offer a prompt—something like three to five minutes. Part of the reason for such a small container of time is because I want my students to see what they’re capable of. It’s amazing not only how much students get on the page, but what writing prompts unlock.
A couple weeks ago, one such student shared after a three-minute writing exercise that the prompt had opened a portal. He’d remembered someone who’d been profoundly important to him, and he was emotional as he shared that this person needed space—and would have space—in his memoir.
When we write memoir, it’s a lot like holding a palette with a million colors. We can’t possibly access or use everything we have, and prompts can bring to the fore colors we forgot we had, or color combinations we might not have thought of were it not for the associative power of writing to a prompt.
We are hosting MEMOIR SHOWERS at Memoir Nation this month, starting April 1st. This is as simple as it can be profound. It’s an invitation more than a challenge, to participate by writing to one prompt a day (a writing prompt and an image prompt for each day in April).
Here are 10 ways prompts can support you in your writing.
1. They eliminate the blank page problem. Starting is often the hardest part. A prompt gives you a foothold, somewhere to spring off from—and you never know where you might go.
2. They build a daily habit. When you don’t have to decide what to write, just that you'll write, the practice becomes more sustainable. Prompts reduce decision fatigue that stops you before you begin.
3. They stretch you into unfamiliar territory. A good prompt might prompt you to remember something you’d previously forgotten, as was the case with my student, or to teleport to a memory from a new angle. Prompts expand your range as a writer.
4. They take the pressure off. Because a prompt-response is low stakes, more exercise than necessarily writing toward something to publish. This allows you to be freer to experiment, fail, and surprise yourself.
5. They reconnect you to playfulness. Writing prompts can restore the sense that writing is play, not just labor, which is especially useful if your memoir has started to feel like a grind.
6. They generate unexpected material. Some of your best ideas won’t come from planning. Instead, they’ll emerge sideways, unexpectedly. Prompts create conditions for happy accidents.
7. They keep the writing muscle warm. Like a musician practicing scales, responding to prompts keeps your craft active, especially if you’re stalled or between drafts.
8. They create a body of work. Over time, prompt responses accumulate. Some may become seeds for longer pieces that you never would have planned for.
9. They connect you to a writing community. Shared prompts, like we’re doing in Memoir Showers in April, give writers a common starting point, and we hope they’ll spark conversation, feedback, and accountability.
10. They show you what you’re drawn to. Noticing which prompts excite you (and which leave you cold) is itself useful self-knowledge. Such noticing is an exercise in discernment and trusting your instincts as a writer.
Come play, practice, sprint, revel, build, stretch, and explore with us by trying out Memoir Showers. Give yourself the space to do this, especially if you usually wouldn’t. Or especially if you’re stalled out with your work-in-progress. Memoir Nation is as much about community as it is writing, and our hope is that this community will continue to support you to do more writing and get more out of your writing.
As always, this is low stakes. Write every day or as many days as you can. Check in. Get celebrated by us and your fellow writers. And keep writing!
Coming Up for Members!
Craft Corner with Brooke Warner! Get ready to plunge into craft with Brooke on Tuesday, April 7. In light of the incredible response to Sue William Silverman’s class, Brooke will teach on narration. We’ll go all in on the three narrative voices and how to choose and how to stay in control. We’ll look at time, pacing, and how to balance scene vs. reflection.
The Story of Our Lives: Writing Toward What Matters with Mark Nepo. If you’ve not experienced the heart-felt presence of Mark Nepo, you’re in for a treat. On Thursday, April 16, Mark will guide writers into a heart space, the place beyond the events and into the meaning of what their lives have been teaching them all along. This class comes with membership, or a la carte.
Weekly Question
Answer this in the Community.
This is a get-to-know you question inspired by the fact that Brooke is in Italy this week. If you could only go back to one city you’d previously visited, which city would you choose and why? Share with us what meaning that city holds for you.
Description: This week’s Memoir Nation introduces a new memoir challenge and invitation to writers to come check out what we’re calling Memoir Showers at Memoir Nation. Join our community for a whole month of writing prompts, community support, and confetti—of course.
And what’s up with this new slew of celebrity pet memoirs? Do you find this week’s book trend troubling or amusing? Tune in to see what you think!
Cohosts Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner present today’s show. Together they’re the cofounders of Memoir Nation, just one of the many hats each of them wear. Both of them are memoir champions and have memoirs-in-progress.
Novel Beginnings is here.
Our sponsor, ProWritingAid, is sponsoring a novel contest! Submit the first 5,000 words of your unpublished novel for a chance to win a $50,000 grand prize, plus several $5,000 runner-up prizes.
Eligibility: Un-agented writers not published by an established publisher (self-published is okay)
Free to register. Opens Feb 2. Closes Mar 31.
