The Importance of Writing Prompts For Growing Writers

Part III

We discussed some advantages of writing prompts last week: lower stakes and confidence boosts. I promised I’d be back with some more this week so here you go.

And we’ll be back next week for the final instalment!

Less attachment means more space for growth.

Prompts are often just throwaway writing. You’re merely warming up; it’s not the real deal. This implies that what you create won’t hold the same emotional weight as that perfect phrase in your work-in-progress that you’ve stressed over for the last couple of hours. The more precious something is to you, the tougher it’ll be to let go of it, if needed. Conversely, if you’re revising something you quickly jotted down during a ten-minute exercise, you’ll be way more willing to make big, sweeping changes. Who cares if you need to rewrite it? It’s just practice.

You’ll learn to think on your feet.

Want to master writing on demand? Here’s a little secret nobody shares: creativity isn’t about being a “creative person,” it’s all about practice. Forget waiting for inspiration from the muse. If you want to be creative, you need to develop discipline through practice. The more you train your brain to generate ideas and put them on paper, the better you’ll become at it. One of the best ways to enhance your writing routine is by engaging with prompts.

You can refine your skills.

Is there a specific writing technique that’s got you puzzled? Instead of trying to figure it out while working on your novel, do a few practice runs (or more) with writing prompts. Is point of view tricky? Write the same prompt from different perspectives until it clicks. Need to practice dialogue? Pick a few prompts and write them all using just dialogue. Treat a prompt as a low-pressure testing ground where you can experiment with techniques without the fear of messing up your book in the process. This will help you refine your skills without risking your manuscript.