February 2021 Writing Prompts
How I Create Writing Prompts
Last year I began an Instagram account dedicated to writing prompts. I’ve always enjoyed reading and doing them, so I decided to give it a try. A little over six months later, and I am still going strong! I thought that it might be fun to go over my process for creating them.
First, I pick an emotional wound or setting that interests me. Then, I write everything that goes along with it. Let’s take the setting of a wedding. What do you see? Hear? Smell? What actions happen?
Sights: Stained glass windows, lectern, wooden pews, flowers, men tugging at uncomfortable collars, uncomfortable shoes, bible verses projected, family being seated, programs passed out.
Sounds: Children squirming, hushed piano music, clearing throats, coughs, sniffles, microphone checks, camera
Smells: Coffee, perfume, cologne, mints.
Actions: runaway bride, judgment from family members, having trouble forgiving and moving on, family drama, an ex showing up uninvited, or a fight breaking out between bride and groom.
After I get a few ideas running through my head, I will begin writing scenarios related to the sighs, sounds, smells, and actions I have previously written.
Here are a few prompts I came up with from the above:
–With one final reflective glance, she was gone forever.
–Pinched toes were not the only affliction she hid the day.
–Her focus was on the door that stood between denial and admittance.
When I choose an emotional wound, I think of the lies resulting from those wounds, fears they may have, and how one would respond. Let’s look at an unexpected pregnancy.
Lies: They’ll never be able to accomplish their dreams, the baby is the source of all their problems, love is temporary.
Fears: abandonment, fear, judgment, always being alone.
Responses: looking for a replacement, doubting mothering skills, wallowing in self-pity.
Examples:
–ย I did something I can never take back.
–For if they knew the truth, they would want nothing to do with a soul as damaged and broken as hers.โ
–The one thing she is good at is running away from her problems.
That’s it! It does take some time, but I find it enjoyable to create different scenarios, and it helps in my writing to come up with ideas and plot twists. Sometimes I’ll even use portions of my writing that I won’t be using any longer. Regardless of how awful I think a prompt is, I write it down. You never know when or how you’ll use them in the future.
If you like writing prompts, I will encourage you to follow my Instagram account, and if you use any of my prompts, use the hashtag #PromptedToWrite <3
Using Roam Research to Outline Your Novel
My mother introduced me to this fantastic note-taking app called Roam Research. I’ve been using it for a while and have to say, it’s precisely what I have been looking for! I’ve tried Evernote, OneNote, and various other note-taking apps, but this one works the best for me.
I have two graphs, one for my daily life called Amber and the other called Series Bible. When you log in, the first page you see is called daily notes. It’s where you can do a brain dump about the day. Each of my children has a page within Roam, and so when I click their name, I get a breakdown of what they did or something funny they said on a day to day basis.
Making pages in Roam is so easy, all you have to do is type [[ ]] and whatever word(s) is between the brackets will become a new page. You can also use the # to create new pages, but they have to be one word. The blue words (pages) you can click on and see the other places you mentioned that specific word, phrase, name, etc.
If you ever get stuck or forget a key command, click the handy little question mark in the bottom right corner, and a box will pop up, providing you with the most useful key commands. Also, if you want a page to show up under the shortcuts click the star in the upper right corner.
So, now, how to use it to outline.
I set-up a page with the working title of my novel, and then linked the various pages that go along with it. When I click the setting, it will lead me to a page with the two cities my novel takes place in. There I can make mental notes of the weather or other fun, interesting facts that may be useful. The plot leads to my elevator pitch, the outline to my three-act structure.
When I click on the Opening image, it leads me to a page that describes what this act should entail. I use the space above to pinpoint specific things that have to take place and people we have to meet.
My character page contains, my characters. When you click on a name it takes you to a page showing all about that specific character.
Here it even breaks it down by each act where her name is mentioned and what she’s doing. For some reason, this way of taking notes works the best with my brain. I love that everything is in order, labeled, and I can easily find what I need. It’s a bit pricey at $15 a month, but you get a 31-day trial to see if you like it before buying it.
You can find a bunch of videos about Roam on YouTube that will give you a more in-depth look at the things you can do within this app. I haven’t even scratched the surface ๐ If you end up trying it, let me know what you think!
Roam Research does not have an affiliate program, just love the app ๐
Interested in writing prompts? Check out my blog So Novalike!
Redemption
This year’s theme has been redemption, mostly because that’s what the story I am working on is about. The daily reminder that I am never too far gone for God’s grace is a sobering thought. By no means does this mean sin all you want and ask for forgiveness, then you’re golden. If you’re truly in Christ, you will desire to love and obey His commands.
๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ’๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.
1 ๐
๐ค๐๐ฃ 3:9
My main character runs away from her problems, feeling as if she’s too broken and damaged to be loved by anyone, especially Christ. We’ve all felt that way, at least I know I have. Things seem to be spiraling out of control, and we turn to everything but the one thing we need, Christ.
๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด 2:20
Christ’s blood delivers and redeems us. When we feel too far gone, we should come back to the truths of God’s word. We are new creations, who we were in the past is no longer who we are today.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ. 2 ๐๐ฐ๐ณ. 5:17
Stories about Redemption
I need your help dear readers, what are some of your favorite stories in the Bible about redemption?
Writing Motivation
Anyone else needed this motivation today? I sure did.
Ink-stained Fingers
Ink-stained fingers inscribed words on a page, some remain in my mind persistently expanding until they age.
Perfection Suffocates Creativity
Perfection is the killer of creativity. When we aim for perfection, we fail to take risks and try to meet other’s standards instead of trying to achieve our own.โฃโฃ
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โฃโฃPerfection shouldn’t be our intention; instead, let’s concentrate on progress and making strides in our own time, no one else’s. Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t be scared to try, you learn the most from your shortcomings.โฃโฃ
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In lieu of a Word
โฃSo instead of coming up with a word for the new year, I have set a purpose or plan that I aim to accomplish. My intention this year is to be more intentional. I want to deliberately spend more time with the Lord, my husband, children, family and friends, and less on social media. I want to live in the moment and be with them taking the time to have deep, meaningful conversations, one on one time getting to know them better, and have more experiences than things.โฃโฃ
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โฃโฃHave you come up with a word or intention for the new year? Iโd love to hear it, drop a comment below!