I visited a writers' retreat in Vermont last fall and nobody was using the provided writing prompts

We had a whole binder of prompts on the cabin table, but every person just stared out the window and wrote about the leaves changing. Has anyone else found that real life details beat prompt ideas almost every time?

2 comments

2 Comments

milam421mo ago

Oh yeah, prompts usually come off as homework. The leaves out the window are doing the work for you, they don't have a writing prompt energy. Best thing to do is just let people be, the real details will show up on their own.

nancy31mo agoMost Upvoted

Started taking photos of whatever caught my eye without trying to make it meaningful, and that eased the pressure a lot. Found that the everyday clutter and quiet moments ended up being the ones that felt most real when I looked back at them later. Just letting the camera be an excuse to notice things rather than a tool to make something happened worked wonders for my own creative block.