Fight a block with writing prompts.

I love writing prompts, or muse-tweakers as I like to call them. If I can get a person, a place, and a thing, I can write a whole short story. Recently I realized that this is what I do to break writer’s block, as well, and decided to share.

There are a lot of random generators out there to help with this, and some are genre-focused. I laugh at some of the creatures that rise from a random generator. Like a clumsy, broken-hearted, striking wizard. Imagine the fun writing that one!

Recently, I came across a new generator (not genre-based) and here is what it posed:

What do you keep in your handbag/wallet?

WELL! That’s a new idea isn’t it? Not that anyone cares but I don’t keep much in my purse or wallet. I lost the darn thing by setting it on top of my car one time. Since then, I am minimal to the max. Still, if I lost it now, I would lose my driver’s license, and debit card. Those would hurt the most.

Note: I found the place of the most pain to the character immediately. I am the purse owner, and I would lose my identity if I lost my purse.

This is important when you want to interest the reader. Get to that thing or things that will cause the character the most pain and suffering and have fun with it. The reader will love you for it.

Hope you have a great day. I am off to craft a short story about a woman who loses her purse. Unfortunately for her, there is a lot more in hers than there is in mine. And who knows? It might be something that will blow up a building *evil grin*

Kim Smith is the author of the YA fantasy An Unexpected Performance available now on Amazon for Kindle and in print