I took on the November and December Short Story Challenge for 2018 to challenge myself to write short stories of varying lengths in a concentrated period. The original goal was to write twenty-five short stories, but I ended up with fifty. Don’t be impressed: who knows how good they are? (News flash: one of them won an award!)
I chose writing prompts because I needed a kickstart to get moving, and because I wanted to branch out in terms of genre. Another reason was to work on improving my ability to tell a story in fewer words, so one goal of the exercise was to write flash fiction, often defined as fiction of less than 1,000 words. That’s what I searched for, and it wasn’t hard to find prompts for mysteries and science fiction, and a ton for romance and fantasy. But I have to tell you, if people have good sources for western prompts or short story outlets, I’d love to hear about them.
Here are five good reasons to use writing prompts.
You’re Just Stuck
We all get stuck during our writing. That’s not such a big deal when you’re writing a novel, because you can shift to another part of your outline (if you have one). When writing a short story, that doesn’t work so well.
Odyssey talks about “escaping from writer’s block,” and suggests that when writers hit a wall, they should take a break and read through a bunch of writing prompts. Following a writing prompt may spark a new idea that helps the writer break through the block.
You Want to Stretch Yourself
At the 2017 Creatures, Crime and Creativity Conference in Maryland, I ran across Weldon Burge, owner/ publisher of Smart Rhino Publications. He’s published twelve books in the horror and thriller genres, and when I looked at one of his publications, thought “I wonder if I could do that?” I searched for writing prompts and found one about a scar with a back story. My story features a tattoo that covers a scar. The result was a story entitled “Tattoo,” which may be the best of the short story challenge stories. And without finding that prompt, I’m not sure I could have done it. Odyssey stressed that the exercise and challenge of writing out of one’s comfort zone is a great way to stretch your author muscles, and I agree.
Lower Risk Writing
Gabriela Pereira refers to using writing prompts as “throw away writing,” meaning that there is so little risk, writers can play and explore. That’s what I found. I’d love for all of my short stories to make it into publication or win contests, but the reality is maybe ten to fifteen are good enough for that. But that’s ten to fifteen decent stories I didn’t have before the challenge. Gabriela also suggest that writers can gain a great a deal of confidence from following prompts, particularly outside of their usual genre(s), because it helps them think on the fly.
A Way to Improve
I’ve always believed I was better at writing dialogue than narrative, because I can insert humor into the dialogue, which keeps the interactions among the characters lively. Literary writing and journals, however, often prefer narrative writing. TCK Publishing suggests that using writing prompts increases the amount of practice a writer engages in. They also say that the increased practice improves writing over time because it tests imagination, language and familiarity with other genres, and is bound to produce long-term writing dividends. Gabriela Pereira agrees by saying that it “hones your craft.”
A Chance for Feedback
After writing my stories, I asked work colleagues for feedback. Some of the feedback was positive, and some was well, dismissive. Oh, well. But I received valuable feedback more easily than I could with a novel. With a short story, you can ask anyone to spend thirty minutes reading it, and gain of valuable feedback. Emily Wenstrom, writing on The Write Life agrees, further stating that feedback can come from anyone who can read. Remember, our ultimate audience isn’t just editors, it’s readers.
I don’t know what will happen with my fifty short stories. I’ve sent two off to writing contests and will send more once I’m finished editing them. Reflecting on the exercise, I enjoyed it! And I’ll never again scoff at NaNoWriMo write-ins where people use writing prompts and speed drills to improve their writing: I’ll just join them.
