Another skill I've always wanted to improve on is creative writing. I do a reasonable amount of writing for my blogs but I'd like to be better at creative and descriptive writing, feel more confident in my
writing style and not have times when I just freeze up, struggling to
write anything at all.
I've decided to compile a list
of 31 writing prompts and write something every day for May.
The 1st prompt was 'You fall down in the street.' I'd been thinking about what I might write since the list went up so when I sat down to write you'd think it'd be easy. I sat there for 10 minutes trying to decide how to write. Should I write in Word or on some sort of word counting site? I decided to just open Notepad and write in there.
And
I did. I made up a story about falling down and seeing a colony of ants
overthrow their leader. It's probably not great but I've made a start
on writing for a month! hurrah :D
"Walking home from Sainsbury's I looked up at Erin's window to see her
waving at me. As I raised my arm I misjudged the kerb and fell with my
face narrowly missing the garden wall. I glanced at the wall to see
how close I'd come to hitting it and looked straight though a gap that
went under the raised flower bed.
I closed my eyes tight and opened them again but it was all still
there. I could see about 100 ants lining a stepped pyramid. A
slightly larger menacing looking ant was stood at it's pinnacle
holding a forked twig. He shook the twig and all the ants bowed down
to him. I couldn't see well enough to see his face but I could sense
he was smugly enjoying his authority. He started to walk down the
pyramid and the ants parted to let him pass, bowing lower as they
moved back out of his path.
He was heading towards a rough looking shelter made of twigs and
leaves. I could see the queen ant was residing just within watching
the larger ant approach. As he neared the shelter he raised himself up
to his full height and went to enter. The queen barred his way and
lifted her left front leg to point at another smaller ant behind him.
The smaller ant scurried forward and the larger ant jabbed at him with
his twig. The queen ant darted out of the shelter and grabbed the twig
with her mandibles snapping it into pieces.
The crowd of ants swarmed over the rejected large ant and tore it
apart, punishing it for its bullying arrogance earlier. The smaller
ant entered the shelter with the queen.
I slowly got to my feet and looked up at Erin's window, but she had
already returned her attention to her laptop. I walked up to the front
door, went inside and headed to the kitchen to boil the kettle."
Since that first story it's become easier every time to write. I think about the next days prompt whenever I'm doing something like washing the dishes or making food and try to come up with a good idea. Then each day I cycle, shower and have breakfast before sitting down to write. I'm still just using Notepad but it works.
Every night after our evening meal I read out my story and get feedback from my family. It helps to have a published author in the house! Once I've written I look forward to reading it out loud to everyone.
Some days it was harder than others to think of something to write about depending on the prompt. But some days I really enjoyed writing and could have written much more.
It's been an interesting month and now I know I can get into a good routine of writing if I want to take it further. I might, I've always wanted to write a murder mystery.
If you're interested in reading what I wrote the stories are all collected on Wattpad.
For June I'm going to be trying to learn to meditate!
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