Drawing a Blank? Prompts for Writers & Artists

This post is for you creative types out there. Whether you’re a writer or a visual artist, I’m sure you’ve cast about for inspiration a time or two in your life. This may sound familiar: you want to write/create, and have the time to do it, but nothing’s coming.  What do I want to say?  What do I want to make?  These questions can haunt you when you’re creatively frustrated.

I like to have some prompts and techniques in my arsenal – a small supply of jumping off points to get me going when my muse has exited the building.  Here are a few examples, things you might try the next time your well of inspiration has run dry.

For writers:

Pick up a trashy tabloid from the supermarket. Find the most preposterous story in the publication – whether it’s about celebrity Botox or alien landings on earth – and let it inspire a short story.  A variation of this is to read the Odd News on Yahoo!  Some of the stories are incredible.

The next time you’re in public, listen in to a nearby conversation for a snippet that you find interesting, and use that snippet to inspire a written piece.  Whether that conversational excerpt is a phrase, three sentences, or an entire life situation, you can use their truth to inspire your fiction!

For visual artists:

Choose one of your favorite elements from nature, and include it in your work.  Whether you’re fascinated with crow feathers, enjoy the slender, prickly needles of a pine tree, or love the perpetually smiling faces of bottlenose dolphins, somehow incorporate your selection into what you create.

Create a piece of art – whether it’s a collage, a drawing, or a photo – that visually represents a non-illustrated book you’ve read.  I used this technique a few years ago when I’d read The Road for my former book club.  I’m not a naturally grim or “dark” person, so I wondered if my artistic aesthetic would still shine through while I tried to render a tiny bit of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic Hell/world.  It was a satisfying challenge, and though it wasn’t my usual color palette or subject matter, I was pleased with the results.

(The weeds they forded fell to dust about them.)

Do you have any go-to prompts you’d like to share?  If you do, please post a comment.  Thanks!

Warm regards,
Melody