Category: Prompts and Inspiration

Shelter and Write Prompt 18: The Plot Twist

Jaclyn3 Comments

Think of a character (or even yourself!) for whom the pandemic is a major turning point, a plot twist. 

What was the trajectory before this year? What were they aiming for before the outbreak occurred? How does the virus affect them? How does the tension rise? 

Then comes the major turning point! How does this pandemic change things for them? It should be big, something that will change their major life decisions and their goals. How does it change them as people? 

What is the resolution? How does everything end?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 17: Write a Letter to Your Old Self

Jaclyn6 Comments

Write a letter to yourself 3 months ago. 

Think about the changes that have happened since 2020 began. What were your thoughts, hopes, and experiences at that time? How have things changed since then? What are the things you didn’t expect? What would you want to tell yourself from back then? Would you make different preparations? Try to be in a different place? Would you savor something just a little bit more?

This also works well for an imagined character. What would they want to say to themselves? What would they do differently?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 16: Writing Together

Jaclyn1 Comment

Collaborate on a piece of writing. 

Find at least one other person to write together with. Perhaps you create a thread on social media, or enlist your family. This would work really well with a poem or with a short story. 

Start with just a line or sentences. Allow each person involved to add a line that relates to their current experiences and then allow the next person to respond to that line and add their own experiences. 

Where are the similarities? The differences? Is there a tug-of-war in the perspectives, or are you and your collaborators using similar images and ideas?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 15: Upside-Down Fears

Jaclyn2 Comments

This one’s a little fun and funky. 

Free write for 10 minutes about your fears. Choose 5 nouns from your free write that stand out to you. Then choose 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives. 

Next, turn your paper upside down and “read” the upside down text. Find five “words” that stand out to you upside down. For example, if you read the word “words” upside down, it looks like “sporm,” which might make me think of sport, sperm, or spore. 

Next, think of a phrase someone from your past used to always say and a phrase that you have heard over and over again in recent weeks. 

Now, create a piece that incorporates all of these things: the 5 nouns, 5 adjectives, 5 verbs, 5 upside-down words you chose and the two phrases, one from your past and one from the present. It could be an essay, a poem, or a fictional story, but it must include all of these elements. Have fun!

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 14: Everything Changes

Jaclyn3 Comments

Think of one very small change that gives a window into life right now. It could be the coloring your toddler left on the wall since they are home all day, the seeds you just planted, the mountain of toilet paper at your sister’s house. 

Brainstorm everything that comes to mind when you think of this change: people, places, thoughts, feelings, etc. Write down everything that pops up in your mind when you think of the small detail. Where are the connections between this one small detail and other things in your life and your world?

Show us this change. Tell us about the colors, the textures, everything you notice about it as you look closely. Let us see it along with you. What do you notice about it? What is the history of this thing? What is its meaning to you?

Then, tell us why you noticed this particular change. What is it about this one small detail that has captured your attention? How does this thing connect to something larger happening in your life?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 13: Re-Vision

Jaclyn2 Comments

Look back at a piece of writing that you did before the pandemic affected your life. This could be as simple as an email that you wrote, something as complex as a contract you made, or it could be something more creative, like a story or poem.

How would you write this text differently now? Perhaps a short story you wrote will now have this news in the background. Perhaps you can add new meaning to a poem because of something you’ve learned. Perhaps an essay you wrote will now include your current experiences. 

Rewrite the piece you’ve chosen in a new way, looking at it with today’s eyes.

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 12: Gratitude

Jaclyn2 Comments

Pick one thing that you feel particularly grateful for right now. It could be your dog, chocolate, the snow melting. Anything that has caught your attention and made you feel some gratitude. 

Write about it in detail. Why are you grateful for it? What does it mean to you? How has your feeling about this thing solidified or changed? Did you notice this thing in the pace of your normal life? Was it something you took for granted? Or has the way things have slowed down made you see it in a new light? Perhaps it is something you never needed or noticed in the before-times. Or maybe it is something you have always been grateful for. Describe it for us and help us also feel grateful for it.

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 11: Someone Who Thrives

Jaclyn7 Comments

Imagine a character (or write about yourself!) thriving during the epidemic. Write their story. 

Who is this person? What was their life like three months ago? What did they want for their life then? 

How has their life been affected? Are they thriving now because of coincidence, or because of something to do with Covid-19? Are they thriving by chance or have they taken advantage of the situation? What are they gaining? Are their dreams coming true or is it a situation that is wholly different than anything they could have imagined? 

What is happening in their lives as the pandemic takes place around them? And how does their story end?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 10: Write a Haibun

Jaclyn4 Comments

Write a haibun. A haibun is a mix of haiku poetry and prose. To begin your haibun, go outside (but keep your distance from people!) and write 3 haikus (5-7-5 syllables!) about things you see in nature. Perhaps it is the change in seasons, new growth as snow melts, or the absence of cars. What specific images do you notice? Write haikus about the small things you notice, and try to keep your focus on the concrete imagery.

Then, write prose between each haiku about what the images you used from nature make you think about. Why did you choose these specific images? How do they connect to your life right now? How do they connect to the larger picture of our current times?

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.

Shelter and Write Prompt 9: Changes in Setting

Jaclyn3 Comments

Write about a setting that changes. This could be fictional, or it could be your own setting. 

What is your (or your character’s) current setting? Start small, with a bedroom, or an office. Give us the details so that we really feel like we are there. Then think about how this setting has changed in recent weeks. Are there more people around or less? New smells because of your roommate’s new baking obsession? A new makeshift desk in your garage? How has your immediate setting changed and been changed?

Then go larger and larger: How has your house been affected? Your neighborhood? Your town? Your state? Your country? Bonus points if you can then tie back to the small and the personal at the end!

This post is part of a series I am doing that includes 30 prompts for 30 days of sheltering at home. You can read more about my reasoning and also find other prompts here. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to share here or to tag your work #shelterandwrite.