Welcome back to the asynchronous version of Max’s Writers Café!
These are prompt-based inspiration
sessions to help get the creative juices flowing. I figured you might enjoy
having a chance to work on the prompts at your own pace!
Just in case you like the prompts and ever
want to join a live session, Max’s Writers Café is free, open to all, ages 18+,
held in English via Zoom. I create prompts in advance, and we write together.
To learn more or register for the individual sessions, visit the Eventbrite collection.
The purpose of my inspiration sessions is
simply to help fellow creatives get started on something new. It can be
refreshing to let yourself dream up something unexpected from a prompt; and
something about writing with a time limit, especially in the company of others,
with an idea you didn’t expect, can help overcome that “stuck” feeling. So I
wrote these with the intention of inspiring some new rough drafts. Don’t expect
them to be perfect!
For each numbered concept below: read the prompt first, then set a timer for ten minutes and start writing. Stop when the timer ends. Though you’re writing on your own, obeying the timer should still help train your brain to take the prompt seriously and get down to business. (For me, this can help circumvent how daunting it can be to get started.) You might be surprised by how much comes to you that you didn’t expect! And I hope that some of these rough drafts will intrigue you enough to polish and/or continue them later.
1. There’s something in the air: New seasons may bring changes to the flavor, temperature, and quality of the air in ways that can affect a being’s mood, health, or circumstances. Showcase this effect in a poem that expresses the psychology of the seasons through sensory details. If you wish, consider writing from the viewpoint of something other than a human. Alternatively, this prompt could be interpreted in terms of the ecology of Earth—air quality, atmosphere, etc.—or that of another world in science fiction and fantasy.
2. Dream come true? Or nightmare? You decide! When you get what you wish, sometimes it’s an unexpected and blessed experience. Perhaps it’s something you always dreamed about, but feared would never come true. The contrast between the previous life and new circumstances can make happiness feel even stronger. However, sometimes that “dream come true” plays out differently than one thought. Deception might be involved (by someone else, or self-deception). Or maybe the person with the wish has changed and the old dream no longer suits, no matter how happy or good. Write about a “dream come true,” and show whether it’s still desired. Include the contrast between the life before and after the change, and/or between the original dream, the actual experience of having it, and/or a new dream the protagonist wants instead.
3. Stuck: Your character is
stuck in some way, unable to move on with their life. Maybe they know or
believe they are blocked by someone or something—whether it be another person,
or something about themselves. Is the belief correct? Is there actually
something they might be able to do about the situation? Is something deeper
going on? Do they still need to figure out what the source of the block is?
Have they identified the correct cause? Why and what do they want to change?
Show your character confronting or exploring this situation or feeling in some
way.
4. Cozy: What is “cozy” for you or your character? And why do they need or desire coziness? Think about some things that cause your character to feel nurtured, warm, relaxed, or comforted. What situations and/or sensations assist when your character needs a break from something, time to recuperate, or just to enjoy a well-deserved rest? Consider what they might be celebrating, what they’ve recently achieved, and/or what they need a break from—basically, provide some contrast with the coziness being explored. Feel free to translate this experience to an unusual or imaginary setting.
If you’d like more prompts, here are some earlier installments in this series:
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Max Gardner (he/they) is a fiction writer & award-winning poet published under a variety of bylines, including Max Jason Peterson and Adele Gardner. A poetry collection, Halloween Hearts, is available from Jackanapes Press, while over 500 stories, poems, art, and articles appear in Analog, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and more. Gardner serves as literary executor for father and mentor Delbert R. Gardner; Muse Mansion, a collection of poems by both father and firstborn, will be released soon by San Francisco Bay Press.
