Contrary Writing Prompts

Jan 22, 2009

My Writer’s Café program offers writing prompts (Example: Write about a situation in which an obstacle causes problems for this character.  Character: Catherine Holte  Obstacle: A cat ) and even provides a timer so you can dedicate, say, 15 minutes to it to warm up, and I’ve seen a few of them around on various writing websites.  It’s a nice idea… something to push you into creative mode and force you to tackle something you didn’t think up yourself.

It’s a nice idea.  And I hate it.

I’ve never been able to make use of writing prompts and when given an assignment in school, I nearly always found a way to write about something other than what I was told to.

As a warm-up, I suppose I could do it, but if I need to flex my fingers before digging in for the day, I’d rather spend 15 minutes writing a new blog post or answering email, writing on Facebook walls or taking notes for a new review.

It’ not that I’m opposed to the idea, as I said…. I think I’m just being perverse.  I think it’s one of the ways my rebelliousness leaks out.  I just hate being told what to write about.  When I see the above example, I think… Catherine Holte and her cat obstacle.  The tart.  She wouldn’t know what to do with a cat if she tripped over it, which she is obviously going to.  No… I’d rather write about Genevive.  But of course Genevive is not fond of cats with their lurking ways… little monsters.

Sometimes I do wonder why I can’t just do what I’m told.