Category: Writing Prompts & On Writing 

• A few things are as useful as a good writing prompt to get the writing juices flowing. Many writers use writing prompts to get rid of temporary writer’s block or even to fix difficult plot issues in their novels.
• There are many books and websites offering writing prompts, but if you are stuck and want to have some fun, try this one, in which you can use one of your favourite or just any old novel from your shelf. Make sure to choose one that you have already read as not to spoil your reading experience later if it is a not-yet-read novel.
• This exercise is a great around-the-table activity to do during a family holiday, a friends weekend break away, at your writing club/circle or book club and also in the classroom at school. It is fun, creative and pushes writing boundaries.
• Because there are many prompts, it can be done over the span of a few writing sessions.

Have fun!

Instructions

Get a novel from your book shelf and follow these prompts:

• Exercise 1: Open randomly on a page and point with your finger to a word. Repeat this twice more and then use the three words in a 100-word story.
• Exercise 2: Use the 5^th sentence of Chapter 3 as the ending of a flash fiction short story (under 500 words).
• Exercise 3: Rewrite the opening paragraph of Chapter 1.
• Exercise 4: Turn to page 111 and edit/rewrite the 3rd paragraph as if it is your journal entry.
• Exercise 5: Open the novel randomly and edit/rewrite the whole uneven page. Delete unnecessary adjectives, add better ones, rephrase sentences etc.
• Exercise 6: Use the last sentence of Chapter 7 as the start of a flash fiction story (under 350 words).
• Exercise 7: Rewrite the second paragraph of Chapter 2 from the viewpoint of a two-year-old.
• Exercise 8: Use the blurb of a novel and write a 99-word story with your own ending.
• Exercise 9: Write a poem from the last paragraph of the last chapter.
• Exercise 10: Use the first sentence of each chapter of the whole novel and rework it into a short story.

If you are a car enthusiast and love to write about cars, check this out.

© 2022 Fielies De Kock

Wife. Mom. Blogger. Content writer. Living in Hermanus in the Overberg, South Africa, with a crazy-haired husband and two dogs. Author of a children’s chapter book and a few short reads, and co-author of a writing prompts book with her English teaching/content writer son, who also has crazy hair.