Writing prompts from Churchill Writers

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026Leave a comment

Last Saturday our writing group in Churchill College, Cambridge was together again in person for the first time in months. Through the darkness and chill of winter, we meet by Zoom, which is cheery in its own way. But there is a magic about writers being in a room together that can ignite us, especially when we write together. Below are the prompts we used that day. I hope they work for you too:

Here, in this little bay,

Full of tumultuous life and great repose,

Where, twice a day,

The purposeless, glad ocean comes and goes,

Under high cliffs, and far from the huge town,

I sit me down.

(Magna Est Veritas by Coventry Patmore, 1823–1896)

Always it happens when we are not there —

The tree leaps up alive into the air,

Small open parasols of Chinese green

Wave on each twig.

(Metamorphosis by May Sarton, 1912–1995)

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

(Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now by A E Housman, 1859–1936)

Cherry blossoms –

lights

of years past.

(by Basho, 1644–1694)

In time of silver rain

The butterflies

Lift silken wings

To catch a rainbow cry.

(In Time of Silver Rain by Langston Hughes, 1902–1967)

Prompts: latest from ‘Where to Start Writing’ in Margate

March 10, 2025March 10, 2025Leave a comment

Yesterday’s written prompts from our Where to Start session yesterday in Marine Studios in Margate. A beautiful evening as we came out, with Turner skies:

‘Looking back, in many ways the days of the front line were my halcyon days.’

Time Come, Linton Kewsi Johnson about Railton Road in its ‘front line’ times

‘We set off the week before Christmas. It was freezing in London and our luggage sagged under the weight of our expectations and sketchbooks.’

Zandra Rhodes in Iconic

‘Dear Lonely Hearts, / my name is Nate / my hobbies are weightlifting / and tempting fate.’

Roger McGough in The Collected Poems: 1959-2024

‘Behold my bold provider, he can hunt and he can trap, / He can make a set of hinges from a piece of leather strap’

Pam Ayres, Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems

When I come out of the bathroom, I hear Mum and Mervyn talking downstairs. At the mention of my name, I pause in the hallway to listen, my hair dripping, a towel wrapped around my waist like an untidy skirt

The Lost Past of Billy McQueen, Neil Alexander

Writing Prompts

October 17, 2024October 17, 20241 Comment

Last Sunday at Marine Studios in Margate, my Where to Start Writing group were chatting about what sort of prompts work best. Many writers don’t need prompts of course. Their words churn in the brain like planes stacking above an airport and all they need is a quiet place and time. But sometimes we sit down to write and can’t get going.

If you have the confidence to start just anywhere, you won’t go far wrong. Fill a few pages with free scribbling, and keep writing – eyes down, let anything come – even when you think the words have dried. In time and with luck, your priorities about what you’re writing and then your story will find their way through to you.

Another way is use prompts. What did the Margate writers like best? Visual imagery was high on the list and I’ve added to my page of photo prompts here for you to have fun with. (I used to be able to add new photos to the top of the page but some update or other means we have to scroll down now, I’m afraid.)

Sensual prompts work too. As Marcel Proust knew, our sense of smell is marvellous for leading us by the nose down memory lane. Taste, touch, sounds especially music, they all work too. For me, anything from a kitchen drawer or in the bathroom cupboard can be useful. Hold whatever it is, really feel its textures and smells, its possibilities, its past, take a moment, then start writing…

A single word can be a good jump start sometimes. Specific words – blanket, door, pebble, rings, pages, trumpet – or abstracts like peace, exile, home, need, money, hope.

Character writing is excellent of course and my blogposts about getting deep inside your characters are useful there. A way back into writing a novel after a time of distraction is to choose an emotion (rage, love, grief etc.) and write a monologue for each of your main characters where they talk to you (and you write on your page or screen) how they feel about that emotion and how they are when they are deep in it. That should have them wading back into your imagination, ready for action.

Happy writing, however you do it. Here is a taster of my photo prompts for today:

Writing prompts for Churchill Writers meeting today

January 13, 2024January 14, 2024Leave a comment

My Churchill Writers are meeting this afternoon, online because of weather at this time of year in the UK and because so many of us are unwell. Here are some prompts for anyone who can’t be with us – five to ten minutes for each one, just to see where they take you. Longer if the writing is taking hold:

‘Do I dare to eat a peach?’ From Eliot’s The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock

‘Grief is a straightforward emotion’ – Orpheus – Heathcliff – Edna de Millay

‘Publish and be damned’ – the Duke of Wellington to aspiring blackmailers

‘I hear it in the deep heart’s core’ from Yeats’s poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Winter

Happy writing!

Happy New Year! What’s coming up next?

January 2, 2018January 6, 2018Leave a comment

Happy New Year to you all and thank you for dropping by, so often and in such numbers. As well as happiness for you and your loved ones, I wish you all a productive, successful writing year. If, by next January, you have a regular writing practice and know roughly where your writing is heading, you will have achieved a lot. That may not sound like a lot but, believe me, it is.

Usually with my writing groups, our second term (in a sort of academic year) is about plot. It’s my favourite: we get to sit around telling each other our favourite stories and chatting about books that have stayed with us through a lifetime.

Usually whenever people look for writing advice, they’re after hints on writing dialogue, show and tell, point of view, that sort of thing. The Box of Tricks. Should I change my usual tilt and go for that now? Then, this morning, I read this.

Storytelling is not about cheap tricks and formulaic writing. It is one of our oldest and most valuable crafts. Character interests us readers first. Plot keeps us engrossed until we reach that fantastic combination of inevitability, surprise and bittersweet longing for more that is a perfect ending. It’s not about writing to a tired formula – I am all for you reinventing the wheel as often and thoroughly as you can, go for it! But if your story has hit buffers and you’re not sure why, then thinking about what has worked in the greatest stories of all time can help.

So, the Box of Tricks is going to wait. We’ll start by looking at the oldest classic plot in the book: Quest. See you here on Sunday!

Where are we now?

October 27, 2017September 29, 2022Leave a comment

My blog was later than usual this week so here is an extra post to warm us up for the writing weekend…

We’re travelling deep into the hidden furrows of your characters’ hearts and memories now so it’s time for a breather before we go even deeper. Let’s look around at the places in your story where your characters eat, sleep, work, suffer, celebrate and love.

SHORTCUT

Your draft flows more quickly, more consistently if you get to know those places early in your writing. Most important of all, find out how your characters feel about them.

This is about more than location: what are the colours, smells, textures and sounds that tell us about your character and are significant for your story? What is the atmosphere in each place? How does the air move there? Is it warm or cold, stuffy or clear-headed, does it bring a taste to the mouth? Does it bring memories? Above all, does your character want to be there? Why? If not, where would they rather be and why?

Let’s start at home. Using your scribble-chat technique, let your character invite you to where they live and show you, a room at a time, their kitchen, sofa, bathroom, garden/ view from the rooms, bedroom, bed and so on. Robert Graves’ kitchen in Mallorca is below – I loved that place.

How does your character describe their bed. Tracey Emin was right, you’ll learn a lot.
Let’s move on to day to day travel – how does your character usually get around? Ask your character to describe their car, bike, route to work etc.
From there, it’s easy to lead the scribble-chat to your character’s work place. We spend vast chunks of our lives at work and have a wide range of feelings and reactions to it.

What does your character do in spare time? Find out about their gym, choir room and so on.
Can you think of other places that are important to your character? Friends’ and relatives’ homes, for example. Worship spaces. Places to socialise.
Where is your character’s favourite place in all the world, real or imaginary?

2016-07-18 20.50.00

Different characters will see the same places differently of course and that’s always fun.

As usual, this is just exploration. You could have another go next week and find yourself up to the eyes in different answers. That’s great! You can choose what excites you most and works best for your characters and your story. Above all, you are immersing yourself more and more in your characters and their world, letting your writing flow, and getting closer to a deeply imagined, consistent draft.

On Sunday we move to Stage 4 – where is your plot’s engine? See you then!