Tag: writing prompts

PROMPTS FROM CHURCHILL WRITERS

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Last Saturday we gathered in Churchill College again to chat about writing and have a scribble or type together. My prompts are in bold – have fun with them:

Mr Robinson’s expense book for May (1845) gives no hint that anything was wrong.

The three hours he had intended to stay stretched into three days.

(both from Daphne Du Maurier’s biography: The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte)

No coward soul is mine

(Title of Emily Bronte’s poem)

From Marion McCready’s poem Ailsa Craig

I write your name on a slip of paper /with a question mark, /place it under my mattress.

From Auden’s poem Epitaph on a Tyrant

He knew human folly like the back of his hand.

Prompts from Churchill Writers last Saturday

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We jumped straight into writing together last Saturday, almost as soon as we sat down. For a good twenty minutes everyone was absorbed, head down, scribbling or typing. Members of the group are free to write whatever they like, to respond to a prompt any way they like or not at all. The important thing is to free up the writing muscles and enjoy it. Very often, the writers are surprised and proud of what comes to them. Here are our latest prompts in case something works for you:

‘No one is immune to her power: the gods themselves are as much at risk of falling in love as the rest of us.’

Natalie Haynes, Divine Might

‘The evidence is in, and you are the verdict.’

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

‘We look before and after/ And pine for what is not’

PB Shelley, Ode to a Skylark

‘I don’t know nothin’ of what life’s about / just as long as you live, you never find out.’ Don McLean’s song, Wonderful Baby

At Serge Gainsbourg’s home in 2005

Prompts from Churchill Writers last week

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Here are the five writing prompts I brought to our first Churchill Writers’ session in person since last November. As usual, I opened books from my shelves at random and chose a line or two, anything at all. The context of the source doesn’t matter, what’s important is that you take a prompt and dance with it whatever way you like. Enjoy the adventure:

‘inside will be a room filled with everyone I love‘ (from Joelle Taylor’s C+nto)

‘the music is big boned, takes up the whole of the dance floor‘ (source ditto)

‘he’s killing the shadow of a life my mother lived before they met‘ (Mothersong by Amy Acre)

‘Shadows on the wall, Noises down the hall‘ (Maya Angelou, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me)

‘I’ve got a magic charm that I keep up my sleeve‘ (source ditto)

Several of the group members said they hadn’t written anything for ages and doubted that they’d be able to produce anything. Well, here they are…

Prompts from Churchill Writers last week

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The Churchill Writers came up with some fantastic writing from these prompts last Saturday, all in just ten minutes with no preparation. The essence of free writing is to start anywhere and keep writing at all costs. Welcome whatever comes without judgement until the time is up and let your writing surprise you. Writing alongside other writers can create an intoxicating energy but you can do it on your own too. Our prompts were these:

Too close to call.

They hardly ever touch.

‘Free as a thistle, white hair blowing’ (from Second Childhood by Phoebe Hesketh)

Her arms were around his neck and she would not let go.

Here’s a photo prompt to welcome spring too.

Happy writing!