We have come to the end of our writing weekend, but hopefully this little series of exercises has inspired you to get on a regular writing routine. Because it does feel good to be creative every day, doesn’t it?
In case you missed them, check out the borrowed text and secrets/truths prompts of the past two days.
Creative Writing Weekend – Prompt #3
Email, text, or talk to five people today and ask each of them to provide you with five random words – a verb, an adjective, a noun, an article, and another word of their choosing. (Alternative: grab the dictionary and randomly plunk your finger down on different words until your list reaches 25. It’s way more fun to ask people though.)
Don’t tell your subjects what the words are for, don’t give them a theme, just write down the words that they suggest. Once you’ve collected these 25 words, review them to see if a theme emerges. Whether it does or does not, write a poem that includes every single one of these words. You must include every word in your first draft, no matter how simple or complicated or ridiculous, no matter what tense it’s in, no matter what language. When you revise the poem, then you can take poetic license and delete the words that don’t work or change their tense.
Additional challenge: If you typically write in free verse, switch it up and write in metrics or syllabics. If you typically write shorter lines, lengthen them. If you always write in stanzas, try writing your poem as a block of type. Vary your routine to see what develops. Let the poem guide you.
Inspiration from poet Amiri Baraka:
There must not be any preconceived notion or design for what the poem ought to be… I’m not interested in writing sonnets, sestinas, or anything… only poems. If the poem has got to be a sonnet (unlikely tho) or whatever, it’ll certainly let me know.
Did you enjoy this writing weekend? Want more? Stay tuned for a month’s worth of creative writing prompts during April’s National Poetry Month celebration!
Novel Novice 
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