FICTION FOCUS
NEED PROMPTING?
Anything can work as a writing prompt if you’re looking for inspiration, says Margaret James
Margaret James
Just like love, writing prompts are all around us. On a good day, most of us can feel them in our typing (or writing) fingers, if not in our toes. But prompts can be elusive and, if we’re having a bad day, where do we find them? Ordinary household objects (and their uses) can often be motivational. A silver spoon –which, sadly, wasn’t in my own mouth when I was born – found in my late mother’s cutlery drawer has an unusual hallmark that inspired me to write a short about a family heirloom which helped to reunite some story estranged cousins and solve a family mystery. Perhaps a piece of your own cutlery could be instrumental in tracking down an inheritance? Or might it suggest a motive for murder? Or be used as a murder weapon? But maybe don’t choose something as obvious as a knife for your weapon. It doesn’t need to be a piece of cutlery, of course. What about a screwdriver, a chisel, a pencil sharpener or a novelty magnet? What alternative uses could you come up with for any of those? portable, perhaps you could put it or them on your desk so they’re in your line of vision while you’re writing? A pair of gloves, some picture postcards, those red elastic bands some postmen leave scattered on our drives and garden paths: what kinds of fiction could they inspire?