I was just looking through images from my study abroad experience in Switzerland, and I came across a certain photo. It was a sheet of paper with random things written on it. Full disclosure, I took pictures and videos of everything while I was abroad…everything. When I looked closer, I realized it was a sheet of paper from my creative writing class. We were assigned groups and told to pass around a sheet of paper and write a sentence each while also trying to make a story that made sense. We weren’t allowed to talk to one another while we did it. I looked at this sheet of paper and reminisced on this class because it was the first time I had taken a creative writing class. I miss forcing myself to be creative.
Our homework every night was to write anything for thirty minutes. By the end of the semester, I had created an entire universe outside of class. Whenever I felt stressed out, or even when I wanted to procrastinate on studying for exams, I would open up the Google Doc and type faster than lightning. It was actually kind of scary how much creativity I had to get out. According to the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), there are health benefits to being creative– both in physiological and psychological ways. The Huffington Post summarized some of AJPH findings on the impact of being creative, such as “Improved well-being by decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive ones”, “Improved medical outcomes, trends toward reduced depression”, and “Improvements in flow and spontaneity, expression of grief, positive identity, and social networks”.
So, how creative are you feeling today? I’ve loaded up the story generator from my favorite website Seventh Sanctum, and attached four writing prompts below to get you started. Good luck and good health!
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The story must have a snake in it. A character dyes their hair.
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During the story, there is a delivery made. The story must have a wanderer at the beginning. The story must involve a piece of fruit in the beginning.
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During the story, there is a sudden change in temperature. During the story, a character is given a good talking-to.
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The story is set on a wrecked ship. The story must have an earth-spirit in it. The story must have a bow appear in the middle. A character hits something in anger, but the action goes terribly wrong.