As a Communication major, I often tell people I love to write. From filling countless journals in my adolescence with middle school drama to writing deeply analytical AP Lit essays, it has always been something I was passionate about.
My teachers would praise me for my use of descriptive vocabulary, my sentence structure, and the smoothness of my essays. It was something that came naturally, and a hobby that I genuinely enjoyed doing. But somewhere between then and now, I started to lose practice.
I’m sure many other students can relate — as an undergrad, at least in my experience, essays can pile up on us. They get buried under a multitude of other assignments, and suddenly writing becomes something we rush through to meet a deadline. Instead of enjoying the act of creating something new, we find ourselves in a time crunch, just trying to hit as many points on the rubric as we can before turning it in on time.
The essays in undergrad also don’t always stimulate my creative side. At least in pre-communication classes, they are methodical and research-based. They require precise attention to detail with careful citations and specific formatting details. Although that kind of writing is important, it’s fundamentally different from the kind of writing that made me fall in love with it in the first place. I don’t feel excited to start writing these types of essays — truthfully, I put it off until the last minute.
I’ll admit, the lack of practicing this skill that used to come so naturally has made me a little lazy. My first step is sometimes ChatGPT, just to generate some sort of idea or a starting point — even though I realize how wrong and ironic that is for someone who claims to be a writer. Something that I once loved to do on my own was slowly pushed to the side, and replaced by the easiest, quickest, most popular tool that could just do it for me.
But writing is like a muscle — it takes practice and consistency to keep your skills strong. If you want to start writing again but just don’t know where to start, here is a by-no-means-comprehensive list of my favorite prompts to just get you started and get the words flowing (and abstain from ChatGPT for a bit).
Number 1: Goals
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Write about things you want to accomplish — by the end of the day, the week, or even the year. Reflecting on your priorities and meaning in your life is incredibly important. Plus, putting those thoughts into words forces you to slow down and think about what you really want, and solidify steps you can take to get there — while practicing writing at the same time.
Number 2: Gratitude
This is probably my favorite topic to write about. Describe the things you’re grateful for: how your mom always listens to you rant, how your roommates are always there for a couch debrief at the end of the night, or how your hard work paid off to get you where you are now. From the roof over your head to the food in your fridge, there’s always something to be grateful for. We often get sucked into living in the future, anxious about what’s next. Writing about gratitude grounds you in the present.
Number 3: People Watching
This one is a little more creative, but it’s something I love writing about. Create backstories for people you see while people-watching in public. What’s their story? Where are they headed? What did they do today? The Arbor walkway or Sands Beach during sunset are two of my personal favorites to do this.
Number 4: A Letter to Your Future Self
This is always a fun one to look back on. Write about where you are in life right now, and where you might imagine you’ll be in the future. Try to describe the tiniest details about yourself that you might not remember when future-you reads the letter. It makes it that much more interesting to read later on.
Number 5: A Core Memory
From a childhood memory to your first day of freshman year of college, any core moment in your life can be an incredibly introspective topic to write about. Try to describe the scene in as much detail as possible — remembering the emotions you felt in the moment and even reflecting on why it’s a core memory in the first place is great practice for storytelling.
“We Write to Taste Life Twice”
Writing has always been crucial to culture. It can be cathartic — getting thoughts and feelings out of your head and onto paper when your mind feels too full. It can connect people through stories, essays, or journal entries that can build understanding among different groups. It can spark conversations about important issues or simply help someone feel less alone in what they’re experiencing.
AI can’t taste life twice like we can as people. Sure, it can generate words or grammatically correct sentences, but it can’t replace the personal, human experience behind it. We risk losing our unique voice by relying on it too much.
So, if anything, I hope this helped one writer get started again. Whether it’s a casual journal entry before bed, a detailed piece of creative fiction, or even just a long text to your friend, write something. In an age of increasing AI-generated content, human voices are more important than ever.
