I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about writer’s block lately.
I have the opposite problem: way too many ideas rumbling around and not nearly enough time to develop them. Fall is the worst – with so much change happening, I’m noticing little things that get my creative juices flowing, and yet I’m so busy with work, Halloween costumes, and wedding stuff, I’m not spending almost any time writing.
So let’s help each other out, shall we? Here are six short-story prompts to get you started writing that I’ve thought about in the last few weeks. They’ll play on your surroundings, if you’re in a place lucky enough to have proper seasons. They’re a little bit adventurous, a little bit spooky, in the lead-up to Halloween. Maybe you can do something with them that I haven’t been able to:
It’s autumn again. Every tree on the block has turned, except the one outside her house.
I hate the term “Indian Summer,” but we’re certainly in one, which makes it so much stranger that I simply cannot stay warm no matter what I do.
Every night, around two in the morning, I hear the sound of tires on cold gravel coming from the street behind my house.
I feel like I’m generally pretty understanding, but I can’t believe that my kid brought this animal home from their walk in the woods.
There’s a concrete foundation in the middle of the river. It once held a lighthouse, which has long since been dismantled. But night after night, from the top of the hill, I can see a flicker of light coming from it.
Dew-heavy leaves land on the windshield with a limp, wet slap. If I was driving faster, they might not adhere, blown away by the wind. But I’m moving so slowly, they’re starting to collect, obscuring my view.
Come on, NaNoWriMo is coming up in November. You’d best shake off those cobwebs before then. Get writing!
Paddle your own canoe, folks.
Trevor
