Staying Creative Indoors
By: Gabby Merten
Bored during quarantine? Finding ways to challenge yourself can be hard to come by when you’re stuck inside all day, but not all hobbies are out of reach. The arts are a great way to express any built-up worry or boredom you may be experiencing— and if writing is up your alley, this may be the article for you.
One good prompt to get creativity flowing is emotion, or more accurately, fear. Write about what you dread. Don’t worry about whether that fear is tangible and rational, nor if it’s something fictional; if you’re scared of it, you’re scared of it. Visualize what it is you are afraid of and play out a scene where you overcome it.
Dreams! What’s a relatively recent dream you’ve had that you can remember clearly? Make details more distinct and turn that dream into a story.
Image prompts are great, too. Find one or several cool (preferably unrelated) images and expand on a poem or storyline— use the scenery as a jumping off point for your piece.
I’m sure you’re familiar with writing a letter to your past self, but what about writing a letter to a character? What’s something you’ve always wanted to say to a fictional person you’ve read or watched on a screen?
And now, last but not least, there is the quote prompt. Find a quote— it can be something a historical figure said, a troubled yet brilliant artist, an admired character, or even an effective song lyric; it doesn’t matter. As long as you like the quote you’ve chosen, it will work. Now, take that quote and apply it to real life. How does this quote correlate to actions you may have made in the past? Why did you choose this particular quote? Why did it resonate with you?
There are a lot more writing prompts than just the few short ones listed here, so go ahead and search for more if these aren’t quite right. I hope you found these helpful! Good luck!