by Elizabeth Fields

Created on: March 09, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Sometimes it's hard to get "your pen moving". Sometimes it's writer's block or a lack of motivation, and other times you just don't know where to begin. We can all at one point or another use a little catalyst to get the creative juices flowing so here are ten prompts or exercises to initiate imagination:

10. Just write
I had a substitute creative writing instructor once that told me to just start writing anything that comes to mind. The first sentence of my assignment said, "I don't know what to write about..." This in turn began a string of thoughts that eventually became one of my best stories (in my opinion anyway). Since then when I don't know exactly where to begin, I often find myself writing just that. Sometimes just moving your pen and putting something on paper helps to get your gears rotating.

9. Respond
Read what someone else has written and respond to it. Choose a favorite quote, or a not so favorite article and put your thoughts about it on paper. Just tapping into the old brain for opinions can generate enough to write 200 pages essays. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration; but you get the point.

8. Rewrite the day...
...from someone else's perspective. In your mind rewind back to a moment during your day when you had contact with another person, or even an animal or thing. Then press play. Write through the course of the day from that person's (or animal's or thing's) perspective. For example, if you had coffee with a friend start from when you first met for coffee writing about the conversation from their point of view. What did they think about what you said? What did they want to say but didn't? What did they do after you left and went home to clean the house? Did they go to the grocery store and meet a mysterious stranger who swept them off their feet? Be creative.

7. Recount an event as told to 5 different listeners
Choose an event or make one up and tell the story to 5 different listeners. How will the story differ? How will it remain the same? Be creative with your listeners. Write as though in a diary, to a close friend, to an acquaintance, to your mother. Vary your listeners- write about something that you would tell the whole thing to your best friend, but would never tell to your significant other. Use your imagination.

6. Be somebody (thing) else
Write about your life only don't be you. Write as though your were someone you respect, or envy. Or be your best friend, your mother, someone famous. The only catch is you have to be someone of

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