The Imaginative Storm Method
If you want to run a race, you don’t just get up off the couch and start running. You train. Same with writing. If you’ve ever tried to write something “real” straight out of the gate, you get what we mean.
Think of your imagination as a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger and stretchier it gets. The great thing is, no pain! No groaning and burning! Just play and exploration and surprise.
Use our prompts as a gym for your writing muscles, or use them to open a window into a scene or a character. It’s a great strategy for getting your imagination to give you the gifts that you can’t just “think up” with your rational mind.
The more you write to Imaginative Storm prompts, the stronger and stretchier your imagination becomes—and the freer and fresher and more authentic all your writing becomes. Try it and see!
Below are some images we’ve used in our Prompt of the Week:
Full Moon Painting by Paul Pascarella, paulpascarella.com; “The Boys at White Sands” by Allegra Huston; “Woman cutting her kimono” by Galina Zhiganova; Tuba man; “Washing Line Animals” by Helga Stentzel, helgastentzel.com; Bosco, gargoyle by Mandy Stapleford, mandystapleford.com; Latte art by Janet Boccelli; “The Future Was better” by Trey Speegle, treyspeegle.com; “Great Egrets” by Louis Faber; public statuary in Tahoua, Niger; octopus; Venice in Peril poster; “Labyrinth” by R.E.C. Thompson, chipperthompson.com; Yayoi Kusama; Atlas detector, CERN; “Red Monster” by Ekin Balcioglu, ekinbalcioglu.com; “The Evolution of the Chair” by Brian Hart; alchemical illustration; baby stingray
How to write to a prompt using the Imaginative Storm method
Use pen and paper. Avoid beautiful notebooks if they make you feel you have to write well in them! Read more about writing by hand
Set a timer for 10 minutes. This helps you not try to write well, because how can you write something good in 10 minutes? Read more about timed writing
Don’t plan what to write. Think of it as a dance between your rational mind and your imagination, with your imagination taking the lead. Read more about writing what you don’t know
Want more writing tips? Visit YouTube @imaginativestorm for our 11 Top Writing Tips.
Want proof? Visit our blog to read some of the amazing material people have written in just 10 minutes!
Why Use Writing Prompts?
We’re big on writing prompts: questions, word lists, visual images, audio and video. You can use them:
to open a window into a scene or a character that you might not have been able to “think up”
as writer training, like a gym for your creative writing imagination
as a sandbox to play in, just for fun
to expand your range of writing style and tone
to spark new ideas for your writing
The more you write to Imaginative Storm prompts, the stronger and stretchier your imagination becomes—and the freer and fresher and more authentic all your writing becomes. Try it and see!
All the images on this page were used for the Prompt of the Week. Visit us on Circle to read what people were inspired to write.
