NaNoWriMo Notes: Prompts vs. Original Ideas
Let’s make this clear I will never shy away from a good prompt but there are times when I just want to write what I want to write. That said I am never at a loss for original ideas and I have a big overstuffed file on my laptop of them.
To understand what works for me I have to explain the different types of prompts and how I feel about them.
Types of prompts:
-Song prompts:
These are probably my favorite for one-shots and ficlets. I’ve done a lot of these in fan fiction. They are some of my favorite stories.
I love to play the song over and over again until the story appears as the song plays. I see the story take place then I write down. It may take several times to get everything to come out.
The words rhythm and tone of the song drive the story and its pacing and tone. Sad songs do not make happy stories. Slow songs do not make fast paced stories.
-Graphic prompts:
These prompts are a little more difficult to do. Random images work the best. Sometimes screen caps from a television series just remind me of the actual story and it doesn’t make it easy to write something new.
Poetry is fun with graphic prompts. I think that is what I like to do the most with them. Poetry is more of a burst of inspiration than stories. Poems just happen.
My ‘Scrapbook’ prompts are mostly graphic prompts. For the yearly scrapbook, I write poetry, short, essays and ficlets.
I also use graphic prompts for writing exercises. Describing a setting is one of my weaknesses as a writer. I need the practice.
Word prompts:
These are the best for drabbles. I usually do at least one prompt table of original fiction drabbles of just word prompts. I have also written drabbles with colors and shapes.
These are probably one of the best kinds of prompts for original writing. All it takes is a word to make an image and that is what turns into a story.
-Gifted prompts:
These are the most fun. I have done several anonymous prompts on tumblr for fan fiction. I have always liked getting these. Most gifted prompts are anonymous but I do get some that are not.
Gifted prompts are usually fandom and pairing specific. There really isn’t any way to make these into original fiction unless they are worded for that purpose.
-Comment fic prompts:
I’m not always a fan of comment fic. There are times it is very easy to do and then there are times that I just close the tab and walk away.
Again these are fandom and pairing specific. They are meant for ficlets and drabbles usually themed. These are not meant for original fiction.
-Challenge prompts:
I love challenges and I have done more than some people. Ive done a lot more than I probably should have. Face it. I’m a banner junkie.
These are also fandom specific for the most part. These usually use themes and images in the challenge. Sometimes they are also pairing specific.
There are a few fests that I have managed to write original fiction for but for the most part they were few and far between. I really wish there were more that would accept something original. I may have to make a fest of my own.
Original Ideas:
An original idea can be huge with twists, turns and surprises. Prompts are very narrow and specific in nature. Here is where my ramble-y nature comes in and makes the decision for me.
So as far as original writing goes, give me a graphic, a word, or even a song and I will write you a story. I can even manage a one-shot on a prompt but I have trouble getting more than that out of one. The rest are best left to the fan fiction side of my writing.
Original ideas are best when you need a larger story that a drabble or a ficlet. Original ideas are best for large multi-chapter stories or big bang over 25K. If I want to tell a big story, it’s usually an original idea as opposed to a prompt.
For NaNoWriMo last year, I used an original idea for my main project and I worked on a prompt table of words for my side project. This year I will probably do the same thing. The main project is an original idea and the side project is another prompt table.
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