Book of Writing Prompts and Exercises
Writing a story is an amazing journey. Prompt Me to Write by Martin Woods is intended as a guide and companion on that journey, sparking ideas on which routes to take, advice on pitfalls to avoid, and helping give you the momentum and tools needed to reach your destination.
It comprises 1,000 fun and inspirational writing prompts and 100 creative exercises, designed as an evergreen resource so you will never have writer's block again. Every chapter includes bite-sized theory so, with a little persistence, you will master the craft and create a collection of stories or a finished novel.
- Writing prompts are original and varied, arising from the strange inner workings of my mind, with a final section where best-selling authors each contribute their own prompt.
- Full-page writing exercises teach specific techniques using examples and quotes from great writers of today and the legends of the literary world. They help you build worlds, craft fascinating characters, and develop page-turning plots.
- Photos and illustrations add extra inspiration and help clarify complex points. Photos are by Vocal Vagabond, a talented street photographer in Avignon, France.
Prompt Me to Write can be used solo, with a writing buddy, or as a tool for a writing group. Chapters towards the end cover how to edit your work, run your own writing group, and get published.
Download a sample of the book:
Reviews by Writing Workshop Participants
“I have been attending Martin's writing group for a few months and find them enormously helpful. Martin has created interesting writing exercises that lend themselves to all genres, levels of experience, and ability. They have expanded my writing experience, making me a better writer.”
Sandra Meadows
“Martin Woods’ prompts and writing exercises have helped me time and time again. My stories are becoming more engaging, my dialogue more compelling, my characters deeper and more human... My writing has genuinely improved in a fun and natural way.”
Ton Bil
“This book will reveal things you didn't know you were thinking about in your story. Martin's creative writing prompts always surprise me in how they bring out new details in my own characters and plots. The exercises are unfailingly productive tools. Highly recommended.”
Janani Dev
Chasing Bubbles
- Write a paragraph that captures the child’s feelings in this image.
- Each bubble contains a different universe. You enter one.
Where do you go?
- A woman glances at a child blowing bubbles.
It brings back a memory from her own childhood.
What is the memory?
Extract and sample prompts
The following is an extract from Prompt Me to Write.
How to overcome writer's block
“Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing will ever be good enough.”
Julia Cameron
Are you stuck on how to continue a story? Do you find yourself endlessly editing your work but are never satisfied with it? Or do you have trouble getting started at all?
These are all different forms of writer's block.
You may be familiar with Julia Cameron’s morning pages, as described in The Artist's Way. I’ve taken inspiration from her approach and adapted it into a technique specifically for writers that I call “directed stream of consciousness” writing.
In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages readers to write three pages every morning as a stream of consciousness, without censorship or editing. This helps untangle complex feelings and leads to a renewed sense of calm. She describes morning pages as, “The bedrock tool of a creative recovery.”
In directed stream of consciousness writing, first choose what aspect of your story to write about. It could be:
- Coming up with an idea.
- What happens next?
- Developing a character.
- World building.
- Exploring the theme of your story.
- Or a free flow of ideas.
Set a timer for 20 minutes and write in a stream of consciousness on this topic. Don't allow yourself to edit your own work and don't stop. If you’re stuck at any point, write your thoughts, like, "I don't know what happens next!" Then explore what the options are, why one might be better than another, etc. Instead of thinking about it, which can easily lead to going round in circles, put it all down on paper.
This kind of spontaneous creativity is an incredible tool to help overcome all forms of writer's block. When you’ve finished, either repeat the process the next day, or read over your notes. Is there some nugget of gold in your writing that resolves a difficult decision about a particular piece of text and illuminates where to go next?
You can also practice this technique with any of the following prompts. Think for a moment and choose what to write about, then write using pen and paper. If you’re stuck at any point, invent an answer and explore what direction to follow by writing your thoughts down:
Prompts to Help Overcome Writer's Block
- When did you push through your fear in order to achieve a goal?
- Describe a food fight between three exotic characters.
- What’s a dream you had that left you with a strong feeling? If the dream could come true, how would you like it to end?
- What challenge did you have as a child and how did you fantasize about overcoming it? It might be gaining superpowers, moving house, or another made-up solution. Write a scene where your fantasy comes true.
- Someone’s stopped for speeding. They have a gun in the glove compartment with their driving licence but don’t want to show it to the police. What do they do?
- Describe your best friend.
- You are sitting, reading a list of story writing prompts when a character from your favourite book bursts through the door.
- Think of the last stranger who stood out to you and invent their story.
- You meet someone on a wobbly bridge.
- Think of three conflicts - an internal conflict where the protagonist has doubts, an interpersonal conflict with another character, and an external conflict like a natural disaster, physical barrier, or bad weather. Now write a short story that encompasses all three.
- You receive a letter from yourself as a child. What does it say?
- You receive a letter from your future self. What does it say?
- Write a scene where you leap from an aeroplane.
- Was there a time when you arrived somewhere new and felt out of depth? Write the scene, seeing if you can convey your emotions without naming them.
- Imagine how you will feel when you’ve finished your novel. Write a scene showing how you celebrate.
All creative writing prompts are written by humans, for humans. They are not AI generated, nor are they for you to use with ChatGTP. We have an imagination. Let's exercise it!
- Write a paragraph that captures the child’s feelings in this image.
Sample Exercise
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Solo exercise
- Duration: 10 minutes
- Giving your protagonist internal conflict builds their character development.
Internal conflict is just as important as external conflict in a story, indeed it’s what drives character development, which in turn influences plot.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, pictured here, provides an excellent tool to generate internal conflict. The theory goes that it’s impossible to consistently achieve higher needs like self-esteem or the pursuit of meaning if low-level needs like safety aren’t being met.
This theory makes perfect sense. If you were homeless and raising kids, the obstacles to having self-respect, recognition, and a creative and ethical life would be enormous. You could only achieve them by first meeting these essential needs for your and your family’s survival.
The exercise
Create a character with two needs at different levels of the pyramid. For example, they may be a kind soul who entertains children (esteem, love & belonging) while in a war zone where their home and village has been destroyed (physiological and safety needs).
Ask yourself how this changes your hero’s behaviour so they are forced to sacrifice their higher-level need in order to meet a more basic need.
Write a scene exploring their internal conflict. Can they find a creative solution, allowing them to meet both needs? Do they abandon their higher need altogether? Or do they risk sacrificing themselves to achieve their higher-level need?
It’s worth noting that both in fiction and real life, the last of these options is what defines a hero.
Whenever your character faces a difficult decision, think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it influences their decision making.
The other 100 writing exercises in Prompt Me to Write each teach different techniques around character creation, overcoming writer's block, world building, and crafting page-turning plots.
Buy Prompt Me to Write by Martin Woods
