It’s that time of the year again—when your brain pulsates with ‘novel’ ideas and admonishes you each minute you spend away from your writing desk. NaNoWriMo is here! Even if you’re not in the US there’s nothing as enticing as the thought of finishing a novel before 2019 passes you by.
In an ideal world you would have done some preparation before you set down to begin your novel this month. If like most of the writing world you wanted to put pen to paper on 1 November and found yourself at a loss, we’ve got some writing prompts for you.
How to choose the right writing prompt
The internet is awash with writing prompts – ranging from ideas for the creative writer to prompts for writers with a mental block. Not every idea will turn out to be a bestseller, however. The best ideas will have the following traits:
- They will be relatable to an audience comprising more members than your immediate family.
- Stir up a strong emotion within you and others—they must make you happy, aggrieved, troubled, shocked or awed.
- It helps to work on a topic or idea that others have some insight into. That way you will feed into their imagination and evoke support for your characters or a protest against your ideas. Either way it will get people talking about your book.
- Borrow from real life and then take it for a ride on your trajectory.
Writing prompts borrowed from real life
Ready to sift through the thousands of writing prompts on the internet? Why not start with these four borrowed from real life and which are relatable to the world:
One of the great advantages of building on ideas taken from real life is the story’s tendency to construct itself, just waiting for you to give it direction. Ideal to meet a 30-day deadline! Each of the topics also allow you to use facts as they unfold and twist them as you please. And, who wouldn’t want to know the ending to these stories or an alternate ending.
The clock is ticking. Start your novel now.
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