I mentioned in an earlier post that I sometimes use creative writing prompts to kickstart my writing mood. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I randomly chose to respond to this prompt from Promptuarium. It seemed like an intriguing premise, so I let my imagination fly. I’d planned to write only a few paragraphs expanding upon the prompt, but instead, inspiration struck and soon I’d written two scenes based on it.
Something that surprised me about this was the prompt’s fantasy genre, since this is a genre I love to read but have never attempted to write in before. Its third-person point-of-view also surprised me, since this is something else I haven’t written before. Despite my lack of experience, the scenes seemed to write themselves. The characters came nearly fully formed (and named, which is a rather difficult task for me when creating characters). My protagonist had a huge chip on her shoulder, the prince was super cocky, and their backstories began circling and intersecting in my head.
It’s been years since I was so inspired by a story idea, and I didn’t want that to go to waste. So, I began fleshing out the characters, their appearances, families, attitudes, and pasts. I created a timeline, and as I was adding key moments in the characters’ backstories, I was inspired to write a flashback scene. Once more, the words flowed out of me, and before I knew it, I had written over 2,000 words in two days, which is more than I’ve written in the last six months.
Considering all of this, I think I might pursue this new project. While I still need to finish drafting The Alchemist’s Ghost, editing The League, and working on The League’s sequel, I think writing this fantasy will help me regain my writing mojo. Right now, the idea of writing this project fills me with excitement rather than dread. I genuinely want to explore this story and these characters, whereas working on my other projects has felt more like a chore recently. I hope writing this new story will help me rediscover my love of writing, and make me more motivated to finish my other writing projects.
So, what do you think? Should I pursue this new project, despite its unfamiliar genre and POV? Or should I forget it and focus on the other works-in-progress that I’m struggling with? Is there another avenue you think I should take regarding these projects? Let me know in the comments!
Allison Burton 