A Treasure Hunt for Story Starters

Weekly writing prompt #9, and my response to last week's prompt

This year I have a personal goal to do more writing “play”, and so I’m creating weekly prompts for myself which I’ll also share online, in case you’d like to join me. Teachers, you’re welcome to have your classes write with me too! I’m calling this practice Writing Prompt Wednesday and will post the prompts on my website, Instagram, Blue Sky, and Substack.¹

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art by Vesper Stamper

In my novel Sisterhood of Sleuths, Maizy’s mom manages a vintage store called Alter Ego. It’s filled with second-hand items, and I love wandering through shops like this. You never know what treasures you might find, both physical items or story starters. Imagining who might have owned that cuckoo clock or worn those tall, green boots can take you down some fun creative paths.

This week’s prompt is about imagining a character finding a second-hand item that triggers an emotional response. Pick an object near you and imagine that’s the treasure someone else has found. Imagine a backstory for this character—what is it about this object that they are reacting to? Could it be a rare version of something they collect? Does it remind them of someone they miss? Do they recognize it as something that was stolen from them not long ago? There are lots of different scenarios you could imagine. I’d love to know what you think of!

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My Response to Writing Prompt #8

The first idea that popped in my head for last week’s prompt was squabbling siblings. Part of me wanted to push past that idea and brainstorm something more creative, but after maybe a minute of thinking on other ideas, I recognized that I was entering this thinking space that happens sometimes where no idea seems good enough. Because this exercise is just for me, just for play, no deadline or this-will-be-published pressure, I was able to quickly see that for what it was.

Sometimes—for me, at least—we can trick ourselves into thinking that the “no idea is good enough” voice is saying something important that we should listen to. But it’s not. That’s just fear holding you back. Your story idea isn’t what determines whether or not writing will be “good.” Your story idea is only a starting place.

Think of writing a story like flying to another place. Is being at the airport the equivalent of the trip you take? No, it’s only a tiny part of the whole. Picking ideas for what to write is like getting ourselves to the airport. There are a lot of different ways you can go about that, but the most important thing is that you get there. Don’t miss your flight because you’re spending too much time debating what to pack.

As a refresher, here is the prompt from last week:

I went with the squabbling siblings, and here’s what I wrote: