Review, Rant, & Bonus Writing Workout

I've never been a big fan of writing prompts, which is odd considering that the segment "Writing Workouts" on this blog is basically a writing prompt plus a greater purpose. But I bought Bryan Cohen's "1,000 Creative Writing Prompts" anyway because it was one dollar and I figured I might get a little practice out of it. Instead, I was reminded why traditional writing prompts bother me so much.

The problem with this book of writing prompts, and writing prompts in general, is that they are too often too specific. With the situation so detailed already, there's little room for the writer's own creativity. This is probably preferable to those who are trying creative writing for the first time, but most writer wouldn't want to be drawn to predetermined outcomes.

So what kind of writing prompts do I actually like? One of my favorites from my time in my school's Creative Writing Club was based on the web series, the Flipside, by the youtube channel, Soul Pancake. In the videos, the world looks like our own and the characters look like people we know, but one thing is off. A high school's debate team is more celebrated than its football team. Kids are the ones who have to raise their parents. The president of my school's club showed us a couple of these videos then gave us the prompt: "Write a story set in world that's exactly like our own but change one specific thing."* Vague. Simple. Open-ended. This is the philosophy I use when blogging my own Writing Workouts. Ready. Set. Go.

P.S. I really like the prompts on writeworld. You should check them out.

*I wrote about a world where eating was considered a taboo subject just like going to the bathroom was considered a taboo subject in Victorian England. 

Writing Workout: Not Dirty But Little Secrets

     Ooh, today I have a creative nonfiction prompt for you all. Don't get too excited, this is mainly to soothe my own weird habits. I was just wondering if I am the only one who holds onto little secrets. Not big, family shattering secrets, just moments that are memorable because they were stressful at the time. Even though all this time has passed and now your worries seem trivial, it's still something that is embarassing to talk about.

     For example, in the eighth grade I dropped my math textbook and the binding broke from the spine. Back then I had all of ten dollars to my name and textbooks costed $75 minimum to replace. The teachers told us that if we had any of these unpaid fees by the time we graduated from high school, our diploma would be withheld. One can imagine how this would make an anxious little thing like thirteen year old me panic.
     So I did the most logical option my tiny brain could think of and told no one. I waited to fix the textbook till the very last day of middle school. The morning before I had to turn the book in, I used a poxy that took 24 hours to dry. Without checking to see if the poxy had worked, I turned my book back in.
     Nearly four years later, I still haven't heard a word about that textbook. But I still haven't told anybody about what happened. I supposed that I am embarassed that I didn't ask for help. I could have saved myself a lot of preteen angst if I viewed the issue with the forward thinking I have now. Again this is a completely trivial moment in my life, but I still remember it vividly.

     ANYWAY, my embarrassing middle school stories aside, here is your challenge. Write about a secret you haven't told very many people even though it is not at all a big deal. Why haven't you told anybody? Looking back on it now, what would you have done differently? The trick is to make your story relevant to a wider audience by finding a message in your own misguided adventures. Relevance is the key to great creative nonfiction.

     And now, because it has been stuck in your head since you read the title, here is Dirty Little Secret by the All American Rejects. Now this post is a complete throwback to middle school.