The Prompt Paradox

There is nothing more irritating than having a prompt and no words with which to continue. It is like having an empty glass and wanting to make use of the exorbitant amount of lemons that your dear old neighbour, Granny Belle, gave you. Why did she give them to you?

Well, either she isn’t aware of the greatness of lemons or she thinks you are an unhealthy wastrel who needs to eat more fruit. The fruit being lemon is irrelevant and surely not an attempt at a painfully drawn-out use of a clichéd proverb.

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So, you have a glass and the lemons are right there. You want to make juice. You know how to make juice. But you don’t. You don’t make juice. Instead, you put the glass away and pull out a juice-box from the fridge. Thoughts like “I need to plan some more” and “I’ll do it when I’m more focused” flash through the vast emptiness located where your brain is supposed to be.

Instead of using the fruit, you read fanfiction on the internet… or watch cat videos. I don’t know what you do. What I do know is that you get stuck on prompts. By you, I don’t mean me. Well, maybe just a little bit.

The purpose of writing prompt is to jolt the brain into action. Prompts dust out cobwebs and keep the blood pumping to that to the tiny corner of the brain responsible for creativity. Humans are all crafty creative creatures until the creativity gets sucked out of them. Surprisingly, prompts are one of those things that can deflate your eagerness to write anything. School is another one of those things.

Writing prompts are a paradox I tell you!