If you’re reading this blog, you write. And, if you write, you probably use writing prompts. Even if you’ve taken so much as a Jr. High language art class, you’ve probably used writing prompts. But, how does your mood affect the way you would respond to a prompt?
It’s a bit like the famous Rorschach test. What do you see when you look at the ink blots? What do you think about when you read the prompt? People in different emotional states will give different answers. So, it occurred to me, does my mood have an effect on what I write? Are my characters’ emotions subject to my own?
So, I propose a challenge. Feel free to take it with me and share your results.
- Take these five writing prompts. Write on one prompt a day, Monday through Friday.
- Each day when you write, make note of the time of day, your mood, etc.
- Take the weekend off from the challenge!
- Repeat starting on the following Monday. Do not re-read what you wrote the first time you wrote on the prompt, but do go back and look at the notes. Try to write on the same prompt, under the different circumstances.
- Compare! How do you write when you’re stressed versus when you’re calm? What is the difference between how you write in the morning versus in the evening?
I’ll post my own results later in September. I’d love it if someone else wanted to try it and shared their results with me. I expect some of them may be radically different, and some of them may be exactly the same. Who knows?
Now, to the prompts!
Monday: You arrive at work to find that something is missing and has been replaced with something else.
Tuesday: During your morning coffee, you open the newspaper and read something shocking about someone you know.
Wednesday: You go swimming and while you’re at the pool, you meet someone from very far away, who is in need of your help.
Thursday: Write about the best possible way to meet the love of your life.
Friday: It’s the end of a long work day. All you want to do is relax, but something keeps preventing it.
I hope you like it! I can’t wait to see what results this yield!