Writing, like every other expressive skill, requires practice to master. No matter the level of your writing talent or the potency of your prowess, it can be challenging to consistently put out written works without clear direction and headway. And there are times when you simply do not know what to write about. One common way of resolving this challenge and increasing your productivity as a writer is by making use of writers prompts.
Without a clear objective or goal, writing becomes an abstract art form, and only with writers prompts can an aspiring writer create clear writing targets in order to improve his or her craft.
What is a Writing Prompt?
Writing prompts can also be viewed as writing exercises for writers that help them get their creative juices flowing. They are practice tasks that writers undertake solely for the purpose of self-development and the honing of their writing skills. They are commonly used by creative writers whose ultimate goals center on having successful careers in fiction writing and poetry but can also be applied to every other aspect of the writing craft.
If you’re an aspiring writer looking to expedite your development in the craft then incorporating prompts into your writing schedule is a necessity.
Benefits of Writers Prompts
Writing prompts are very crucial for a writer’s growth and neglecting them can certainly impact the development of the writer in a negative way. While they do not guarantee success in the writing craft, they help to equip a writer with all the expertise that are needed to excel in writing. There are numerous benefits of writing prompts, but the ones discussed below are definitely the most important.
Helps to Expand a Writer’s Vocabulary
An expansive vocabulary is quite a valuable attribute for a writer to have and a major way of achieving this is simply by learning new words. Newly learnt words can, however, escape you if you don’t use them regularly; hence, writing prompts give you the opportunity to apply new vocabularies in writing and master their usage.
It can also be a bit difficult to know when to use a new word in writing and this can lead to errors as a result of word usage. By regularly engaging in writing prompts, however, you are able to know when a new vocabulary is ideal for use and when to hold off on its usage.
Helps Improve a Writer’s Descriptive Writing Skills
Descriptive writing is a common element in all fictional works as well as poetry and makes up a critical part of literature. If you wish to successfully nurture a writing career then one of the areas you must endeavor to focus on is the descriptive aspect of writing.
Like the name suggests, descriptive writing is the act of aptly describing details in a literary piece including the settings, characters, and even the conflicts that arise. In non-fictional works or essays, it entails showing in details the central idea of a write-up.
Writing Prompts help writers to fine-tune their descriptive writing skills by having them consistently tackle writing assignments that prioritize the descriptive mechanism of writing.
Helps a Writer to Eliminate Writing Errors
It isn’t unusual for an aspiring writer’s work to often be riddled with avoidable grammatical errors and composition mistakes. The only way to ensure that you are able to rid this from your writing is by regularly practicing your craft and executing a variety of writers prompts.
Continuously engaging in this practice makes certain that your writing is devoid of errors and also helps to improve the general quality of your work.
Helps a Writer to Master Writing Structure
If as a writer you struggle with properly structuring your work to facilitate easy comprehension and improve reader appeal, one way of ensuring that you perfect this aspect of your craft is by consistently practicing with writing exercises and prompts.
Writing with a clear structure isn’t an inherent talent that comes naturally for a writer; rather, it is a rule in the writing craft that is most often adhered to in order to ensure that a written work meets a particular standard.
An aspiring writer must, hence, endeavor to regularly execute writers prompts that are centered on the proper structure of writing.
Helps a Writer Understand the Use of Tone in Writing
Writing tone is a critical element in writing as it is primarily responsible for the kind of emotional reception that a written work gets from readers. The tone of a piece is basically its voice, and good writers are able to properly convey this to their readers in order to rouse appropriate emotions.
If you’re a new writer though, you may struggle to accomplish this as your writing prowess isn’t yet up to the level yet. This is why writing prompts are very valuable as they help writers to master the skill of properly altering the voice of a piece to fit the tone they wish to convey.
Some Writing Prompts Tips for Writers
- Ensure that you create a schedule for the execution of prompts as it ensures that you see the practice as mandatory
- Assign specific goals with each writing prompt and give yourself targets in order to properly access your development
- Your priority, first and foremost, should be writing prompts that help improve your execution of basic writing rules. It is certainly unwise to begin with prompts that have to do with aesthetics of writing
- Time yourself for each writing exercise and ensure that you adhere to the timing restraint
- Be honest during prompts and try not to cheat as the only thing you will end up hurting is your development as a writer
- Keep notes of the errors that you commit in each writing exercise and endeavor to go through them consistently to re-evaluate your growth as a writer
- Only move to a new batch of writers prompts when you’re through executing and assessing the current batch.
Conclusion
Writing prompts are to writers what fitness exercises are to sportsmen; if you wish to be at the top of your game and consistently produce wonderfully written pieces then prompts provide the best avenue for making this happen.
Add comment