Creative Writing Prompts - But Isn't It Cheating To Use Prompts To Enhance My Creative Writing?

A creative writing prompt is a simple technique or a few words or phrases you can use as a starting point for your creative writing.

Once you've begun to write, and used the prompt for inspiration, you're off on your own.

Where your writing goes after this is entirely up to you and your imagination.

Many creative writers feel uncomfortable using creative writing prompts.

They think it's cheating or taking a short cut and all their ideas should be 100% new, original and their own.

On the surface that sounds like an honourable point of view. Of course we all want to be able to compose work that's uniquely ours and the fruits of our creativity alone.

We know how bad we'd feel if we simply copied someone else's writing and claimed it as our own.

But the fact is, nothing is completely new.

Everything creative builds upon the works of those who've gone before us.

For example, think about when a major car company begins designing a new model.

They may introduce many new features, some of which are truly revolutionary in car design and innovation. They'll most likely use cutting edge technology to design each new element of the new model.

But that new car, even after all the millions spent and the thousands of man hours of design and labour invested, will still have four wheels and an engine.

It's the same with creative writing.

At the most extreme fringes of creative writing, you might invent new words, you might even invent new letters. But they'll have meaning in some form.

Creative writing is about the expression of ideas and emotions. Yes it can be as experimental as you want to make it, but it'll always return to being about that human expression.

Creative writing prompts help us explore that creative expression.

If you're a dressmaker, do you make the material from nothing. Do you have your own factory that processes the raw fibres into larger pieces of material? Unlikely. You probably buy material that's already been woven and then make your dress from that.

If you're a musician who composes using computer software, do you write a completely new software program from scratch each time you want to start a new composition? It's not very probable. You find software that works for you, and use it to help you explore your creative music ideas from there.

If you're a photographer who specialises in photographing buildings and architecture, do you go and erect a new building each time you want to take some pictures? Do you build a new camera, piece by piece? No. You have cameras you're comfortable using, then you find buildings that inspire your photography.

Would you consider any of the 3 artists described above as "cheating" or "not being original"?

So if you have any concerns about whether using creative writing prompts is cheating or somehow not allowed, think again.

You'll no doubt realise that in fact creative writing is in many ways already one of the simplest and purest forms of creating, because we need so little equipment, tools or technology to begin.

So using a few words or techniques as a starting point is even less of a possible concern.

Successful Steps to Good Essay Writing

Often students try to avoid essay writing in their normal study course. However, they forget that essay writing is the most important part of the curriculum. Today due to competition there is a high expectation from students. With the burden of academic subjects, students often become careless about essay writing. They do not get enough time to think about developing a good essay writing skill.

However, with the advent of technology, things have become quite easy for students. The online essay writing services educate the students how to write a good essay.

Consider these simple steps and become a professional essay writer:

1. Consider essay as a process and not a task bounded with deadlines. You have to consider reading, thinking, planning and organizing your thoughts. You have to understand the topic and study about the topic. Primary research is very important before drafting your thoughts. Once you are finished with research process, start thinking creatively about the topic and make notes or pointers, which will help you during documentation process.

2. The blank screen or paper in front of you while drafting essay is the most difficult part of the process. You must sketch out a plan before writing. Once you have written down your points, start assembling these points. Give each point a logical heading; this will help you to elaborate your points. These will later develop into paragraphs of your essay.

The most important subheads will include:

An introduction, which will explain the sources of your study

Main body, which is an analysis of your topic. It will include the opinions, comments and findings. You can quote about some scientific research or media studies.

Conclusion is where you force the reader to accept your points. You can conclude with quotes or even end with a question that will boggle reader's mind.

All these points will give you an outline to your essay writing. Do not stick to one point. This makes the reader disinterested in your writing.

3. Your correct English is the most compelling part of essay writing. Use simple but correct English. Your essay may not be flowery in writing but must have substance in the subject. If it is argumentative, you must collect enough data to make it genuine. To improve on these points you must read many editorial sections from magazines or newspapers.

4. Try to make a rough draft of your essay before submission. You must read it aloud and look for any changes if required. If your essay is long or it is a dissertation, you must prepare small drafts of paragraphs and then try to focus on each paragraph. Try to make pointers on these paragraphs, which will help you during the assembly of all paragraphs. Do not lose track of your point or argument. In case if you are lost, refer to points.

5. Essays are small samples of knowledge. You cannot elaborate on an endless discussion. You must give it a strong voice and back up with supportive arguments and discussions. The essay must invoke reader's thought process. Keep everything in moderation. Do not lose your focus.

Essay is an array of thoughts and ideas. Right alignment of thought process with strong command over English develops a person from good essay writer to professional essay writer.

Creative Writing Prompts - How To Inject New Life At ALL Stages Of Your Creative Writing Projects

Creative writing prompts are short phrases, ideas or techniques you can use to give your creative writing a boost when you're finding it difficult to find inspiration.

There are 3 main stages of a writing project that creative writing prompts can be used for:

1. To start a brand new project. Most of the time creative writing prompts are used as a starting point for a brand new writing project.

This way they can be a very stimulating and exciting tool, because you have no preconceptions about what you want to write. You start with the prompt, jump on board and write, and see where the words take you.

2. To expand an outline for a project. Maybe you already have an outline for a story but are struggling to get words down on the page? Use a prompt to get your creativity off and running.

With your outline for your story in the back of mind, this will subconsciously influence what you write as a result of the prompt anyway. So it's likely that some point soon after you start writing, your words and ideas will coincide with those you have already in your outline.

3. To resume an existing project. You can use also use a creative writing prompt to help you resume an old project that you got a little stuck with and put away to continue at a later date.

Again, you could start writing from the prompt, then as thoughts and ideas from your other project will be in your mind anyway, there will be a point where these intertwine with the new parts you're writing.

You can play around with the parameters and experiment too, it's up to you.

That's one of the great benefits of creative writing prompts. You can input as much or as little from other projects into them as you want.

Sometimes you'll want to have a break from a major project and write freeform using a writing prompt.

Other times you'll get to a difficult point in a larger project and use a prompt specifically to help you move forward with this project.

These are the 3 main stages of a project that creative writing prompts can be used for.

Try some out yourself and discover what an invaluable tool they can be for your creative writing.