darren r hill

the creative minimalist

Author: Darren

Prognosis fear — Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring fear to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. Warning: this prompt may trigger deep emotions if you have or are dealing with illness. You may want to avoid it.

The doctor glanced one final time at the computer monitor, as if for confirmation. She then turned to me and said…

Writing Prompt Expanded

This Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is all about the narrator’s reaction. It is linked to my weekly creative prompt ‘fear’. So often, as we wait for something we spend our time worrying about what will happen, we fear the outcome. This is a learned response, however, without all the facts our fear is often unfounded. We go to the doctor because we don’t know. The doctor is the one who can interpret the situation correctly.

The doctor is about to speak:
- What do they say?
- What is the reaction?
- Is it positive or negative news, or even something else?
- Are the words for the narrator or another member of the family?
- What is the emotional response?
Writing this prompt in the first person allows you to really get under the skin of your character. There is an emotional scene in the TV series Breaking Bad. Walter White is told that he has terminal lung cancer. The doctor is talking, but Walter isn’t listening to the words. Walter is focussed on a sauce stain on the doctor’s coat. That’s Walter’s reaction to the doctor’s words. What will the reaction be in your fiction?

This may trigger very personal memories. Don’t attempt to use this prompt if that is so. However, it can be a good way to begin exploring your feelings and emotions, of the past and perhaps the future. Do seek professional help and guidance if you want to explore this further.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, something a little more grandiose or some personal journal time. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments or tag me #ffwp or @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original medical image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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26 February 2021
Fear — Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work and journaling.

A few weeks ago the weekly creative prompt word was ‘hope’. Hope is seen as positive, and yet so many times we tag it to something we don’t want to happen ‘I hope x or y doesn’t… etc’. In these situations, we betray the emotions that are really running through our minds. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Fear — an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm:

I admit to being a little fascinated by the concept of fear, the fact that so many of the threats are created by my thoughts. Something I try to deal with quite often as I journal.

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity and journaling that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘fear’ written on the board above my computer, although, I have added a smiley face next to it. The prompt is not to instill fear but to explore how fear is linked to the unknown and what-ifs and maybes. Fear is no more a reality than hope, and yet so often I let it control my thoughts and actions. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey and journaling this week. Furthermore, I can already feel it impinging on how I can begin to overcome fear and be positive and proactive.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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21 February 2021
Pausing at a Pace

It is always good to stop and pause. It feels to me like this past year, with lockdown and the virus, has all been about ‘pause’. But it hasn’t, not really. Things have been happening. Nothing really stands still. We continue to eat, drink, breathe, move.

The problem is that it feels like we are on a pause. Because of this, we don’t take time to actually stop and take a moment. A moment to give thanks, to be grateful. A time to remember all that we have even in this time of loss and restriction.

We should take time to pause at this moment because soon, things will begin to move at a pace. Then we will have even more need to pause, but at least we will know why.

Take a moment to pause, to really pause and be grateful.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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20 February 2021
Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the cold
A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the word cold to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

She pulled the blanket up around her neck. Only her face was left exposed. The room was cold just like her thoughts.

Writing Prompt Expanded

It’s no secret that a little sunshine can lift our spirits. Likewise, a damp grey sky can have us crawling for a mug of hot coffee and a seat by the fireside. Alternatively, you may dislike the sun and like the wet and gloomy, either way, the weather has an effect on the way we feel.

This prompt is all about linking the physical; the weather, the temperature, to the thoughts and feelings of the person we are writing about.
- What was she thinking?
- Why was it cold where she was?
- Are her thoughts and the temperature related in several ways?
- How can you describe her thoughts and the temperature in a similar way?
It could be that as you write you find yourself deliberately misleading the reader. It may read like you are talking about her thoughts and yet, you are describing the cold or the other way around. The challenge is to mix the two together somehow… and that, my writing friends, is a chilling thought.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original sheets image by JayMantri from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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19 February 2021
Cold — Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

Last week the UK was in the grip of weather hailing from Siberia. Snow and low temperatures caused, as usual, travel disruption and the need for thicker jumpers. And not just the UK, parts of the US and Europe were also caught in winter weather. The canals in the Netherlands froze, allowing residents to take a stroll not by, but on the canal. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Cold — of or at a low or relatively low temperature, especially when compared with the human body:

cold can also relate to feelings, following a lead and an infection, among other things

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘cold’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Fortunately, the cold snap has moved on from the South West of England, but the memory of feeling chilled is stored in my bones. And memory plays an important role in my creativity.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
14 February 2021
It was the eyes – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles, possibly about love, but definitely exploring eyes. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

I took in every detail, but I was drawn in by the eyes

Writing Prompt Expanded

It could be love, which is my creative word for the week, but it could be hate! It could be any reason at all that you have been drawn to this person and their eyes. This Friday Fiction Writing Prompt is about describing someone’s features.
- What language do you use to describe a face, the mouth, the skin?
- Why, are the eyes so special?
Being able to describe someone is a vital part of writing a story. You should try to convey feelings, use metaphors, similes, and any literary tool you can.

In fiction, it is not about describing the Pantone colour of someone’s skin and the distance in millimetres between their eyes, it’s about describing what these visual elements mean to you, the author, and therefore are important to the reader.

Draw this person in words, and describe why they have drawn you toward them. As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original eye image by muratkalenderoglu from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
12 February 2021