Welcome to the new complete weekly creative prompt. We begin with a single creative prompt word and expand it to inspire fiction writing, journaling and a host of other creative activities. These creative prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.
The Northern Hemisphere is about to reach the summer solstice. The solstice marks the day of most sunlight. The Southern Hemisphere is about to mark its day of least sunlight. Last week’s prompt was all about stars, this week we will be looking at a star, your star. So, this week’s prompt is:
Sun — the star round which the earth orbits
when I think of all that the sun represents and can mean, this dictionary definition feels so dry
Let the prompt ‘sun’ inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- journaling
- art journaling
- songwriting
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
Let’s expand the word a little further…
Fiction Writing Prompt
The Fiction Writing Prompt aims to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.
Today we celebrate. Our god is powerful. Yet we know, from this day on, the sun’s power will wane.
Writing Prompt Expanded
I normally give as much freedom as possible in these writing prompts, I think it is the punk in me that doesn’t like anything too prescriptive. However, this prompt has context. It is the summer solstice. Worshippers are celebrating. They are thankful that their god is supplying their needs. They also know that in a few months their god will weaken and be less helpful.
This prompt is all about describing the feelings and emotions of a culture long gone and distinct from our own. We may still celebrate the solstice and other celestial events, but we also know a lot about science. The characters in our writing prompt don’t.
- How do you feel at this spiritual celebration?
- Why do you think your god loses power, is it a lack of your people’s faith?
- How do the others in your ‘tribe’ act? Do younger people celebrate differently from the older members?
The writing perspective is the first person. This makes it easier to explore the feelings and possible confusion of the character. The challenge is to convey the emotions felt using language and metaphors that are specific to that ancient culture, but which will be understood by a modern reader. It is a challenge, but one I hope you’ll enjoy.
Journal prompt
Journaling allows us to hold conversations on paper. From private diaries to creative art journals we pour out our deepest thoughts. The sun gives us so much. It brings us warmth and light and pretty much sustains life. Its gravity keeps us (earth) in place and the earth’s orbit helps us mark time. All of this is before you get to the science and sheer size of the sun. Through the ages, the sun has had its fair share of worshipers; in ancient cultures, on the beaches and in the green movement. It also works very well as a metaphor in many situations.
Questions to answer, thoughts to explore or images to create in your journal:
- What emotions do you feel when the sun warms your face?
- When the sun doesn’t shine, how do you feel?
- What words come to mind when you think of the sun?
Theory of General Creativity
I now have ‘sun’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. It has reminded me that I wrote a piece of music called Solstice last year. I have wanted to develop and share that again, so let the inspiration shine forth. The light from the sun is also a core aspect of outdoor photography and a common theme in painting.
Let ‘sun’ illuminate your music, photography, and painting this week.
Finally…
As always, these creative prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, something a little more grandiose.
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 #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.
Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox
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