the creative minimalist

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Fear — Weekly Creative Prompt

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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

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Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the cold

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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. Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

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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Cold — Weekly Creative Prompt

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Cold - weekly creative prompt @darrenrhill

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

It was the eyes – Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

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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

Love — Weekly Creative Prompt

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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 on our creative work.

This week leads us to Valentine’s Day. Although the day is, like so many other festivals and celebrations, hijacked by commercialisation, the underlying meaning and metaphor resonates. And not wanting to be outdone by chocolates, flowers and poor rhyming verses, we’re going there. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Love — an intense feeling of deep affection:

intense and deep have many connotations, and like love itself can mean so much

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 ‘love’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I am half-heartedly taking part and following FAWM, the February Album Writing Month, and when it comes to songwriting, more than a few lyrics are inspired by Love.

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

Friday Fiction Writing Prompt — Begin

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A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the word begin to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

… Five, four, three, two, one… lift-off…

Writing Prompt Expanded

My creative prompt word for this week is ‘begin’. As this is a fiction writing prompt we are all about adventure, and this week the adventure begins.

Normally, these prompts are quite open, giving you as much scope and space as possible. While there is still plenty of wiggle room with this prompt, the setting is pretty much given and the starting point clear. We’re on the launchpad, the engines are firing and the literary adventure is about to begin.

It is lift-off. The challenge of the prompt is to describe the emotions and feelings of the people inside the spacecraft. (Unless, of course, you have managed to twist the prompt into some other situation, which is perfectly acceptable.)

  • How do their bodies respond?
  • What thoughts and feelings are running through their heads?
  • How do they deal with the physical and emotional stresses and changes?

What makes this more of a challenge is that, unless you are one of the just under 600 people who have been to space, you will be using your imagination for this prompt. You can do a little research, which is always a good thing, but beware using TV or film science fiction as your reference points, everything there is not as it seems.

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 rocket image by WikiImages 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