I recently mentioned that I sometimes gave myself weekly challenges where I dive into a specific aspect of writing for little blurbs. Other people seemed interested, so here is me sharing one of my last weeks of writing prompts. I keep these really short so it doesn’t become overwhelming.
Theme: Poetic Writing
Length: 150-300 words
Future themes might be Deep POV, dialogue, etc.
Day 1: Sound and Stillness. Your character is in a wide, silent space (whatever that might be, the void of space, a cathedral, the chapel on your voidship, relaxing in the bath). Try to convey the (lack of) sound in your writing.
Day 2: Routine. Describe your character of choice through part of their daily routine, focusing on the elements of familiarity, repetition, and sensory details. Heinrix having a shave, Pasqal going through a tech-rite, etc.
Day 3: Violence + Beauty. Describe combat, death, pain as something beautiful (this one for all my fellow Drukhari lovers - though doesn’t need to be that).
Day 4: The sensation of feeling watched. By whom? You decide. Creatures from beyond the Veil? A certain Lord Inquisitor? Try to focus on building tension.
Day 5: Dreams/visions. Try to write a dream, vision, hallucination, Idira’s whispers, Cassia’s warpsight, or anything else beyond reality.
Day 6: Abandoned places. Channel your urbex or loot goblin RT and describe an exploration. Try to pick a mood (serene, dangerous, saddened) and convey it through descriptions.
Day 7: Farewell. Describe a goodbye. Show emotion through more than descriptions, and also through action, details, small dialogue.
How do I participate?
If you want, you can share your writing and tag “rt writing prompts”. That’s all. Maybe add the theme and prompt somewhere in your post because I intend to make more of these.
Remember, you don’t even have to share, you can just write for yourself. I’ll be really glad to read your blurbs but feel free to do with this whatever you like.
Criticism?
Use the tag “criticism welcome” if you’d like other writers to give you tips and pointers. Otherwise, no, err on the side of caution. I’m simply one lone person sharing this and hoping that we can all be respectful and supportive of people’s writing journeys. PERSONALLY I intend to share and welcome feedback but please don’t assume this is the case for everyone.
Many thanks to @halkuonn for all the templates and materials which I promptly butchered.