Writing Companion

Good writing prompts are always available to you in books of short stories. Read the short story titles and look for one that provides a twist of interest. Can you find one that evokes something in your mind? That makes you want to write in response?

You don’t need to know the story behind the title. In fact, it’s better not to. Why burden yourself with two mental processes: thinking up your own response while also ignoring how a famous writer handled the idea? Imagine using as your prompt the title, A Christmas Carol, then spending energy keeping your mind away from Ebeneezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, etc.

Below are 15 story titles from Australian writers. I hope some appeal to you, perhaps helping you conjure up an image or an incident that you want to write about.

Explore even more possibilities by playing with or ‘twisting’ the titles, seeking spin-offs. Perhaps Serious Swimmers does nothing for you, but you find that your imagination is grabbed when you revise it to Serious Non-Swimmers, Serious Tennis Players, Seriously Swimming, or even Serial Swimmer. Think of contrasts, opposites, something that’s out of the ordinary, that pushes you beyond the first image or idea you come up with when you read the title. Examples: Dry Swimmers, Desert Swimmers, Polar Swimmers, Moon Swimmers.

Take a playful approach. Writing prompts don’t often have hard and fast rules. They aren’t inherently creative. Instead, they provide ways for you to start playing with ideas, words and images. To start unlocking that great creative storehouse that is your mind. If a prompt doesn’t interest you, modify it into something that does.

• You can use each title as a prompt for starting to write. You may want to freewrite or complete a clustering or mapping exercise. In both instances, you are aiming to record the associations your mind makes as it plays with the title.
• You may want to explore the titles by creating a first draft for a more formal piece of writing, such as a poem, short story, or personal account.

As always, if you want to share what you’ve written, save it on your blog, then leave a comment here with your link so readers can get to your work.

Sources: Dark Roots, Cate Kennedy, 2006 and Journeys: Modern Australian short stories. Ed. Barry Oakley, 2007.

1. Cold Snap (Cate Kennedy)
2. What Do I ‘Do’ With Cancer? (Steve J. Spears)
3. Dark Roots (Cate Kennedy)
4. Serious Swimmer (Michael Faber)
5. Elsewhere (David Malouf)
6. Driving the Inland Road (Julie Gittus)
7. The Romance of Steam (Ian Callinan)
8. The Last Visit (Paddy O’Reilly)
9. The Testosterone Club (Cate Kennedy)
10. The Worst Thing (Philip Canon)
11. Stone (Liam Davison)
12. Rite of Spring (Margo Lanagan)
13. A Perfect Circle (Peter Symons)
14. Travelling (Joan London)
15. The Correct Name of Things (Cate Kennedy)

Some ideas:

1. Dark Roots Hair? Genealogy? Childhood? Teeth?  A growth? Something in nature? Secrets?
2. Driving the Inland Road A real road? A psychological one?
3. The Romance of Steam Steam train? Steam room? Steam in a restaurant? Camping at a hot springs? A luxurious bath? The old steam radiators? Steamy tropics? A steamy night with someone?
4. Stone A noun? A verb (stoning someone, being stoned)?
5. The Correct Name of Things What things? Who says/thinks there’s a ‘correct’ name?