"Evermore" by Taylor Swift (writing prompts!)
What are your writing goals this week?
Hello writers! Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you’re getting in some good family and/or friend time this week, as well as some comforting food. If you want to take advantage of the BLACK FRIDAY SALE on my Pop Prompts books, you can order them directly from me. They're usually $18-20, but all of the Pop Prompts books are $15 through this Sunday. Just email me at erik@erikpatterson.org for that discount! They make great holiday gifts!
Before we get to today’s writing prompts, I want to share this quote from Taylor Swift, talking about her creative process:
“The ideas are my favorite part of everything I do. That moment where you’re like, ‘Oh I know what it’s called,’ or ‘I know what the hook is now.’ I have to capitalize on the excitement of me getting that idea and see it all the way through otherwise I’ll leave it behind and I’ll assume it wasn’t good enough. I remember when I used to get an idea when I was 12 years old in my room. I used to get an idea and I’d be like, ‘Yes, idea!’ And then I’d get this fear and almost sorrow that no one was ever going to hear it. I’m never going to get to make this into something. It’s just mine, and there’s something cute about that but I want to make something.”
Obviously Taylor Swift level success doesn’t happen very often, but imagine if she had let that fear of no one ever hearing her songs stop her from writing them?
The point is: WRITE YOUR STORIES. You never know where they might go.
Okay, let’s write.
Tonight’s prompts were inspired by Taylor Swift’s album Evermore:
EXERCISE #1 inspired by the song willow: “I’m like the water when your ship rolled in that night, rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Make a list of metaphors describing yourself and someone you’re close to.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a confrontation scene between two of your characters and see how many times you can incorporate the idea of cutting. Metaphorical cutting, emotional cutting, literal cutting. However you want to interpret that.
EXERCISE #2 inspired by the song long story short: “I always felt I must look better in the rear view.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about something you’ve happily abandoned or left behind.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist tells a story about their past, something they haven’t thought of in a long time, something they’re grateful to have been through and learned from but so happy to be over with.
RANDOM ELEMENT: a crowd
EXERCISE #3 inspired by the song gold rush: “Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about someone who makes you feel jealous.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a monologue where your protagonist lists off everything and everyone they feel jealousy over.
RANDOM ELEMENT: smoke
EXERCISE #4 inspired by the song ‘tis the damn season: “There’s an ache in you put there by the ache in me.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about the last time someone else hurt you.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, freewrite about your protagonist’s inner pains and hurts. What makes their heart ache?
EXERCISE #5 inspired by the song tolerate it: “While you were out building other worlds, where was I?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a time when you felt like you got lost in someone else’s shadow.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where one of your characters realizes they aren’t feeling fulfilled in some way.
EXERCISE #6 inspired by the song happiness: “Tell me, when did your winning smile begin to look like a smirk?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about all of your own different smiles and what they mean.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where one of your characters tells another character to smile.
EXERCISE #7 inspired by the song Dorothea: “Do you ever stop and think about me?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about someone you miss. What do you hope they miss about you?
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist literally asks someone else that question. “Do you ever stop and think about me?”
EXERCISE #8 inspired by the song coney island: “If this is the long haul, how’d we get here so soon?”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a relationship, a friendship, a habit, or any other aspect of your life that feels stale. How could you make it feel fresh again?
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist is bored. Make it the most boring, basic, bad scene you’ve ever written.
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