"Fetch the Boltcutters" (writing prompts inspired by Fiona Apple)
What are you writing right now?
I want to start with this quote from Fiona Apple, talking about her creative process. She's talking about singing but I think it's fascinating and inspiring:
“There was this game I used to play when I was a kid at the breakfast table where I would pretend to take my voice box out and put it in a jar. And then I’d pretend to put a different voice box in and I’d talk or sing in another voice. I’ve always liked playing with my voice—experimenting with speaking from the back of my throat, to the front of my throat, to whining and nasal, and chest and head voice, trying to make sounds in different ways. It’s much like how my dog gets into doing different voices: She’ll bark and she’ll discover that she can bark really high, and then she’ll start doing it over and over again. You can tell that she’s just enjoying herself because she’s not doing it at anything. When I do background vocals, I never plan what I’m going to sing. I just press record and sing along. It all comes from improvisation, and then I take out the parts that don’t work. At the end of “For Her,” there was some kind of endurance test that I was acting out. I was sweating and shaking while I was doing those vocals, as though I were getting rid of toxins inside me.”
And since I'm in a Fiona Apple mood, tonight’s prompts were all inspired by Fiona Apple’s album Fetch the Boltcutters.
Prompt #1:
Inspired by I Want You To Love Me: “I am the woman who wants you to win.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about someone you’re rooting for. Someone who you believe in. Write a vision of this person succeeding.
If you’re writing a narrative, I want you to pick a character from your work-in-progress and do some freewriting about what “winning” means to them.
RANDOM ELEMENT: THE VOICE OF GOD
Prompt #2:
Inspired by Shameika: “She got through to me and I’ll never see her again.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a formative lesson that you learned in childhood. Maybe a time when you did something wrong and you learned why it was wrong. Write about what it felt like to have a revelation like that.
If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where one of your characters makes a bad choice. Before you start the scene, quickly jot down five bad choices they could make, then write one of those scenes.
RANDOM ELEMENT: inflection???
Prompt #3:
Inspired by Fetch the Bolt Cutters: “You maim when you’re on offense, but you kill when you’re on defense.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a time when you felt fiercely protective of either yourself or a loved one.
If you’re writing a narrative, I want you to keep working on one of the scenes you started in one of the previous prompts, but start over again and think of one character in the scene being on the offensive and one character being on the defensive. See how those dynamics change the scene.
Prompt #4:
Inspired by Under the Table: “I would beg to disagree but begging disagrees with me.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about a time when you disagreed with someone or something, but you kept quiet about it. Why didn’t you speak your mind?
If you’re writing a narrative, think of something that’s really bothering one of your characters. Write a scene where they’re doing a boring activity with another character and they can’t stop thinking about That Thing That Is Bothering Them, but don’t ever let them actually speak directly about it.
RANDOM ELEMENT: a trap
Prompt #5:
Inspired by Relay: “I resent you for having each other.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about your relationship with jealousy.
If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist expresses something that makes them jealous.
Prompt #6:
Inspired by On I Go: “I only move to move.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Write about your relationship with your own body and exercise.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene incorporating movement. Put your protagonist in the middle of some sort of physical activity with another character and let’s say one of them makes a confession.
Prompt #7:
Inspired by Cosmonauts: “Be good to me before you’re gone.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: I want you to make a list of ten people you know, the first ten people that come to mind. Then think of one good thing you could do for each one of those people. It can be small good things.
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where your protagonist does a good deed.
Prompt #8:
Inspired by For Her: “Getting a girl to clean up his mess.”
JOURNALING PROMPT: Let’s write about YOUR mess. In what ways are you EMOTIONALLY MESSY?
FICTION PROMPT: If you’re writing a narrative, write a scene where one of your characters has some sort of emotional break-down.
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Commission a prompt via Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/erikpatterson
Read one of my plays: https://www.camdenhighstreetbooks.com/plays