Non-Traditional Creative Journaling
Uncommon Inspirational Journaling Prompt Ideas
Journal writers often use journaling prompts and story starters as a way to break through writers block or as a way to enhance their descriptive writing skills. Writers who become bored with traditional prompts can improve their creative writing abilities by using prompts that are based not only on words but also on their own five senses.
Visual Prompts
Anything that a writer looks at can be used as a visual prompt for a journal entry. The key to using a visual prompt effectively is the amount of time and attention to detail that a writer gives to whatever he may be looking at. Pictures, individual objects, the scene outside a writers window are all good visual fuel for writing. Some specific sources for visual prompts include the following;
- Heritage and other personal or historical pictures.
- Art galleries.
- Picture books.
- Images found on the Internet.
- Everyday items found around the house.
Using Sound for Inspiration
Spending time in different environments can also provide a writer with a variety of aural stimulation. The sounds present in cities are vastly different than those found in the country or at a waterfront. Journaling about the memories or feelings evoked by different sounds can also help authors explore different settings to stories they may be working on.
Some other common sound prompts a writer can incorporate into his journal writing include,
- A piece of music that is instrumental.
- Nature sounds, either real or from a recording or television show.
- Sounds that may be otherwise distracting the writer from his craft – such as a blaring television, squabbling children or a nearby train yard.
- The sound of snow plows in the early morning.
The Sense of Smell
Exposing oneself to a variety of different smells can bring up many different thoughts and feelings for a writer. Restaurants, busy city streets, hospitals and many other environments that are rich in scent can invoke countless memories and thoughts that a writer can journal about. One entry can be devoted to describing the scents and another entry can focus on exploring the ideas provoked by them.
Stimulating the Taste Buds
Taste buds recognize four categories of taste; sour, sweet, salty and bitter. Sampling foods in each category and taking the time to really experience the flavor can provide a writer with good creative fuel for journaling. The writer can journal about what memories the tastes bring up and use the sensations to enhance setting or character development for a work in progress.
Touch and Texture Prompts
A good way for a writer to use touch as a prompt is by choosing an object or item that has a surface consisting of two or more different textures. The writer then spends some time exploring the object by running his hands over it and experiencing it's size and feel. Following this period of exploration, the writer journals about his experience.
Combining the Senses
A particularly effective way to use the senses as a prompt for journaling is to combine them. When sitting in a park, for example, a writer can write not only about what he sees going on in his environment, but also what he can hear, what he smells and what he can feel around him.
Combined sense prompts are best used when the writer has more time to devote to the journal entry. Writing about a variety of senses can take more time than writing about one in particular. This kind of prompt can also help writers break through writers block, as it has the potential to generate a greater variety of ideas that can be used for future story ideas.
The above ideas can not only help journal writers overcome writers block, but they can also work to enhance any other work currently in progress. Using visual, sound, smell, taste and touch prompts can add an element of uniqueness to any writers work. All it takes is some concentration and the ability to think beyond words and phrases.
Using Texture to Stimulate Creativity
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Taste Sensations Can Stimulate Memories
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