Academics can be draining. All those academic papers and essays that have to be written for class, all the rules that professors like to instill into their students, saying: this is bad, you can't start a sentence with "and" or "but," don't write in first person or even second person. Other rules state that you must start at the beginning and work through to the end, one must only write in past tense, and a paragraph has to have four to six sentences or else it is not a paragraph. Oh, and make sure to have a strong thesis and topic sentence.
All of these things can get into your head and turn you into a human essay machine. Do you miss writing for fun? Are there ideas coming to you that you are just itching to write down and expand on? Is all that training you get in school getting in the way?
Here are ten topics that can help you get back into the flow of creative writing.
1. Write your biggest fear using all of your senses (smell, hearing, taste, touch and sight). But don't actually write what it is. See if someone can guess what your fear is.
2. Start your story with this sentence: "Well, thanks for bailing me out again," said my dad.
3. Search in Google Images for "hidden places" and chose one that speaks to you. Write a story with that place as the setting.
4. Take your favorite show and write a screenplay for a never-released episode.
5. Write a poem or story about the way this picture makes you feel.
6. Write a love letter to the person you despise.
7. Write a story from the point of view of the vase in a museum.
8. What is the story behind this picture? What is happening?
9. Write a story in the perspective of your favorite villain.
10. Write a story made up entirely of cliches.
Don't let anything get in the way of your writing, and don't forget how much fun you have when doing it.