In need of prompts?

If you are in need of prompts to get you started on a piece, perhaps you might have a look at the random prompt generator I set up on my students' version of MuDJoB (also a Ning network).

Go to http://mudjob.ning.com/

In the menu bar running across the top just under the header is a tab labeled STORIES. A drop down list will appear, and if you click on the item STORY PROMPTS it will pop up a page with several items that might suggest something you can start writing with. If you don't care for the combination, either refresh the page or click on the CHANGE button and you'll get a new set of prompts. I tried to keep these prompts similar in tone to Blake's here because I had such success with his every week.

I don't know if this will do the trick for you until Blake gets back into supplying the necessaries (for me they are, at least), but it could help if you are going through a dry spell.

And if you do come up with something, you really should post it here on T10--with or without mentioning the prompts you used.

If you check this out, let me know what you think, okay?

Regards,

--M

P.S.: Make you a deal, Blake...if people keep writing here, come back with the regular prompts...Okay, it's not a deal. It's a request. And it was the driving force behind the start of T10, no? We want prompts. We want prompts. We...you know.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Heather Fitzpatrick on May 5, 2011 at 9:59pm

Through my own choices, (I chose to spend the better part of last year studying for and writing my 7 professional exams on the way to getting my architectural license) I haven't spent as much time on the site as I would like to have. I would like to keep going on the site, and have been reading the posts in the forum to understand what's going on (ie, why the To Be Continued... unless that in itself is a prompt). I would like to thank you for the ability to practice my craft again. I used to attend a writers group where we wrote down prompts, but it did get dry after a while. I like the idea of doing guest prompts, and will suggest some whenever they pop into my head (I'm sure I could give you a ton of architectural ones if you guys are game). Objects are also fun, they can lead to any number of associations.

In the meantime, I would like to second the notion someone had of putting up older prompts, if you run out of ideas. You never know, it could trigger a different story with the people who wrote them before, our brains do tend to make multiple connections. I've had to pick between story ideas for the few that I've done. And I would love to catch up in the mean time, until the site re-establishes its direction.

Just my thoughts. Thanks for this site and the opportunities it brings.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Stribbell on May 6, 2011 at 6:52am

I write more than people see here...for me, this site is exactly what it is described as...an exercise...Practice! For that reason, I think we definitely need the prompts to see what we can come up with in ten minutes...plus a little "polishing" time. When I joined, the first impression I got was that it was a challenging exercise, one I have enjoyed doing as often as possible.

I don't have all the answers with regard to the source of the prompts, but they are definitely necessary to complete the exercise properly. Isn't the exercise the main point of the site? (Social interaction being a huge second to that).

Right now we appear to be chasing our tails in an attempt to provide a "community prompt" each day...we have been managing fairly well, but we still appear to be caught in a mild state of confusion at times. Quite simply, we all need to know what the prompt is...but we shouldn't know until the day of the prompt. Being told what a prompt will be a day or two before it is to be used feels like cheating on the exercise to me.

But that's just my two cents on that particular aspect of "the exercise".

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gwen Hankins on May 6, 2011 at 11:44am

Yeah, I'm pretty new and that makes it more feasible to participate.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Travis Smith on May 6, 2011 at 6:59am

I have a couple of thoughts on all of this - coming from two different sides of this.

First, I think that having some guest prompt contributions is a good thing, but I think to make it work really well it needs to be done in a way that fits in a more or less seamless manner with the regular prompts from Blake. I am not sure how it could be done, but it would be great if it could reduce the daily burden on Blake as opposed to increasing it. Whichever way it is done, I really like the daily prompt style and would not want that to go away - I think a strength and draw here is seeing how everyone uses the same prompt in a different way.

Second - some thoughts on activity. From the beginning the posts have always been dominated by only a small subset of the total members to the site. I am not sure of the exact numbers (maybe Blake can pull those up) but I think it is clear that out of the 278 members here, not too many have more than 100 posts, while maybe 200 of those have no posts or only a very few, with everyone else scattered in between those two extremes. That is not a bad thing, but in general the same subset of people that post the most are the same ones who leave comments. I don't know how many of those not posting comments or blogs are actually still reading the pieces, but it would be great to encourage them to leave comments if they are still around. How to do that is the question.

A few random comments from that:

I think the total number of blog posts is actually okay. More posts every day would be good, but I don't think that is the main problem (and from my ego's standpoint I like that a post stays visible on the main page for a day or two).

As has been pointed out, it is the lack of comments that seems to be the more noticeable detraction - I don't have any great ideas to help improve that, but some way of encouraging people to at least acknowledge they have read the piece in a simple way - I personally did not like the "like" feature but the general concept has merit.

Because of the relatively small number of really regular posters, I think the site is going to be prone to ebbs and flows of activity - it only takes having a few of those people missing for a week or two for the activity level to drop off, the key is to make sure to lure them back to activity after whatever distraction that has occupied them is past. Speaking only for myself I find it much easier to post here when I am on a roll and doing every day. It has been a busy few weeks at work and home for me, not unlike a lot of people here I am sure, and for me it takes a conscious effort to get back in the habit of posting every day.

....hmmm... sorry that ended up so long

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gwen Hankins on May 6, 2011 at 11:43am

Yes, you have some valid thoughts. I agree. Except for the "Like" button. It's getting pretty sad, but having more of a choice like a one to five scale might help. I don't know.