12 Days of Prompt Tools for Fiction Writers
Day 4: The Writer's Toolbox
For a huge chunk of my life I waited around for inspiration to write. I didn’t really know about writing prompts outside of writing assignments from school. Then, one day, while waiting for an express bus in Manhattan by pacing the aisles of the 5th Avenue Barnes & Noble across from my bus stop, I spotted this thing called The Writer’s Toolbox. I bought it without really looking at it. It was the first ember that sparked the conflagaration of inspiration that burns hot until this day and resulted in a collection of writing prompt tools so vast that I can spend twelve full days writing only about my favorites. I don’t know why I didn’t choose this as the tool to chat about on day one, but here we are, it is time to discuss this beauty.
*Many links in this series will be affiliate links (any that direct you to bookshop.org), so if you use these links to make a purchase, please know that the shop itself will pay me a commission as a result of your purchase.
Day 4: The Writer’s Toolbox
The Writer’s Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callan is three writing games packaged in one box.
Sixth Sense cards
The Protagonist Game, and
what I like to call “the sticks”
Purchase at Bookshop.org
For a long time, The Writer’s Toolbox was the only writing prompt tool I owned. With three different games within, it offered a flexibility in inspiration and accomodated the various “writing moods” I, and the writers I was writing with, found ourselves in. I have used these games on my own as well as with groups and have inspired more people than I can even count to purchase their own box. Will you be next? Read on to see how and why I think this box sells itself.
How It Works
Each game within The Writer’s Toolbox has its own tools and rules, so let’s look at each one individually.
Sixth Sense Cards
This deck of cards contains phrases steeped in sensory details — smells, tastes, unique settings including sights and sounds. The rules of the game say that you select three cards and use the sensory details to begin writing. Beginning with this richness of detail often inspires writers to continue on that path and open up vivid stories, scenes, and sentences.
The Protagonist Game
This game consists of three wheels
protagonist
goal
action
obstacle
You spin each wheel to get each piece of your prompt and you write a story about your given protagonist trying to achieve your given goal using the given action to overcome the given obstacle. It may seem like there is not a lot of wiggle room or space for a writer to create on their own given so much of the structure of the story, but restriction can be its own kind of inspiration when you are called on to find your own creative path to connect all these dots.
“The Sticks”
This final game is my absolute favorite of the box. It is part writing prompt, part writing exercise. It begins with three sets of labeled popsicle sticks. The labels are as follows
first sentence
non sequitor
last straw
For this exercise you need a timer. The box comes with a tiny hourglass that is laughable to me (I think it was a three minute timer), I usually go no lower than five minute time segments, but as you play along you will find the sweet spot for your own creative journey. To begin you select a “first sentence” stick and, as you can imagine, that becomes your first sentence, verbatim.
You do not look at any other sticks. You set the timer (I usually set it for 5-6 minutes) and begin writing a story using your first sentence prompt.
When the timer goes off, you stop wherever you are in your writing and select a “non sequitor” stick. You then set the timer again and continue your story, writing so that you can include your non sequitor in the story you started with your first sentence.
Finally, when the timer goes off again, you stop wherever you are in your writing and select a “last straw” stick. You then set the timer for one last time (sometimes I add an extra minute for this step), and continue your story, now trying to include the last straw into the tale as well as wrapping everything up.
This one is a massive writing brain workout and I love it.
How I Use It
This set really is three different tools in one. There is no one way to tease out how I use them all, but here’s the video that inspired the story below it using my favorite tool of them all, “the sticks.” Go ahead and get a notebook out so you can play along before reading the story I wrote!
What I’ve Written With It
Here’s a story I shared using “the sticks” from The Writer’s Toolbox
flash fiction I Burned the Tulips [using “the sticks”]
Why I Love It
One of the reasons I love writing prompt tools is because they tend to take you, and your writing voice, into brand new realms of expression. You find yourself writing about things, and characters, you never considered before. The Writer’s Toolbox, particularly when using “the sticks” pushes you in new directions in the middle of crafting a story. It is bananas! You start with a sentence, you set a timer, you settle into a groove and think you’ve got a path to a solid something and —POW!— the timer goes off and this random non sequitor demands that you do something you were not thinking of at all and you need to connect it to what you were already creating (insert mindblown emoji here). The process then repeats again and, as I said above, this is a massive mental workout. It truly feels like the equivalent of a serious aerobic writing workout.
It is my strong belief that “the sticks” sell the box all on their own, and then you get two awesome bonus writing games to go with it. I believe that both of the other games would warrant their own places on this list had they been sold separately and I often feel a little bad that they tend to live in the shadow cast by the awesomeness of the stick exercise for me, but please know they, too, count toward why I love this tool so much. In fact to prove this, here are two bonus YouTube videos by me featuring the Protagonist Game and the Sixth Sense cards so you can check them both out for yourself.
Where To Buy It
I haven’t seen this one on the shelves of my Barnes & Noble in a long time, but I am happy to report that you can get your own box delivered to your home from bookshop.org. Not only is this convenient, it is also supportive of an independent bookseller close to your home. The way bookshop.org works is that you place the order online and the order is filled by an independent bookseller near you. As an added bonus to those of you loving the land of Stop Writing Alone, I am an affiliate for bookshop.org, so if you use one of the links in this post to make your purchase, the good people over at bookshop.org will send me a small commission as a “thank you!” for sending you their way.
The List
Just in case you do not have the time or patience to wait out all 12 days to see the tools I will be sharing this season, here’s a bit of a master list. You can come back when it suits you to check out the reasons I love these tools and how I use them. As the posts go up, I will update this list with the links to those posts.
Games that are great prompt tools (You’ll have to check the post out for these links!)
Now Write! Books
Stop Writing Alone Paid Subscription (you really can’t blame me for this! With this option, you have access to all of these AND MORE all the time!)