12 Days of Prompt Tools for Fiction Writers
Day 3: John Gillard's Writing Books
If part of the reason you find yourself lurking around the Stop Writing Alone community is to get your fill of writing prompts, I’m here to share with you some of the resources I use to find the prompts I share with you here month after month. There’s no reason you can’t treat yo’ self to a collection all your own, or start to fill up your writer-life wish list to share with generous gift givers looking to shower you with inspiration. Let’s dive back into this list to see what’s so special about my third recommendation.
*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 3: John Gillard’s Writing Books
It took me a little while to notice I was a fan of John Gillard’s writing prompts. It was back when I started sharing prompts on my YouTube channel and was writing up short descriptions of the books and tools I was using. All of a sudden I realized, I have written this guy’s name before… Not only was John Gillard the author of a number of my writing prompt books, he was the author of a couple of my favorite writing prompt books.
Purchase at Barnes & Noble (book 2, too)
How It Works
The two books featured in this article each have their own design and method for implementation, so let’s take them one at a time.
The Very Short Story Starter
This first book by John Gillard is one of the few traditional prompt books that I actually love. There are 101 prompts within, each with either a recommended word limit, page limit or length of time to work on. The intent is that these prompts are to be used to inspire flash fiction stories. The book is a journal as well, so each prompt has lined pages along with it so that you can write your stories within, but, to be honest, I have yet to take that leap.
Coffee Break Writing
The second book discussed here is more of a book of exercises than direct writing prompts, but what ends up happening in the process of using this book is that you create your writing prompts. Like the previous book there is space left on each page to work directly on the exercises within the book, so that it becomes a one stop shop for you to tinker with your writer brain wherever you travel with this book. For reasons I cannot understand, I have written all over this book with pleasure which I have been unable to with the book before.
How I Use It
John Gillard has a number of prompt books I use, but the two that top my list though are The Very Short Story Starter and Coffee Break Writing. In the video below I show off the latter to use a simple, reusable exercise to inspire a writing prompt. I actually work through the exercise in this video in case viewers wanted a ready-to-go prompt rather than an exercise that leads to a prompt, so it should be a good example of how the exercises can lead you to prompts.
What I’ve Written With It
Here are stories I have shared online that have come from John Gillard’s books:
short story The Terrible Dinner [combo inspiration of a writing workshop and THE GALLERY prompt from The Very Short Story Starter]
uncountable inspirations beyond (read below to see what I mean)
Why I Love It
While my list is not long considering the stories I have shared with direct inspiration from these books, the exercises and prompts within are the types that continue to linger with me long beyond my work with them. What I have developed as a result, is a gorgeous compost pile of creative goo in my writer’s mind that has been sprinkled throughout both my long and short fiction thanks to the work done in these books. While stories being birthed out of writing prompts is always a win, this long term influence over my writer’s voice is a uniquely powerful effect not all prompt tools can lay claim to.
Where To Buy It
I purchased all of my John Gillard books at my local Barnes & Noble store. Surprisingly, I know that I have found more than one of them in the bargain section too! I haven’t seen them there in a while, but you can still find Gillard’s books on the B&N website if you can’t get your hands on these books anywhere else.
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!)
These books sound great!