Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

As we mentioned way back in our inaugural Creative Prompt, I (Stephanie) have been using creative prompts since I went to school for fiction writing. In my classes, the teachers used a particular method called story workshop, which involved activities to generate writing ideas. Often, we started our in-class writing time with a game called One Word. Basically, it involved going around in a circle, and each person saying a word. After someone said their word, we’d all pause to quietly think about what that single word brought up for us—sometimes it conjured a whole story, sometimes it made just a tiny blip materialize. We’d do this for a few minutes, going around the whole circle a couple times, and then we’d write an entire scene—usually inspired by one or a few of the words we’d heard.

One Word was so magical for generating ideas that my friend Jenny, who was in that writing program with me, and I continued to do it on our own when we met up for writing sessions. We’d take turns giving each other words until we felt inspired. I’ve really, really, really wanted to share this activity with you guys, so when Jenny came to visit me this Thanksgiving, I asked her if we could record a One Word session for Creative Prompt. So here we are! As you’ll see, we like to write them all down because who knows? One of them might spark a story when we go back to the list later.

Today’s prompt is to watch the video of us playing One Word—or to play One Word with a friend—and to take the word that paints the clearest picture in your mind to create something: a piece of writing, images, or a combination of the two. Send it to us, along with your first name, last initial, age, and city/state, to [email protected] with the subject line “Creative Prompt” by Monday, December 14 at 6 PM EST.

Last week, we asked you to tune in to what your brain was up to at night, and to use a dream as the starting point for a story, poem, drawing, or other narrative. Here are some glimpses into what your sleepy subconsciouses have to say…