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@cm This is interesting and timely because I've been thinking about creative prompts lately. I've concluded that, for me, they're not useful. I'm not striving to be a capital-W Writer (or a Photographer or whatever), so if I don't feel like creating something, I just don't. My thinking is that if I have to force myself to create, why bother? If I can't be someone who simply must write or draw or make music, I should maybe do something else. Writing may simply be a staircase I need not ascend right now. (there it is! đ).
So, I guess your prompt worked, just maybe in a different way than intended! :).
@cm @jack @amit Coincidentally, Iâve been thinking about creative prompts lately, too, and this conversation has inspired me to think out loud a little. I donât know how relevant or tangential it is to what yâall are talking about. Some of it was sparked by a few statements in the conversation, and some of it was already lying around as Iâd been writing about other, related things.
@rnv Good stuff! One thing I'm not sure about is "So a prompt for a writer is no different from, say, a fingering exercise for a musician." I'm not sure. Wouldn't the equivalent for a musician be more like a phone reminder saying "go pick up your guitar"?
I could certainly use a little obession and vocation. Prompts or no prompts :)
@jack No, I generally see a prompt as something for when youâre already sitting down with your guitar or pen or camera or paint, and youâre asking yourself, âWhat will I work on today?â A prompt may be: running major scales in DADGAD tuning, or using only shades of yellow, or avoiding all words with the letter E, or limiting yourself to a 50mm lens set at Ć/2.8. Or, of course, âstaircase.â
Prompts are just suggestions to challenge ourselves, and to keep us working even when weâre not feeling âinspiredâ to work. Inspiration, in my experience, may get our ass in the chair, but it wonât carry us very far after that, especially if weâre expecting it to do all the work.
If you go months or years without picking up your guitar, then maybe youâre just a guy with a guitar in his apartment. And thatâs okay! But if you want to be a guitar player, you gotta sit down with it even when you donât feel like it. Same with writing: you have to do it as often and regularly as you can. Having a writing prompt gives you a place to start.