A Writing Prompt That Can Shatter You

But the most painful writing prompts often have the most potential to make us think.

Image Courtesy of DavidMSchrader on Adobe Stock

Writing prompts can have a lot of different roles in our creative lives. They can nudge us to broaden our creative horizons, get us out of feeling stuck with our craft, or nudge us to take a closer look at ourselves. Since I’ve been taking my mental health and healing more seriously in recent years, I’ve become most interested in prompts that do the later.

I learned this prompt from essayist, editor, and novelist Adam Dalva in his craft talk at NYU Paris. Toward the end of his speech, he had a writing prompt to share with all of us. Since he’s a jovial and hilarious educator, he comically told our group that this writing prompt he was about to share…literally made a previous student flee from the classroom in tears. Many of us laughed a good hearty chortle — not mandatory kindness laughter, but the real kind. It sounded so absurd that I don’t think any of us expected just how powerful and visceral this prompt would be.

Let’s make this writing process feel natural.