12 Inspiring Prompts for Writers: Day 7
Surprises About Yourself You Learned This Year
Hello and welcome to day seven of twelve writing prompts to inspire and encourage in the new year! Day seven is about surprises—things you learned about yourself as a writer or reader this year that you didn’t know beforehand. Things you learned that have broadened your experience as a writer and reader.
For me, this revelation came when I was researching the Venn diagram between Gothic literature and children’s literature. The last couple of years I have dipped into the Gothic genre, reading Rebecca (1923), Mexican Gothic, Starling House, and The Last Tale of the Flower Bride. Each one, I enjoyed quite a bit, so it’s been slowly dawning on me that maybe this is one of my favorite genres. But the real surprise is—maybe it’s always been? One of the articles I read in my research of the gothic in children’s literature pointed to The Series of Unfortunate Events as an example of gothic kid lit, and I always enjoyed those books as a child. It’s just nice to learn more about writing and be able to apply it not only to writing but to myself. I am a person who likes gothic literature.
The other thing I learned about me is that I like memoirs. It might be that I’ve just gotten lucky, but I’ve found that nearly every memoir I’ve read in the past few years, I’ve really enjoyed, and I’ve found these writers’ works inspiring. I read On Writing by Stephen King this year, and even though it’s marketed as a how to book, I really enjoyed the parts where he told stories about his life much more than the prescriptivist thoughts on writing. Before that, I read Broken by Jenny Lawson, I’m Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Something about these stories spun from lived experiences feels so intimate, like a confessional. I really like them!
Have you encountered any new genres you're loving? New surprises about yourself as a writer and reader?