1-MINUTE PROMPT:
From product packaging to T-shirt slogans, words are all around you. Notice a word in your immediate environment. Write a complete three-sentence story—beginning, middle, and end—that includes that word.
5-MINUTE PROMPT:
You’ve got a bestseller in the works. Hurrah! Look around and find two words in your environment, be they in a magazine or on a billboard. Imagine a combination of those two words is the title of your new novel. Write a short summary about your upcoming release for the back of the book jacket.
10-MINUTE PROMPT:
Gather up all the words nearby. You know, the ones on the soup label, or discarded pamphlet, or billboard advertisement. Write them all down, then rearrange them to create a found poem.
20-MINUTE PROMPT:
In a dystopian future someone sends out an SOS message through a series of seemingly random words found in your environment. First, jot down words and phrases that you see around you. Next, write about what happens when your main character begins to piece these words together to uncover the distressed person’s urgent message. What actions will your protagonist take next?