Writing Prompts for a Better World
If you're feeling down, try these quick exercises
This week, I’ve found myself spiraling down again, as I do these days when I see too many awful headlines. I have been writing and reading. It’s not that I’m blocked, exactly. I’ve been chipping away at a longer essay about how to confront the constant stream of lies and fakeries in digital media, one I hope to post here next week.
But I’m also wondering if we need less analysis and podcast conversation and Substack live interviews and cajoling and dire threats of if you don’t act right now. As a writer, I keep myself sparked by imagining beyond what other people tell me.
Last night, I realized how much my spirits had sunk when I received this fortune — Make a scrapbook of cherished moments with loved ones — in a cookie with our takeout meal. At first, I laughed with my husband and son. “Great, sounds like somebody already died,” I said. That grim observation didn’t thrill my guys. Nor did my next riff, but the thought has stayed with me:
Make a scrapbook of cherished moments you recall from American democracy.
It does feel as if the country I grew up in has died. My faith in what America is becoming certainly has. We need to resist, I keep countering, in whatever way possible. Yet at least for me, in this moment, I’ve also found I need to imagine the world I want to live in. By this, I don’t mean what could have been with a different election outcome. I mean a better world — perhaps a better one than we’ve ever had.
Even my gallows humor over “cherished moments” got me thinking. The world I cherish could be fantastical or futuristic or anachronistic or simply a better quotidian. It doesn’t have to be based on reality or limited by what’s achievable. The world you want is the one you imagine, and imagination is an inner resource I believe we all need in times of trouble.
That’s what led to the five writing prompts I’ve listed below. I’ve responded to the first one this morning, and I’ll follow up every day or so with what I write for each prompt. This imaginative free-writing shifts my attention, if only for a few moments, taking me beyond scowling at a screen. Maybe it will lighten your mood as well.
I invite you to share what you come up with for one or more of the prompts, either as a comment or via Notes or in a chat thread.1 Regardless, I offer these exercises to you, in case you need a few sparks.
Five Writing Prompts for a Better World
Suggested: set a timer for no longer than 15 minutes to respond to a prompt.
Imagine the world as a better place and describe what it’s like.
Imagine a world where nobody lies. How will that change the way we think?
Imagine a world where all caregivers — medical workers, chaplains, teachers — are the most respected members of society. What would that world be like?
Imagine who you are in a better world. What will you be like?
Imagine a better world from the perspective of somebody who is different from you — and describe that world.
I’ve enabled chat for Inside Reader, so far with no paywalls. For these exercises, give it a try when I start off the thread.
Every morning during the late 1990's I would hear the strains of Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqhCQZaH4Vs) coming from my younger son's bedroom when his clock radio would wake him up for middle school. As sullen as he sometimes seemed during those years, he also carried a warm spark of hope and joy into his day. So, yes, I, too, see the 'green trees and skies of blue,' that Armstrong sings about, but I also see community, love, caring, kindness, and the freedom for each person to just be who they are. I wish for a world that nurtures those internal sparks into full, glorious flames.
I imagine world where people think for themselves. People berate others for being politically ignorant. They hold up their phones. Look! Why aren't you listening? All the while they don't realize that's only half the news. The half they agree with.