Why 5 Minute Prompts?

What are 5 minute prompts (with a horror or oddity twist)? What they have done for me and how they may be useful for you.

I want to play a game.

Photo by ROCCO STOPPOLONI on Unsplash

Although I have been sharing some of my prompts, I wanted to take some time out to explain what I am setting out to do with these daily “5 minute prompts”. Before we dive in, I want to first share the rules. I know I share these everywhere, but they are a key element of the process.

The rules are simple:
1. Set a time for 5 minutes.
2. Get writing. Don’t overthink it, let the story take you where it wants.
3. When the timer stops, you stop (you can finish your current sentence).
4. In my game, you are allowed to fix spelling errors - but leave the rest of it alone!
5. Share your own creation in the comments of the prompt post.

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Why 5 minute prompts?

I started doing 5 minute prompts because I just wasn’t writing. My ADHD brain would provide me wonderful ideas but I would quickly become overwhelmed by the entire process. Having to figure out the settings, the dialog, how to get from A to Z, it would become too much and I would stop writing all together. I kept forgetting to take it in small chunks.

So I decided I would try something different. I would take a writing prompt and only give myself 5 minutes to write. I also found it was harder to make excuses not to write because we all have 5 minutes somewhere in our day (even if it means 5 minutes less doom scrolling). And yes, because of who I am, I wanted to focus on prompts that were inspired by horror or the strange.

While doing these exercises, I found there was no room, or time, to overthink. It allowed me to just start writing and to let the story take control. I found characters and scenes coming to life before my eyes, with little conscious thought. I would get carried away in the story I was creating and then would suddenly be jostled back to reality by the the timer (my Apple watch set to vibrate in my case) going off.

At times this process is very rewarding, giving me a neat mini story with a Stephen King like open ending - some people hate these types of endings but I love them - like in The Reflection. Other times it can be frustrating (such as in The Forgotten Photograph) because just as I’m starting to find my flow, I have to stop before I get to the meat of the story, or the twist. But rules is rules. 5 minutes, pencils down.

I truly believe that forcing yourself to stick to the 5 minute limit, although sometimes extremely difficult, is a valuable exercise. You are forced to let the story flow without overthinking, and you kind of have to accept that not everything you write is going to be gold. This exercise is not for you to pen your next best seller, it’s just to get the creativity flowing, to force your mind to work in a different way.

These exercises have helped me find the joy and fun in writing again. I get excited to see where the story will go, who will come to visit, and the more I do it, the easier it gets. I am also finding more inspiration, a desire to take the next step and turn some of these promotes into short stories. Who knows, maybe after practicing that for a while I will be ready to tackle even bigger projects (like my poor screenplay that has been pushed to the side).

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How can 5 minute prompts help you?

If you are like me, maybe you need a little burst of inspiration, or just to step out of your normal routine.

I didn’t create this publication just to share my writing. My goal is to create a community that shares and encourages one another. I really want to see where you go with these prompts. I love the fact that we all see the world differently. When I shared The Reflection with my therapist, her brain took it in a completely different direction. She interpreted the prompt as self reflection and positivity, and my horror wired brain took a different route. THAT is what I want to share with everyone.

My ultimate goal is for people to read my stories, do the exercise, and share what they write on that specific post, in the comments, so we can have a place to see everyone’s stories. I feel like we learn how to be better writers not only through writing and sharing but also in reading other’s work. To consume different writing styles and ways of viewing the world.

These are free prompts and I aim to post one daily. The plan is to keep these free. Also, for those of you worried about spam, I do not send these prompts as daily newsletters. I will send a weekly wrap up summary newsletter so you can get all of the prompts in once place, once a week. While I hope more of you subscribe, what I really hope is you take the time to create and share and become part of the community (even if you never subscribe, even if you only do one, you are welcome here).
~ Ash