Prompts: Six Words

When I first saw the six word challenge, I thought, "This is next to impossible, but I'll give it a try." The first few I did were segments of a story, like "A bird fell like a stone". After some practice, my six words turned more powerful and powerful after each new line.

Here's some tips before you get started.

1. Think abstract, think short- Have your six words either briefly tell about something, or symbolize something.

2. Think poem- It's six words, so you can skip the articles(as in a, an, the) when you need to.

3. Take advantage of punctuation- Punctuation can give a specific sound or choppiness where it's needed.

There are endless possibilities in those six words. Here are a few examples to get you started.


Want to be happy? Eat chocolate.

Sleepy night, time to write. Imagine.

Pencils scratching. Teacher pacing. Test time.

Shadow behind streetlamp. Footsteps. Waiting. Watching.

Shoveling dirt for the resting soul.

Sunny, lovely day. To stay inside.


Have fun with this! More prompts are coming soon.

-The Nocturnal Writer

Life Update- Blue Pen

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's a blue pen with blue ink.

I've never used blue pen because black looked more professional. I never knew I owned a blue pen until I found it at the bottom of the pencil box.

The reason why it's significant enough to make a blog post about this is because it actually helped me write more! It doesn't have any magical properties. It was only very, very different from what I usually use to write.

The weirdest things make me write more. Sometimes, writing neatly with a mechanical pencil prompts me to write for hours and hours. Other times, it's a simple thing, like this pen. It's led me to think again, how odd the human mind is.

I'm debating whether or not to get another blue pen, in case this runs out. Should I, or should I not? I need some opinions...

Happy writing! I hope you find something inspiring today!

-The Nocturnal Writer

News- Polls

Hello, reader! Here's some quick news.

Once I start getting enough people looking at this blog, I'll start putting up polls on the home page. The polls will help me see what kind of writing posts you want to see! Also, post suggestions are always welcome.

Happy writing!

-The Nocturnal Writer

Inspiration- Dreams

Dreams. Some might remember theirs more vividly, but we've all had some.

Some famous authors got their ideas from their dreams. The important step in remembering your dreams for a long time is to write them down as soon as you wake up. Sleeping more may also help. Record all dreams, even if they seem weird.

What you'll end up with is a bunch of ideas. They can be changed to fit a plot. It's useful, since you didn't have to use energy during the day to think of those ideas!

I'll share a quick one. It was a dream about being in an city. Everyone was gone, and it was silent. Randomly, a motorcycle was travelling down the street on its own. I immediately sensed it was going to attack me. The motorcycle suddenly started to chase me down the block. Does that spark any ideas? I hope it did.

Have a great time writing and dreaming!

-The Nocturnal Writer

Publishing for Yourself

"Publishing" for yourself, a.k.a. not asking an agent to represent you and trying to get your writing on a real book.

It's a symbol of reaching your goal. If your piece is short, then you can format it into a booklet and print it out. If it's a long piece, what I like to do is to calculate about how many pages would be filled up. Also, I like to create a cover with a photo editing program.

So good luck and have fun writing!

Since this is a short post, there will be another tomorrow.

-The Nocturnal Writer

Life Update- Midnight Writing

I've been trying to find my perfect time for writing. In the morning, I'm tired, and all I can think about is writing a post or doing absolutely nothing. In the afternoon, I can't bear to sit down on a chair. At night, I'm tired.

So I started typing away at midnight. My mind felt sluggish, but my imagination was vivid. I could almost see everything going on in the writing, in my head. Was I half asleep? Maybe. But it worked for me, and I was able to make much progress. I finally had to stop after one in the morning because my eyes were closing.

I can't do midnight writing every single day. But now, I know it works! Maybe that's why I subconsciously chose this name for my blog...

Oddly, writing didn't find a way into my dreams that night. It's inspiring when it does.

So anyways, find your own perfect time for writing!

-The Nocturnal Writer

Editing for Grammar and Spelling

This part is not as gruesome as revision, but it can get tricky. For basic spelling, spell check on your computer should fix it for you. 

Pay attention to homophones- too and to, here and here, and your and you're. Be careful with there, their, and they're. Carefully read over each sentence out loud. A reader will catch grammatical mistakes and skipped words better than the writer can.

Good luck to all the writers out there!

-The Nocturnal Writer