642 Things to Write About: (Guided Journal, Creative Writing, Writing Prompt Journal)

Fantastic!
This journal is fabulous! It’s really helped get me out of my rut. I write recreationally, as a way to recharge and keep this version of myself connected to the liberal arts student I once was. It is set up perfectly for me. I prefer to sit down and start writing randomly, letting each sentence lead to the next. I am not currently attempting an actual writing project with a plot and detailed characters and all that jazz. This journal has 642 prompts, as the title suggests. Many are first sentences, and some are more general topic ideas. I suppose you could write directly in the book, but in my opinion there isn’t nearly enough space to really flush out the ideas. I prefer to copy the idea elsewhere and get down to it.Many of the prompts are common, almost everyday ideas that actually get the creativity flowing. Some are more in depth and require significantly more effort. Some examples of topics, chosen randomly as I flip through the book, are:Describe something you wanted badly and, once you got it, never used.Something you’ve always regretted saying.Making soup.A beginners guide to getting noticed.Death is like this…Fix the plot of the worst movie you’ve ever seen.Choose an obituary and write about a day in that person’s life.Explain to your boss why you spent $5,000 during one business meeting and why he should reimburse you.The topics zig-zag like this across the whole journal. So far, I haven’t fallen into a rut since beginning the journal. The topics are so varied, it’s impossible for me not to feel inspired by at least one of them at any given moment.Some topics are very in-depth and require plenty of reflection and maybe even some research, and others are vague enough to allow for free-form, stream of consciousness type writing. I’ve written as little as half a page and as much as…well, a whole lot more than that. The journal spans plenty of genres. I think, no matter what your genre or writing style, you would find plenty of prompts to suit your needs. Also, plenty are vague enough that you could tailor them to your style.Probably the most exciting aspect of this journal for me is that it’s jump-started my long-dormant creativity. I’m getting back into old habits again, such as carrying a notebook with me and jotting down observations and ideas. I’m also looking at elements of my life and finding new inspiration. I’m keeping a personal journal, using this journal, and looking at my life through my writer’s eyes, rather than as a passive observer. Getting back to what was once such a passion and an escape for me has made the rest of my life, the “real” or “normal” part, much more enjoyable.I highly recommend this journal. If you are looking for a gift for a writer or a creative writing student, I don’t think you can go wrong with this.

this is fun and cute
So I got this because I wanted to have something that me an d my bf could do in our spare time together when we’re just hanging out at home or sipping wine watching tv and any other of those casual times that you just want to be lazy. I flipped through the pages (holy s*** this book is huge) and I read through some of the questions and they are really cute and funny. I haven’t even showed it to him yet bit like me, he is creative, and I know he will like it. Some of the questions rare really long and might be better to do by yourself but some of them ask you to write stories about different situations and I feel like that could be really fun to do with two or three people and put together something really funny 🙂 it’s definitely a book for people who have an imagination and I look forward to seeing what I come up with especially after a glass of wine or tow ha! 🙂

Good questions/prompts
An interesting variety of prompts. I could end up with an interesting autobiography after a while.

Disappointed
I bought this thinking my 13yo son could write in it and I could save it took look back on in a few years, however, a good bit of the content is not appropriate for kids. I was excited about it because he is an excellent creative writer, and I was hoping it would give him some ideas to expand on. Some of the content is funny, others make you think outside the box, and like I said some of it is just inappropriate even for me.

Me gustó el libro, y hacer las historias a diario si te ayudan para alimentar tu creatividad y volverte más hábil en la escritura.

Il libro è arrivato integro, in perfette condizioni e imballato correttamente. L’ho acquistato diversi mesi fa per un regalo, che è stato molto gradito. Un’ottima fonte per esercitarsi nella scrittura creativa, con prompt anche un po’ assurdi ma utilissimi a stimolare la fantasia. L’unico appunto è che è disponibile soltanto in inglese (non vi è un’edizione tradotta, da qui le 4 stelle di questa recensione): benché per me non sia assolutamente un problema, comprendo che quando si tratta di esprimersi nella scrittura si preferisce utilizzare la propria lingua madre. Le “tracce” comunque sono piuttosto semplici da capire anche per chi non ha dimestichezza con l’inglese.

Dieses Buch gibt kreative Ideen, über welche Themen man beginnen kann, zu schreiben. Dies reicht von der Aufforderung “schreibe ein Gedicht über eine Tomate” bishin zu “beginne eine Story mit dem Satz ‘Dies war das erste Mal, dass ich jemanden getötet habe'”.Weiterhin sollen Listen erstellt werden, über Dinge, die man in bestimmten Situationen wahrnimmt, um im nächsten Schritt daraus eine Geschichte zu schreiben mit veränderten Rahmenbedingungen zu schreiben.Die Ideen sind in englischer Sprache verfasst, aber leicht zu verstehen, auch für Personen mit Anfänger-Kenntnissen in der englischen Sprache.Wer also überlegt, woher er selber kreative Ideen für eigene Geschichten oder Gedanken bekommen kann, sollte sich dieses Buch unbedingt nach Hause holen, zunächst stöbern, sich dann inspirieren lassen und schließlich einfach anfangen, die kreativen Ideen zu Papier (oder in den Rechner) zu bringen.Eine unbedingte Empfehlung!