For starters, take a look at shelves in your favorite bookstore. How many books do you see in romance genre? in mystery genre? in sci-fi genre? Why is it every year, thousands of books just keep getting published? It's because writers and authors have this innate ability to fashion something out of an old theme and turn it into their own unique creations.

And if 100 writers bought same book, say a book on how to start their freelance writing careers, none of them would have exact experience as a result of having read same book. Their experiences would vary. Even if most of them achieved success, it would be in varying degrees.

Yes, there really isn't any original idea, much less a plot, left on earth that none of us hasn't thought of yet, written about, made money on, and proudly claimed as our own. The fact is, every idea has already been thought of by someone else, or has been simultaneously thought of by a number of people who have never even met.

Yet in spite of this, we continue to write. Hey, there might not be any original idea left on face of this planet but as writers, we have developed inventiveness to shape old stones and turn them into shiny diamonds, and none of them would have same number of facets.

There's no such thing as an original idea, but there are such creatures as writers with great and different doses of imagination, inventiveness and experience!

PROMPT # 7: Watch your favorite movie. Afterwards, experiment on giving it different endings. If it's a romantic movie with a mushy happy-ending, why not re-write ending and say, have guy end up with other woman? Or if it's an action film, ask yourself what would happen if hero got killed. The thing here is you have to think of a different version for movie's ending.

Prompt # 8. Imagine you're walking in a mall and all of a sudden, a woman grabs you by hair and starts a catfight with you. What would you do? Would you fight back? If you're a man, think of what you'll do if another guy punched you on nose for no reason at all. Would you punch back? Describe "fight scene."

Prompt # 9. Recall last dream (or nightmare) you had. Describe dream in detail.

Prompt # 10. If you were an animal, what would would you be? Why?

Prompt # 11. When you were in gradeschool, what was your most hated subject? Why did you hate it? Do you still hate it? Why or why not? Did teacher have anything to do with it?

Prompt # 12. Put on your favorite CD or tape. What music comes out of it? When you listen to it, what do you feel? What comes into your mind?

I hope prompts I have created for you will help you get those words out of your head and onto paper.

Drop me a line and share with me your writing if you are inclined. Until then, great writing to you!