Scary Good Writing

Let’s face it. Most writing prompts are by design so generic they can’t help but be bland. An easy way to fix this and trigger a child’s imagination is to teach your students to add adjectives like exciting, magical, cool, etc. to the subject of the prompt.

Typical prompt:

We all have a favorite time of year. Think about one time of the year that is your favorite. Write to explain why that one time of year is your favorite.

Most of us have a special place we like to go. Think about a special place where you like to go. Explain why you like to go to that special place.

Now add two adjectives exciting and magical to describe the subject favorite time of the year and special place.

Modified prompts (one uses the same two adjectives for each reference of the subject; the other prompt uses a different adjective for each reference of the subject:

We all have an exciting and magical favorite time of year. Think about one exciting and magical time of the year that is your favorite. Write to explain why that one exciting and magical time of year is your favorite.

Most of us have an exciting special place we like to go. Think about a magical special place where you like to go. Explain why you like to go to that cool special place.

Quite a different trigger for the imagination, isn’t it? Try this and see if your students have an easier time coming up with more interesting answers to the essay question.

Caveat: it doesn’t work as well for prompts like the following, but it doesn’t hurt them, either.

We all know that it is important to eat magical and exciting healthy foods. Think about why you think it is important to eat magical and exciting healthy foods. Write to explain why you think it is important to eat magical exciting healthy foods.

We have all heard that it is important to be an exciting good reader. Think about why you think it is important to be a magical good reader. Write to explain why you think it is important to be a cool good reader.

Try it with your kids using these prompts and see if you get a little more creativity.