Welcome to this week’s complete creative prompt. We begin with a single word, a creative prompt, and expand it to inspire fiction writing, journaling, and a host of other creative activities. These creative prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

Whenever a disaster, natural or otherwise, strikes — and with the nature of 24-hour news we are never far from hearing — after the initial shock we often want to know whether anyone was at fault. Our upset and anger and confusion need a little direction. We’re also quick at pointing the finger. We don’t like to consider how much we may be at fault. Therefore, this week’s creative prompt is:

Blame — assign the responsibility for a bad or unfortunate situation or phenomenon to (someone or something)

this is a general verb definition, but I do like the use of the word phenomenon… it feels a little supernatural

Let the prompt ‘blame’ inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:

• writing fiction
• journaling
• art journaling
• songwriting
• photography
• painting
• composing
• blog posts
• art therapy
• anything that could use a little nudge to begin

Let’s expand the word a little further…

Fiction Writing Prompt

The Fiction Writing Prompt aims to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

Was it our fault for entering the house? Or should we blame the person who summoned the ghost?

Writing Prompt Expanded

We all, to varying degrees, have a sense of justice. When something goes wrong, we want to know why and who is to blame. Quite often, there is no single source of blame. Things are very rarely black and white. And in this writing prompt, things are very unclear, perhaps even ghostly transparent.

This prompt is all about exploring the concept of blame within a stressful environment. How often do characters in books and films argue about blame instead of getting out of harm’s way? A few thoughts to help.

• Why did the group go to the house?
• Why do different characters choose different things to blame?
• Is it the sight alone of the frightening ghost, or does the ghost act menacingly?
• And was it literally summoned?

The prompt is a bit more prescriptive this week. The setting is a house, there is a group of people and, apparently, there is a ghost. However, beyond those things, where the story goes is down to you. Scare yourself and your readers with the ghostly apparition, and perhaps let the group turn on each other as they cast blame. But remember, if you don’t decide to write anything, you only have yourself to blame. Have fun and enjoy.

Journal prompt

Journaling allows us to hold conversations on paper. From private diaries to creative art journals, we pour out our deepest thoughts. Blame is serious. If we are blaming others for something, then we really need a good reason. If we are blaming ourselves, we need to make sure it is to take responsibility and make some changes. Blame has negative connotations and yet if responsibility is accepted, and actions changed, blame becomes the first step in being better people and improving the world we live in.

Questions to answer, thoughts to explore, or images to create in your journal:

• Write any bad decisions or choices you think you have made. Now write I blame myself over the top. Finally, paint or collage over what you have written. Don’t blame yourself, but commit to learning from what happened.
• Do you find it easier to blame others or yourself? Why?
• Have you ever been wrongly accused and blamed for something, and how did you feel?
  

Theory of General Creativity

I now have ‘blame’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Not only that, but I am always blaming myself for not finishing my creative projects. I find it easier to make excuses and blame myself instead of just getting on and creating. And blaming my tools, be they digital or not, is far easier than learning how to use them correctly or fixing them when broken. I think I need to stop blaming and do.

Let ‘blame’ inspire your music, photography, and painting this week.

Finally…

As always, these creative prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story, something a little more grandiose, or any other creative projects.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below, or tag me #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

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Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

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