darren r hill

the creative minimalist

  • A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. There were faces all around, looking intently at me, but I recognised none of them Writing Prompt Expanded A piece of advice often given to would be writers is to write about what you know. Well, this

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  • advent noun1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’. Advent has arrived. Of course, there is a certain irony

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  • An overview of my December journal and planner set-up. My Bullet Journal has become more like a bullet journal. However, as I bring everything into one journal I seem to be using more journals! And can you believe it is December already? I hope you are all keeping safe and well? May your planning be

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  • A Black Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. Yesterday, we gave thanks for all we had. But then we wanted more. Now the being before us demanded payment. Writing Prompt Expanded This is a special Black Friday Fiction Writing Prompt. Following Thanksgiving, the Black

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  • It is a day to give thanks. It may seem like these dark times will never end, but they will. We will look back and say, ‘do you remember when… ‘. Situations change like the seasons. The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes. A time for all things. New things will come

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  • Magic — Weekly Creative Prompt

    Exploring magic in this weekly creative prompt

    Welcome to the new complete weekly creative prompt. We begin with a single creative prompt word 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.

    I have always wished that I could get things done easier. This can be seen in my ongoing quest for the ultimate productivity tools, sorting out to-do lists and the best way to journal. At the same time, my wishing would like to extend to clicking my fingers to get things done. Therefore, this week’s creative prompt is:

    Magic — the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces

    this is just one definition, but I love the phrase apparently influencing

    Let the prompt ‘magic’ 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.

    I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was amazing. This was real magic. - fiction writing prompt.

    I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was amazing. This was real magic.

    Writing Prompt Expanded

    Here is a chance to use superlatives, to go over the top, to explain something truly magical. Nothing is hyperbole when it comes to your writing for this prompt. The context is completely up to you. By leaving the context open, the prompt allows you to explore magic in either the supernatural sense or the magical feeling of awe.

    This prompt is all about describing the scene before you, but your language needs to convey the beyond the ordinary.

    • What do you see?
    • Are you on your own or are others experiencing the event?
    • Are your other senses involved in the scene?

    Again, the writing perspective is in the first person. This makes it easier to explore the scene and describe its magical nature to the individual. However, the setting and everything else is open to your imagination. Let your words weave a little magic on the page.

    Journal prompt

    Journaling is a place we can explore the mysterious and supernatural. It is a safe place where ideas can be developed and played with. And, if we have a private journal we know that no one else will see the magic we conjure.

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

    • What is the most magical thing in your life?
    • If you could click your fingers and work some magic, what would the spell be?
    • What colours convey the feeling of magic in your art journaling?

    Theory of General Creativity

    I now have ‘magic’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. To all intents and purposes, the whole creative process is magic. The way ideas and thoughts develop in art is magical. There are basic rules to follow, which is evident as I make my music. However, it is the little steps that bend or break orthodoxy where I find the magic happens. And I can’t help thinking that many of the creative filters used to enhance our photography are like supernatural spells.

    Let ‘magic’ inspire your music, photography, and painting this week. May your cauldron bubble and boil and bring forth something magical in your portfolio.

    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.

    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 on any social platform.

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

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • When you need to pause – vlog update

    A short vlog update where I talk about the need to pause…

  • Myth — Weekly Creative Prompt

    Welcome to the new complete weekly creative prompt. I begin with a single creative prompt word 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.

    Ever since the advent of the scientific method, there has been a move toward finding meaning through fact and reason. The age-old truths found in religions and superstition can’t apparently be substantiated through experiment or laboratory work. However, visit any book store or turn on any streaming TV service, and you’ll find endless content exploring the supernatural. Therefore, this week’s creative prompt is:

    Myth — a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events

    this is a general definition, but I love the way it seems so innocent and straightforward until it gets to the supernatural element

    Let the prompt ‘myth’ 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.

    My eyes were not lying. I knew what I saw was real. However, how could it be? What I saw was a myth.

    Writing Prompt Expanded

    Some of us suffer from motion sickness. It is a very unpleasant feeling and quite debilitating for some. As far as I understand, it is quite often caused by our senses getting confused. They send mixed messages to our brain suggesting, or not suggesting, movement.

    This prompt is all about comparing what we are seeing with what we knew, or thought we knew, to be real and possible; a mixed message.

    • What do you think you are seeing?
    • How do you describe something you know can’t be real?
    • Are your senses sending mixed messages?

    The writing perspective is in the first person. This makes it easier to explore the feelings and subsequent confusion of the character. The setting and everything else is open to your imagination. Will you explore a ‘traditional’ story or let your creativity run wild and bring into being your very own myth?

    Journal prompt

    Journaling allows us to hold conversations on paper. From private diaries to creative art journals we pour out our deepest thoughts. A quick glance at the art journal hashtags online will deliver a multitude of mermaids, faeries, and other mythical creatures. Do we only find these myths on paper, or is there an inner yearning to believe in them and broaden reality?

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

    • What mythical creature could you bring to life in your art journal?
    • What myths do I believe and why?
    • Are there myths you believe in that you haven’t told anyone else about?

    Theory of General Creativity

    I now have ‘myth’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I have several pieces of music that are directly inspired by myth, so I am hoping this creative focus will help me move them along. And while I currently live in the South West of England, there are plenty of local stories and places that provide photo opportunities with a mythical twist.

    Let ‘myth’ 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 creative project.

    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 @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

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

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Fire — Friday Fiction Writing Prompt

    A Fiction Writing or Journal Prompt exploring ‘fire’ to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

    It’s a cliché but very apt right now, there is no smoke without fire.

    Writing Prompt Expanded

    A golden rule in writing is to avoid clichés. The thinking behind this is simple, using an overused phrase is lazy. Writers should be creative, therefore don’t use something that someone, or many ones, have used before. However, we do use clichés because they are so often true and convey meanings that are easily understood by many. In this prompt, we are using a cliché, intentionally, and intentional use is fine, permission granted.

    This prompt is all about cause and effect, the fire is causing smoke, what the smoke and the fire are though is up to you…

    • Is your smoke real or a metaphor for something?
    • How do you notice the smoke?
    • Can you use all your senses to describe the smoke?

    The prompt works well for all genres of fiction, so you’ll have your creative muscles stretched to pin down an idea. If you are using this as a journal writing prompt, you could use it to explore actions in your life. What is the fire that causes you to act the way you do? Quite often we focus on the symptom and not the cause and then wonder why we struggle. What is the fire that perhaps needs putting out, or at least damping down? Enjoy the creative writing time, but remember, in general, avoid clichés like the plague.

    In the next couple of days, I’ll be posting about a change in these creative prompts, until then…

    As always, these writing 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 a prompt in your journal. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

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

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Fire — Weekly Creative Prompt

    It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

    The festival of Beltane marks the point between the spring equinox and mid-summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is observed at the beginning of May. Many of the ancient customs and rituals associated with Beltane involve burning and marking people and boundaries with ashes. Therefore…

    This week’s creative prompt word is:

    Fire — a process in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke; combustion or burning

    this isn’t the only definition of Fire, in fact, as you’ll see later, I quite like this… one of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy

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

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

    I now have ‘fire’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Alchemists regarded fire as the change agent. Fire would change element to element. And the alchemists’ goal was to create gold. What creative gold will our alchemy refine this week?

    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.

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

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Beltane Blessings

    And so to May. We begin with the time of Beltane (bel’ta-na). One of the festivals that mark the turning of the Celtic Calendar. It is often celebrated on the 1st of May, and so coincides with today. A new month. A celebration of what might come.

    Beltane was, or is, all about encouraging growth. Crops and livestock were blessed and rituals took place to promote a successful time ahead. I am looking for a successful time ahead. I am seeking Beltane Blessings and I pray that you may be blessed as well.

    I’m optimistic that this month will bring big changes. My pilgrimage is ongoing and events beyond my control may move forward. It is difficult to accept that some things can’t be controlled by myself. The danger is that I let those things paralyse me concerning things I can control.

    As the ancients celebrating Beltane would plant their crops and herd their cattle whilst praying and believing that the weather and spirits beyond their control would bless them, I also need to work on my own creative projects whilst praying and believing that things beyond my control will bless my journey.

    There is much beyond my control.
    There is much beyond our control.
    Yet may we be blessed this Beltane.
    May May mark process on our journeys.

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

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest