Welcome to this week’s complete creative prompt. We begin with a single word.; a 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.

Throughout history, there have been secret religious cults and organisations. The common thread is that their deepest teaching and revelations can only be known to the initiated. The deeper into the organisation you travel, the more knowledge is revealed. Mystery cults and religions still exist, but as interest in organised religion has waned, the growth in conspiracy theories has risen. Again, the further you explore the conspiracy, the more hidden knowledge is obtained. I can’t help thinking, that these two are linked… but I digress, this is all a meander or distraction to draw you deeper, into the prompt. Therefore, this week’s creative prompt is:

Hide — prevent, put or keep someone, or something, out of sight or from being seen

this is a general definition for the verb, and its other common forms are hid and hidden

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

• 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

This Fiction Writing Prompt, exploring the word hide, aims to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

My first thought was to hide beneath the blankets

Writing Prompt Expanded

Apparently, we all have a reptilian part of our brain. This is the part that tells us to either fight or flight when confronted with a predator or something to be feared. However, the concept of fear actually takes us up a level in our brain. Memories, or imagined futures, create our fear.

This prompt is all about beginning with our initial fear and then exploring the reason for it and what to do next.

• Why was to hide your first thought, were you scared, worried or ashamed?
• How does your body react to this ‘fear’?
• Does your character normally hide, or are they normally more likely to fight?

The writing perspective is the first person, which can make it easier to explore emotions. All the senses can play a part in this exercise, sight, sound, touch, even smell and taste. Has your mouth ever gone dry when afraid? Have you ever bitten your tongue? Can you describe the taste of a dry mouth or the tang of blood?

Remember, this is fiction. Don’t scare yourself as you write… unless you are writing something very, very scary. The best horror writing is the sort that gives the author chills and perhaps makes them want to hide beneath the covers. Enjoy, and strengthen your fiction writing skills.

Journal prompt

Journaling allows us to hold conversations on paper. From private diaries to creative art journals, we pour out our deepest thoughts. Some of us keep a private journal or diary. In there we write what we don’t want to share with others, we hide the words. This isn’t because they contain harmful revelations, but because they are personal memories to cherish, for our eyes only. In our art journals, we can ‘hide’ meaning within our words, images, collages. To cannibalise a biblical phrase, let those who have eyes see.

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

• Is there ever any benefit to gain by hiding something from someone else, why?
• Draw, paint or collage your biggest fear and then hide it beneath more paint or collage.
• Is there something you want to hide away from, something you fear, or are worried about? Try exploring ‘what is the worst that could happen?’ In your journal.
  

Theory of General Creativity

I now have ‘hide’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I want it to encourage me to do the opposite, I want to avoid hiding my creative thoughts, ideas, and creations. Like many creatives and artists, I struggle with sharing my work. I have a ‘fear’ within that is often controlled by my lizard brain, I run, flee and hide. This week I will face that fear. My initial thought may be to hide, but I will overcome that and step out to share. Perhaps, I will be able to use hide as a metaphor in my creative work. The word hide can trigger many creative ideas, especially in the visual arts. I’ll try to get out to ‘seek’ things that ‘hide’, my camera will be close to hand.

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

Finally…

As always, these creative prompts and ideas 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 #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

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namaste
d
xox

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