The Line Break

We write all day long, with the list being the most basic form of writing. You’ve probably written a list or five, physical or mental, already today.

Lists are a great way to engage writing prompts, because if you haven’t noticed, writing prompts can be tricky. It’s not easy to write on command, which is a little like growing hair on command (“One cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion,” mused G.K. Chesterton).

Here is a wonderful example of a list poem/piece of writing by the poet J. Estanislao Lopez:

Places with Terrible Wi-Fi

The Garden of Eden. My ancestors’ graves. A watermelon field in Central Texas where my father once slept. Miles of rivers. The waiting room of a hospital in which a doctor, thin-looking in his coat, shared mixed results. A den of worms beneath the frozen grass. Jesus’s tomb. The stretches of highway on the long drive home after burial. The figurative abyss. The literal heavens. The cheap motel room in which I thought about praying despite my disbelief. What I thought was a voice was simply a recording playing from another room. The cluttered attic. Most of the past. The very distant future, where man is just another stratum in the ground. The tell of Megiddo. The flooded house and the scorched one. My favorite cemetery, where I can touch the white noise distorting memory. What is static if not the sound of the universe’s grief? Anywhere static reigns.

And here are some list writing prompts to get your creative writing engines sputtering, whirring, even purring:

Choose one of the below titles, and write your list piece! Or make up your own title. The more particular, the better. Remember, the best writing is the writing that only you could write.

• Brief List of Ways To Say No
• Short List of Unforgettable Lunches I Have Eaten
• The Best Weather of My Life, Remembered
• List of Fantasy/Horror Movies I Would Love to Direct
• Clothes I Would Never Wear Except Possible In Protest of Human Rights Violations
• Animals I Would Adopt on a Friday in September
• List of Persons I Regret Not Kissing or Possibly List of Persons I Regret Kissing
• The Most Memorable Cheeses of My Life
• Songs Chappell Roan Should Record for Me as a Playlist
• Places I Would Like to Picnic with My Friends
• List of My Most Anticipated Longings
• Classes I Wish I Could Take Instead of Math (or English)
• Vehicles or Mythical Creatures I Wish I Could Take to College Instead of the Bus or My Car
• Interview Questions I Would Ask My Mother/Father if I Were a Braver Person or This Were Some Other World
• The Lushest Nail Polish Shades / The Crispest Paint Tones / The Shiniest Crayon Colors
• A Partial List of Events I’m Thrilled I Skipped