Even if you can’t adjust the temperature outside, warm up with this week’s creative prompts, focused on peppers and spice. Yes, it was once more precious than gold, and it can either add flavor and interest or it can burn—let’s explore a tastes that turn up the temperature.
- Cayenne pepper can stop bleeding and capsaicin reduces pain. Write about, or invent, a cure from the kitchen.
- Craft prose or verse around a type of chili pepper you’ve never heard of.
- Use the full name of one or more Chili’s menu items in a piece of writing. You could also try one as a title and see what happens, or as an acrostic.
- Write about a time when you ate something so hot, peppers or otherwise, it left you speechless, made you sweat, or brought you to tears.
- Revise a piece of writing and use the Scoville scale. Decide how many heat units the piece currently has and pick a new rating to aim for in revision.
- The hints of spice (cinnamon, chili) in Mexican chocolate make the flavor unique. Add spice to one of your stories or poems by working in something unexpected and create a new kind of deliciousness.
- Take inspiration from saffron: the history, cost, visual splendor, or some combination of these.
- Create a piece of writing like you would a spice mix: with small proportions of a certain number of ingredients. Make a list of seemingly unrelated “spices” beforehand, such as words, literary devices, or plot points.
- Write a scene between two romantically entwined characters that’s just plain hot.
- Use much spicier language than you normally would in a poem or prose piece. Take from forgotten swears if you need inspiration.
Did you miss earlier prompts lists? Here’s a comprehensive list that should keep you busy for a while.
Here’s your completely unsolicited advice about creating for this week: everyone always says to write with an audience in mind, but don’t underestimate writing for just you. If you’re not having fun while you’re writing, no one is going to have fun reading it. If you’re not interested in the words you’re putting down, they might not be interesting. Especially during these prompts, try to write without the worry of what others will think, or how you will be judged. Just write and enjoy writing for once.
What should you do now that you’re done with your peppers prompt? If you aren’t that excited about it, try reading it tomorrow. If you still aren’t excited about it, put it away for longer—but don’t toss it completely. You maybe surprised by how it ages. If you are excited about what you’ve written, feel free to keep working on it, follow your heart, and turn it into something bigger. You can even submit your final product at a whole bunch of different places.
And as always, if you have feedback, or ideas for prompts, please get in touch.