Wild writing prompts

Wild writing is the practice of listening. Deep listening. To live as a wild writer, as a nature poet is a way of being in the world. A way of paying attention to the big ideas, subtle notes and fertile ground from which writing grows. The point isn’t to fill the page with words but to nourish the wild ways which make writing inevitable.

Wild writing removes the barriers between you and the page. Like an underground spring that feeds the river. Your internal landscape rises like water to become writing.

Wild writing prompts are a way of saying begin now, begin here.
Let’s write.

Fertile ground

Writing connects our attention and memory to any subject we choose. But a subject is more than inanimate thoughts and ideas. A subject has living substance. It is the ground which supports our writing.

A tree cannot grow in concrete. It needs a way to reach the soil. Writing is the same way. We need fertile ground to flourish as writers. We need to find space for our roots within the subjects we choose.

We belong wherever our roots are strong. Here, we nurture the living substance which supports our writing.

Wild writing is the taproot. The connection which feeds the wonderful feeling that you belong. Your body of work belongs in the conversation.

This wild writing prompt is a way to grow your roots.

Prompt

Think about a time you felt alive. Truly alive. Think about the feeling inside your body. Spend a few moments in memory. What was happening around you? Where were you? Was it an ordinary day or an extraordinary event?

Think about a time when you felt like you belonged. Was belonging linked to the feeling of life?

Write about a time and place when you felt alive.

You could start with this: I am here to remember…

Exploration of a waterfall

Is there a place you’ve always wanted to explore but haven’t had the time or opportunity?

It could be a space you already know but want to dive deeper into the depths. Like your local bookstore, with a secret door that only employees are allowed to enter. Or a familiar forest with a trail you’ve never followed.

It could be an unknown place. A waterfall you’ve only heard about. A beach on another island.

Prompt

Think about a landscape alive in your heart. Knock upon the door you want to open. Walk your imagination into the place you’ve always wanted to explore.

Write what you discover.

Pluck the thorns

We talked earlier about growing roots. But sometimes, old growth needs to be pruned for fresh shoots to sprout. This allows a plant to prioritize its precious energy. Take a moment and think about your scraps of paper, unfinished drafts and all the projects that want your attention.

It can be an exhausting thought. Know this: the writing you focus on will flourish.

The word wild, often conjures feelings of freedom. Are there any areas of your life where you feel constricted or restricted?

Freedom begins as an internal feeling, then it blooms into your external life.

Prompt

Old stories can keep us anchored in the past. Especially if they involve hard memories and negative thoughts. This exercise involves being honest with yourself. What stories are holding you down?

Write about the feelings and thoughts that suck your energy. Are there people in your life that perpetuate those stories? Turn them into characters on the page.

Then, write about one thing you would rather grow instead.

I encourage you to do this exercise on a physical piece of paper. The final part is to ritually free yourself of the old stories.

Take of your piece of paper and burn it. Or bury it (or the ashes) beneath the dirt.
If you want to deepen the ritual, plant a plant (or seed) in the ashes and soil of your old stories.

Take a moment and celebrate the space you have made for new growth.

Life on the wind

Our bodies are constantly in contact with the world around us. Life is everywhere.

I’m currently sitting in an office. Even here, there is air moving through the ventilation system. Air that remembers the sky. There was plywood that made the chair beneath my body. Wood that was once a pine tree. A pine tree that belonged to a forest.

Prompt

Think about the life and materials around you now. Does the air carry memories of the wild? What else does it contain? Dust that used to belong to your body. Light that travelled so far to reach you.

Write about the subtle conversation your body is having with its environment.

Possible starter: the air tastes like…

Walk beside a river

I consider myself an after-hours apprentice to a body of water. A river is what my poetry needs right now. The closer I bring myself to the subject of my writing, the more alive my writing becomes.

A reader can feel when a writer is too objective, too distant from the heart of their own work. This may serve non-fiction but it stifles nature poetry and wild writing.

I recently watched a woman throw a cigarette into a river. I had headphones on and didn’t say anything. But in reality, I was too scared to talk to her. This story now lives inside my head. Who was she? What happened in her life to commit such a bold action? What happened in mine to be so silent?

The relationship with nature, with wild writing, involves interacting with the social sphere of humans. The human is often louder and more powerful in the dynamic. If I was two steps further in my walk, this lady would have unknowingly flicked her cigarette at me. Obviously, that would have been a very different story.

But my reaction to this experience, highlights the relationship between myself and the river. Fear held me back. If I let it, fear will continue to hold me back from the heart of my writing.

Sometimes, a heart needs an act of courage or redemption to heal itself whole.

Prompt

Think about a place you like to walk. Somewhere that feels good to take off your shoes. Somewhere you enjoy being alone. Walk there now, (physically or in your mind), keep walking like the earth can feel your footsteps. Go slow, be light.

Keep walking till the first line of a poem appears. But right when you try to pluck it from the air, a person comes out of nowhere and steals the moment from you.

Write about this person.

Thank you for reading,
Harley.