For once, I’m not the only one of my friends who hasn’t gone out to party this week. We’re all at home, terrified of what might happen if we go out. Living through a pandemic is no joke, and we’re all just trying to stay safe. That’s common sense, really… but we have to keep busy.
It’s hard to have ideas when you haven’t got outside influences to inspire you. The Romantic poets had the glory of nature, the Victorians had the very first industrialised cities to walk through and practically write for them. What do the Corona Writers have? our bedroom ceiling, the shower curtain, and our books. Here are the best books for when you want to write during quarantine but can’t figure out what to write about.
The Five-Minute Writer, Margret Geraghty
This book is aimed towards fast-paced writing, for people constantly on-the-go who only have a few minutes to write every day. Perfect if you’re a parent or are working from home, or if you’re like me and have Writer ADHD and can’t concentrate on anything for more than 3 seconds without forgetting everything you were on about.
This book helps you develop a writing routine, as well as the introspection you need to put that extra little bit of yourself into your writing. It helps you realise that when you write from your real life, you already know what happens, and when you already know what happens, how can you have writer’s block?
365 Ways to Get You Writing, Jane Cooper
Another one aimed at short bursts of creativity, this book is perfect for writers looking to flex their muscles a little every day. As the title suggests, there is a different prompt for every day of the year.
Advice here ranges from prose to poetry to character development, and much more. It’s especially good for helping beginner-level writers find themselves, but there’s definitely something here for us long-term sufferers, too. It helps you get some variation into your voice if you feel you’ve gone stale.
Ready, Set, Novel! Chris Baty, Lindsay Grant, and Tavia Stewart-Streit
A lot of you will have already heard of this one, especially if you’ve done NaNoWriMo, or if you’re like me and you just love browsing amazon for books you can’t afford… yet.
As the title suggests, it’s geared more towards people who have a greater project in mind. Inside there are tools for plot/subplot, character, family trees and dynamics, dialogue, and even pitching your idea! This is by far the most professionally-geared book on this list, and it understands that not all of us are writing for the pure joy of it- some of us want the recognition, too.
Inspiration: A Journal, Carey Jones
This is the freest form of writing on the list. In fact, the prompts aren’t restricted to writing ones- this is more of a self-help book, emphasis on the SELF. The pages are blank, save for the prompts and motivational quotes to get you through. At the top of every page is a place for a date, and there’s no pressure to go through the book in chronological order, either. It’s a totally freeing pocket book.
In times when you can’t leave the house, it’s nice to be asked, ‘what made you happy today?’ or ‘what are you grateful for?’, even if it’s a book doing the asking and not one of your friends over coffee.
712 More Things to Write About, the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto
I can’t vouch for the book that came before this one, but I can say that this book kick-started my collection of writing exercise books. Out of all of these, this one is the most geared towards giving your brain a workout. Sometimes the book even makes you sketch, so it’s perfect if you’re doubly-gifted or doodling just helps you along creatively.
It also has the greatest range of prompts in that some pages give you only a few lines to answer, while others give you a full page, or a quarter, and so on. Again, you don’t have to go through the prompts in any specific order, so if one day you feel like writing four lines and one day you feel like writing twenty, there’s something in this one for you regardless.
What books have helped you to get out of a writing slump? Comment below!
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