Starting Words

Part one
Using each word below to inspire you, write a sentence containing that word. You
can take one a day for a month, or tackle them all in one afternoon. Your call.

Part two
Several of these – or perhaps only one or two – will spark off an idea for a story or a
poem. If so, spend a bit longer, and develop your story or poem for twenty-five
minutes. Then have a break and write for another twenty-five minutes.

1. Bird
2. Sleet
3. Frost
4. Twig
5. Half an apple
6. Garden
7. Leaf
8. Ice
9. Digging
10. Hot chocolate / Coffee
11. Cliff
12. Hillside
13. City
14. Enclosed
15. Warm arms
16. Window
17. The smell of smoke
18. Shellfish
19. Nightfall
20. Gale
21. Curtain
22. Hidden
23. Fall
24. Blue
25. Umbrella
26. Swing
27. Table
28. Traffic
29. Photograph
30. Lamp

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 Write Your Own Starting Words

Part three
Make a list of thirty starting words for yourself, using this page. Use all of your
senses to do this. Mine were things I could see, hear, touch, smell or taste from my
desk, or memories that came to me as I looked at the view through the window of my
writing shed, in no particular order. Pick a spot where you can see both inside and
outside, and do the same.

1.
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30.

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