31 Writing Prompts For August 2021

Writers Write shares writing prompts and writing resources. Use these writing prompts for August 2021 to get you writing.

This year, we will share practical tips for using writing prompts at the beginning of each post. In August, we look at changing your writing.

[Editor’s note: If you want to get all 365 prompts, with the 12 chapters of advice, upfront and in a special workbook, please click here.]

Changing Your Writing

‘Writing is like driving at night. You can see only as far as the headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’ ― E.L. Doctorow

I have spoken about arriving on the page without any intentions, but if you’ve discovered your themes and know where you are going, you can also use your daily practice to change your writing.

As you become more experienced as a writer, you will learn what your strengths are and also what you need to improve. Use your daily writing practice to practise. I have a bad habit. I leave out description and setting details. I use my daily writing to practise adding it in.

Once I have read my prompt and added the date to the page, I scribble the word ‘setting’ or ‘description’ in a corner of the page. This reminds me, while I write, to pay attention to what I tend to leave out. This is tricky, because when I write something for the first time, it is a first draft and it should be free, but I want to change my writing. This helped me improve my first drafts and I am adding more description and setting in those drafts without conscious effort. It took a while to learn that.

Look at your writing and decide what you want to improve. If ‘show, don’t tell’ is still tricky for you or if dialogue remains elusive, use your daily practice to wrestle with and apply the theory. It is better to do this during practice and not while you are writing your novel. Novels are hard enough.

PLEASE NOTE: In 2021 we will share our monthly writing prompts, as usual. But, if you would prefer to get all 365 prompts upfront and in a special workbook, please click here. The workbook includes 12 chapters of writing prompt advice – one for every month of the year, together with 12 awesome printable lists. Buy The 365 Prompts Workbook