Exactly a year ago today, I wrote a book review of the creative writing journal 642 Things To Write About, and by bizarre coincidence, today I'm here to review its sequel, 712 More Things To Write About!
I had no idea I was writing this review one year on from its predecessor until a few minutes ago when I looked up the post to link back to in this one; it's freakishly coincidental. The book only made its way in to my hands yesterday afternoon and wasn't even due for release until September 1st! I love it when preorders arrive early! (Thanks, Amazon)! I instantly started reading through all the prompts, and began working through a few, and I knew I had to share this book ASAP, so here I am.
Like the 642 Things to Write About book, 712 More Things to Write About is a creative writing journal filled with hundreds of prompts to provoke your creativity and inspire the writer within. This book has even more brilliant things to write about than the first book, and includes a higher proportion of prompts that can be completed in five to ten minutes, which is ideal for aspiring writers with little time to write.
The book includes a fantastic selection of writing prompts, which touch on a variety of writing types and styles such as fiction, non-fiction, biographical; stories, lists, poems, headlines, and letters. Every prompt is thought-provoking, and the variety is ideal for people who want to practise various styles of writing.
While I can't share all 712 prompts with you, here is a selection of my favourites:
♥ Write the names of five people you've been jealous of.
♥ Write the two lines you would send to a newly-discovered extraterrestrial population- the first ever communication with them- to describe Earth and the human population.
♥ It's your last day on Earth. You're in good health. How do you spend it?
♥ Write about life in a hospital at two in the morning.
♥ Put a slave-owning Mississippi plantation farmer in a room with a Nazi concentration camp guard.
♥ What's the biggest misconception about you? Write the truth of the matter.
♥ Describe a time when quitting was the right decision, even though it hurt your pride.
♥ Where do you least want to be? Describe someone living there every day for the rest of his or her life.
♥ Describe the room where the murder took place, from the victim's point of view.
♥ You find yourself aboard The Titanic with full knowledge of what is going to happen.
♥ Your beloved father who has just been diagnosed with severe kidney disease, asks you to lunch. At lunch, he asks you if you will donate one of your kidneys to him.
♥ This is what my life looks like when nobody is watching.
The book has 336 pages, with one to four prompts per page, and space to complete each task beneath them.
Most of the pages are lined...
...except for those divided in to four which have been given plain paper.
With all tasks given one page or less to write on, every piece of writing has to be short and can be finished quickly. The short but sweet prompts are ideal when you have limited time to spare; it's easy to fill one or two in when you have five or ten minutes to yourself, such as during a coffee break, commute, or even before bed. I usually write a couple before I go to sleep, because for some reason that's when I seem to be most inspired. It's a fantastic book for all creative writers, whether you have a little or a lot of time to dedicate to writing- because it requires no commitment! You can turn to any page you wish at any time and fill in one at random, months apart, or write every day and complete them in order. It's up to you! It also doesn't matter how experienced you are at writing; whether you're a beginner or an expert, there should be no shortage of ideas to inspire you in this book!
The book is about the thickness of a paper back novel, and a couple of inches shorter than A4 in length. It's not pocket sized and it's not light, but it is possible to carry it around with you if you don't mind carrying a heavy bag around with you.
I'm impressed with this book already and I'm inspired by so many of the prompts the book has to offer; I can't wait to fill them all in!
I think this book may be even better than 642 Things to Write About- and I love that book; I've been writing in it regularly for over a year. I knew I had to order the follow up when I heard of it last week, and I'm so very glad I did! If you love 642 Things to Write About, I promise you, you're going to love 712 More Things To Write About, too!
The book retails for £12.99, and should be available from all good book shops. I bought mine from Amazon where it's currently £9.09 (which you can find here).
Will you be picking up a copy of 712 More Things to Write About?
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642 Things To Write About Book Review.
These books look so great - I think they'd be the sort of thing to make a great gift for people.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see these types of books they always remind me of you :) they would make a nice gift if you wanted to give something a bit different xx
ReplyDeleteThis looks really fun! I have always wanted to get into creative writing - I'm pretty great at business writing and find writing about facts and things I have done easy, but I would love to practice creative writing. Perhaps I should give this book a go!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review! Several reviews I've seen said there were quite a few prompts that were sexually explicit or could be considered inappropriate in 642 Things to Write About. Is this book the same way?
ReplyDeletei bought this book on tuesday at barnes and noble and i like it so far
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