I use Inktober as a Writing Aid

If you are a writer reading this, you know just how hard it is to find content to write about. Oftentimes, we have writing groups that employ various methods such as word sprints to get that creativity flowing. However, I have been in many of these groups that died out due to the curse of inactivity. Another source we often use are writing prompt groups such as r/writingprompts on Reddit, but the very specific prompts on there can be limiting, or may not inspire creativity. There are plenty of other resources writers use to practice, but let me throw my personal resource out there: Inktober52.

Every October, the folks over at Inktober publish a series of prompts under that name. The goal is an artist follows the one word prompt each day of October and draws–or inks an image based on the prompt. Ultimately, if the artist does the challenge every day, or as many days as they could, they will improve their drawing skill. This may lead some to ask, what does this have to do with writing? Well, a few years ago, I started using the prompts to draft either a short story or poem to improve my own writing skills. In all honesty, I probably only did the first 10 days of the challenge with rushed drafts that ended after page one.

In doing the challenge, however, I had discovered they had a counterpart called Inktober52. It is the same concept, but they post the prompts weekly all year round. This concept worked better for me. Instead of rushing through a draft per day, I could spend every week drafting a piece for the challenge. Some weeks, I could skip if I felt I needed a break or didn't like the prompt. Alternatively, I could go back later and use an old prompt, which are all stored on the Inktober website. By the end of the challenge, I would have a multitude of rough drafts. I can then develop them further, or repurpose to submit to journals, or rewrite entirely.

The one word prompts Inktober provides allow for flexibility and creativity. If I wanted to write outside my genre, stretch its limits, or spend a week worldbuilding, I can. In fact, I have spent weeks doing any of those three options, especially the former one. When I started the challenge, I only had experience in writing fantasy. I challenged myself to write horror and found that I loved working with the genre. I then extended the challenge to write in the superhero genre and wrote a series of short stories about superheroes I had developed myself. Finally, I had used the challenge to practice science fiction. That is the origin of my short story, Deployment at Star-Base King. There, I had taken the prompt “Star” and transformed it into a story about a hostile alien species launching a remote attack on a space station that I called a “Star-Base.”

I would recommend this challenge to any writer who is looking to build a habit out of the craft, or who wants to improve their skill one week at a time. If you read this far, then I recommend you to write pieces based on the Inktober52 challenge, as well. They release weekly prompts every Thursday. You can find them on their Instagram page where you can see really cool artwork from the challenge as well. Besides Instagram, you can also receive the prompts by subscribing to their newsletter, or going directly to their website linked here.

After doing some weeks of the challenge, if you really like some of your pieces, I would recommend you post them on this site, or submit them to a journal for publication. If you do, I hope to see what creativity other writers can spawn from taking part in Inktober52.