NIBB.

Something I lost — a ten-minute writing prompt

One thing you lost. Write what you understood only after losing it.

What a child is asked afterwards

Something I lost

Have you lost something? Write how it happened.

Everyone gets the same subject. What differs is the follow-up: one question for children, two for teens, three for adults. Only the children's wording is simplified.

Where people usually get stuck on this one

When the first line won't come

Skip it and start at the second. The opening writes itself once the rest exists.

When it all sounds obvious

Delete every line anyone could have written. What is left is yours.

When you have too much to say

Pick one. A single idea taken all the way beats ten touched lightly.

Today's constraints on this prompt

One thing per sentence

Don't staple two ideas together with 'and'.

Don't name the feeling

Instead of 'I was sad', write what your body did.

Write what could be seen

Write the visible, not the felt, and the reader stands there with you.

Write on this prompt now →

Other prompts

waitinga route only i knowthe first thing i did alonethe sounds of my homethe anger i never said out louda kindness from a stranger