A Word Prompt Conundrum

Fandango

Each day at least a half dozen of us come up with daily word prompts that are meant to inspire our fellow bloggers.

We each throw our prompt words like strands of spaghetti up against a metaphoric wall to see which ones stick. And as a blogger, I enjoy the challenge of taking the words that these five other bloggers and I toss out and try to create a cohesive story or poem that my readers will enjoy and appreciate.

But today I must concede that I feel burdened with a strange distribution of words that when thrown upon the wall, fall flat to the floor below.

How am I supposed to write a post that combines words like “lade,” “spruiker,” and “callithumpian”? Words I’ve never heard of, much less ever used. How can I fit such words into a post in a way that doesn’t sound unnatural and contrived?

And so, at this juncture, I am throwing in the towel…for today anyway. Maybe tomorrow the words presented will be more common words that people would use in everyday conversations and that can be used to weave into an entertaining, engaging tale that won’t require a dictionary or thesaurus to understand.

Written for these daily prompts: MMA Storytime (concede), The Daily Spur (distribution), Your Daily Word Prompt (lade), Ragtag Daily Prompt (spruiker), Word of the Day Challenge (callithumpian), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (juncture).

28 thoughts on “A Word Prompt Conundrum”

  1. newepicauthor June 15, 2021 / 4:21 pm

    Great job Fandango and by communicating this dilemma, you solved your own problem.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Stuart Danker June 15, 2021 / 4:25 pm

    Lol I’m not much of a poet, but I can see the fun of working with said constraints, especially ten-dollar words. I totally get your angle though. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Lou Carreras June 15, 2021 / 4:57 pm

    I think you do protest a bit too much, oh wordsmith of prompts!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Paula Light June 15, 2021 / 6:41 pm

    Good job! I just ignore the ones that don’t grab me…

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango June 15, 2021 / 8:39 pm

      I do to, but today there were three such words!

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Marilyn Armstrong June 15, 2021 / 8:30 pm

    Yup. The words are supposed to generate ideas, not require an extended research effort. That’s what I used to do with them. Come up with an idea inspired by a word or a sentence. This to me is too much of a game and not nearly enough of an idea. But I like your provocative concept because it IS an idea. It’s also why I like Melanie’s “share your world” because it has ideas. I can write about ideas. Otherwise, it’s more like playing scrabble.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango June 15, 2021 / 10:30 pm

      I can usually get inspiration from a combination of prompt words, but not from words that are so arcane or antiquated that no one knows what the mean or would ever use them in conversational English.

      Like

      • drkottaway June 19, 2021 / 4:08 am

        But I think spruiker is still used in Australia! Well, anyhow… heh, maybe I’ll return to obscure medical words…. great job!

        Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango June 15, 2021 / 10:35 pm

      You do what you gotta do.

      Like

  12. Terveen Gill June 16, 2021 / 12:59 am

    Haha! This a real gem. You couldn’t have put it better. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Melanie B Cee June 16, 2021 / 8:29 am

    How embarrassing. I throw out those strange words because to me it was providing a bit of education about ‘old’ and outdated words that aren’t used any longer. I’ve never seen more than 2-3 people (and less sometimes) even bother with them. One point in defense against what you wrote is that I provide a definition if the word (like callithumpian) is so odd. But I’ll take your advice and dial back on the weird words in future. Sorry dude.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fandango June 16, 2021 / 10:20 am

      Don’t be embarrassed and you don’t have to apologize. Your prompt, your words. All I’m saying is finding ways to integrate these antiquated, rarely used words into a cohesive tale is difficult and any attempt to do so — or at least my attempts — seems contrived. That said, if you enjoy finding and using such words, forget about me and do what pleases you.

      Like

    • Fandango June 16, 2021 / 5:09 pm

      It works, right?

      Like

  17. leigha66 June 25, 2021 / 1:40 pm

    I can relate to times of having the noodle fall fast to the floor. You did a good job of using them after all… without need of definitions.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. writerravenclaw June 27, 2021 / 4:08 am

    I love a good word prompt. Especially when I cannot think of what to write. I am amazed from a single word a novel can grow. All my novels were born either out of a word prompt or a writing group.

    Liked by 1 person

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