MFA Students Share Their Advice: Ways to Spice Up Your Prose

By: Hannah Cornell
Edited by: Ashley Werner

As writers ourselves, many within the MFA community have struggled from time to time with writing prose that leaps off the page and has a life of its own. The only thing that is perhaps worse than flat, dull writing is writer’s block - not knowing what to write at all. However, studying creative writing teaches students to recognize their craft challenges and develop new methods to overcome them. We asked several MFA students if they had any tips or tricks for bringing life back into their prose. Here are their responses. 

1. When getting started or when stuck, try stream-of-consciousness writing

Arveyah Rozier, a first-year student in American University’s Creative Writing MFA program, suggests that one way to get started or unstuck is to do stream-of-consciousness writing. “Write down anything that comes to mind about your story/world building but stay on topic,” she said. “Once you come across a good idea, use it.” Stream-of-consciousness writing is useful because it is like a visual word vomit. You can throw down any ideas you have, and then evaluate each one to see if it will work for your story. 

To get started with stream-of-consciousness writing, grab a piece of paper (or a couple) and a writing utensil. Set a timer for three to five minutes. In those few minutes, write down everything you can think of relating to your topic. Think about names for characters, potential plot lines, areas of tension, settings, elements of world-building, etc. When the timer goes off, look at the list you’ve created. Circle things that seem interesting. If you desire, repeat this activity focusing on further developing the ideas you circled in the first round. After a few rounds, you may have a better idea of what you want to write. 

 2. Outlining and Journaling

Similar to stream-of-consciousness writing, a great way to get started or unstuck in your fiction or nonfiction is to outline or journal about your ideas first. When I write prose, I often get ahead of myself and try to jump right into the writing. While some stories flow out of the brain and onto the page like water, other stories may need more planning to achieve their best form. Take some time to write about your topic before jumping in. I keep a writing journal specifically for planning purposes. These are some things I consider when outlining my work:

• What is the story about generally?

• What is the story about specifically?

• What are my characters’ surface-level motivations and what are their deeper motivations?

• Where is the story set?

• What is the main tension in the story?

• What do I want the reader to feel or take away in the end?

• Where do I want to start?

• What scenes do I need to get from start to finish?

Arveyah Rozier has a similar tactic when thinking about her writing. She suggests that a writer should ask themselves the following six questions when writing prose, especially when it's a longer work. 

• Who is it about?

• What do they want?

• Why can't they get it?

• What do they do about it?

• Why doesn't that work?

• How does it end?

Once you can answer some of these questions, you might be able to start writing a few pages.

3. Try adding some vivid, unusual details

Another first-year student, Julie Barrie Buchanan, shares that one of her favorite ways to spice up her prose is to add some unexpected or unusual details to her writing. “Vivid, unusual details make the world (whether it’s real-world or fantasy) visceral to the reader,” she said. Lean away from predictable comparisons and embrace the wild specific. 

One of my favorite recent examples of using vivid detail is from a short story written by my peer, Maria Peralta. In her fiction piece, titled “The Layover,” she writes, “Marisa could taste the baby’s milky breath as he snored deeply in his carrier” (1). This detail is so vivid and unexpected that it stays in the reader’s mind long after they’ve finished the story. 

4. Write what you’re in the mood for

Chloe Onorato, a second-year MFAer and the Editor-in-chief of Folio, suggests that one of the best ways to keep your prose on its toes is to make sure it's what you’re in the mood for. Chloe shared, “If you write something for any other reason other than it excites or interests you, not only will the writing feel laborious and onerous to the writer, but to the reader as well. If the piece isn’t enjoyable for the writer to create, the piece will not be an enjoyable read. As Professor Adam Tamashasky told me (quoting Joseph Campbell), ‘follow your bliss’ as a writer, because your readers will notice and pick up on your joy!” 

Sometimes writers forget the importance of joy when they are in the middle of a challenging piece. While not all writers can be joyful in their craft all the time, it is important to write what makes you happy so that it appears in your writing. 

5. Write the unpredictable

While there is merit to following trends and tropes within writing, readers may get bored reading a plot that mirrors work they have read before. To make the writing stand out, writers must consider the audience’s perceptions and challenge them in interesting ways. As Walker Peters, a first-year student and fantasy writer shares, “If it's what your reader would predict, don't do it.” While some level of predictability is rewarding for readers, surprises are also refreshing. This is especially true when they are foreshadowed in earlier scenes. All writers should strive for their work to teeter the line between interesting predictability and foreshadowed unpredictability.