Imagine an apple, or pick an apple up out of the fruit bowl. In your mind or in reality, have a really good look at it. Feel its skin. Smell it. Cut it open or bite into it. Is it firm and you worry that it’ll bring your teeth out, or is it a bit wrinkly and squishy? What colour is it inside? What does it taste like? Is it sharp, like a Granny Smith, or sweet? What does it remind you of? Apple pie – crumble – scrumping – orchards – an apple for the teacher – an apple a day keeps the doctor away – the wicked stepmother’s poisoned apple. What memories does it spark? Does it remind you of any member of your family? Sharing an apple with someone?

How can you make this apple part of a story? 

Or how can you make it the starting point, and where will you go from there?  For example, you might think of a piece of apple floating in a glass of mulled wine, which will lead you into thinking about what time of year this is happening, where it’s happening, who’s drinking this, who else is there, what’s their relationship – and before you know it you’ve got a setting for a story, or the makings of poem.

Poetry, of course, lends itself to introspection and emotion – so it could be along the lines of what thoughts come to mind as someone stares into the mulled wine? Is it a welcome drink for them, symbolic of a new start in life, or is it the last drink before giving up alcohol? Is somebody having it under sufferance to fit in with the crowd? Does it warm the body but not the heart? Does it prompt a memory of a lost time in life or a lost love?

If you’re having trouble concentrating on the apple, then here’s a tip for you.  Write the word apple in the middle of a sheet of A4 and draw a box close around it. Then draw a short line (an inch, maybe) coming from the box and write ‘senses’ along it. then from the end of that line, draw five more lines, ending in boxes marked sight, sound, touch, taste, smell.

If you want to, you can draw more lines from the ‘sight’ box draw another set of lines marked colour, shape, sheen, etc etc – you see how it goes. 

Draw another short line from the apple box. Mark this one location. From the end of that, draw more lines as you think of where this apple might be – fruit bowl, crate, garage, shed, kitchen, park.

Draw more lines from the apple box as you thing of other things about an apple. What is its purpose? What is its future and who is involved? What is its past and who was involved?

Now obviously some of these things won’t necessarily apply in your story, but they’re designed to kickstart your thinking.

Of course, if you already know what you want to write about, just get on and do it, apples or no apples.

But don’t say you don’t know what to write about. Write something prompted by the word apple. And let’s see how we get on.