Let’s say you, or one of your characters, is supposed go somewhere, but it turns out, for whatever reason, you or they can’t make the trip. Maybe the travel was only a distance of a few doors down to a neighbor’s house, or maybe it was a short drive to the mall or the grocery store, or maybe it was a long drive or a flight to a distant place. No matter the distance, the truth is the same: you or your character must cancel your trip. Instead, you or your character decide to go somewhere else. What happens in this other place? What significant event occurs, and what does it mean to you or your character? How does it vibrate against the storyline of the canceled trip?

I offer this writing prompt as a way of thinking about how we can add texture to our narratives. Something rubs up against something else—the canceled trip and the one taken instead. The latter affects the former if we pay attention to what it causes our protagonists, whether they happen to be ourselves or characters of our invention, to carry with them as the story of the canceled trip finds its completion.

The famous Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken,” tells the story of a speaker who comes to where “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” Unable to take both, the speaker must choose:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

A choice can make all the difference when it comes to a narrative. In our example, a canceled trip leads to a choice made—a road less traveled, perhaps—and the consequences of that choice. If you’re writing creative nonfiction, perhaps you’re recalling a decision you made instead of following another path. If you’re writing fiction, maybe your main character is choosing a path with no way of knowing what lies ahead. Life sneaks up on us sometimes—news comes, or we take hasty actions, and just like that, our lives change forever. I hope this writing prompt takes you deeper into your material by giving it added texture and depth. All writing is thinking on the page, whether its source is factual or invented.