Earlier in the week I was marvelling at the incredible colours of the local trees during this Autumn season. I love all the seasons and the diversity of natural beauty that they afford us. It occurred to me however, that most of my writing tends to be set in the Spring or Summer. This has certainly not been intentional and may be due to the possibility that my characters get to run around in various states of undress more readily than they would in deepest winter.

As I considered the possibilities for autumnal writing I realised that there has been an awful lot of it. Also it lends itself to romantic descriptions quite easily. Of course I know I’m being a bit Eurocentric here and so my apologies to my Antipodean friends who will need to re-read this in six months time. As for my American friends there is just the reminder that Autumn should be considered as the historical spelling for the word ‘Fall’ and I will leave it at that.

When John Keats wrote his poem Ode to Autumn one day in September 1819 he was at the height of his poetic powers. The poem became one of the most popular and certainly the most anthologised poem in the English language. Keats was already one of a period group of romantic poets but his poem inspired more subsequent poetic style and writing than almost any other. It is easy to forget that he was only twenty-five when he wrote this work and that sadly just a year later he was dead.

When I consider a specific writing subject I sit myself down with a notebook and I write everything that comes into my head about it. That stream of consciousness then becomes a writing resource for future use. Some of the ideas are simply used for scene setting while others may be specific writing triggers. Having done this activity for the season of Autumn, I have edited my notes to a list of almost eighty ideas and prompts. Please feel free to use these in any way you like. At a time when we seem a little too wrapped up in issues of plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property I offer this resource as an antidote to that so steal away!

1. How do the autumn colours make you feel?
2. Try to describe the colours using more than just their names.
3. What’s your favourite autumn activity?
4. For example kicking leaves,
5. Another example might be a country walk,
6. Maybe it would be a sporting activity such as football or rugby.
7. What changes about the clothes that you wear?
8. Packing away your summer clothes.
9. Where would you like to visit for the best autumn sites and experiences.
10. Write about a day or a weekend in your chosen location.
11. What food you eat during autumn? E.g. soups, stews, pumpkin.
12. Explain to somebody why the leaves change colour and fall.
13. How does mist or fog change the landscape?
14. How does fog change your journey to work?
15. Cold autumn mornings.
16. Mild autumn evenings.
17. Harvest festivals.
18. Fireworks
19. Bonfire night-Guy Fawkes.
20. Halloween
21. Autumnal weather.
22. Clocks going back-an extra hour in bed.
23. Seasonal decorations.
24. Trick or treating.
25. Halloween costumes.
26. Penny for the guy.
27. Thanksgiving.
28. Seasonal objects: leaves, acorns, chestnuts and fruits.
29. Whether impacting narrative or character behaviour.
30. Dark mornings or evenings impacting story narrative or character behaviour.
31. Thanksgiving family gatherings-good or bad.
32. Church activities around Harvest Festival.
33. Decorating the church.
34. Feeling cold.
35. Windy days.
36. Favourite autumn food.
37. Kids back at school = more spare time.
38. Pumpkin carving.
39. Raking leaves.
40. Leaves: look, sound, feel and smell.
41. Kicking piles of leaves.
42. Autumn full moon or harvest moon.
43. Moonlit nights.
44. Frosty mornings.
45. Frost on leaves.
46. Write from the point of view of the leaf.
47. Write from the point of view of a tree.
48. Write from the point of view of a pumpkin.
49. Autumn poetry.
50. Autumn limericks.
51. Autumn haiku.
52. Travelling home for Thanksgiving.
53. Not being at home for Thanksgiving.
54. Romance in an autumn setting.
55. Erotica in an autumn setting.
56. Horror story for Halloween.
57. Ghost story for Halloween.
58. Autumn sunshine.
59. Changes in the light-how do they affect you?
60. Changes in the light-how do they affect your home?
61. Seasonal changes at work.
62. Rainy days.
63. Stormy days.
64. Set a story during a bad storm.
65. The garden in autumn.
66. Hurricane season.
67. What if you don’t like autumn?
68. What if you miss long summer days?
69. What if you miss short summer nights?
70. What if autumn brings bad memories?
71. Do your pets change their behaviour?
72. Animals preparing to hibernate.
73. Clear starry nights.
74. Autumn birthdays.
75. Collecting firewood.
76. Wet leaves making paths slippery.
77. Coming home from work in the dark.
78. Autumn flower arrangements.

All too often we find ourselves writing our stories out of season making it difficult to focus on the sights, sounds and feelings needed. I hope that these prompts will act as points of inspiration the next time that you sit down to write a tale which is set in the remarkable ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’.

This shows Keats draft of the poem Ode to Autumn.

T.J. Masters is an author living in semi rural Hertfordshire just to the north of London.

His Autumn Pinterest board can be seen at https://www.pinterest.com/masters0313/autumn/