Thought prompts were just for stories until I tried one for a memory. It made me organize my ideas without fuss. The messy past got a clear shape, and I saw the story in my own life. For non-fiction, prompts about a place or a big moment work well. Try writing about a meal that shifted your view or a talk you replay. Seems basic, but it beats a blank page.

You talk about connection, but what if your need to connect ends up changing the real story? When people go to a tragic site to find personal meaning, they sometimes remember their own feelings more than the actual victims and facts. Isn't that a quiet way of taking over someone else's history? The place becomes a background for your own thoughts instead of a stark reminder of what happened there.