"A writer never has a vacation ..."

"Do want!"

Your character wants something. Anything. Universal peace. The boy next door. The griffon egg at the pet store. A cherry pie like mom used to make. The last digit of pi. Faster than light transport. A glass of water. As grand or as simple as you want it to be.

There are, of course, obstacles between your character and what he or she wants. Want and obstacles are the cornerstone of fiction :-)

It can be a new character or an old character you want to discover more about.

Start writing. Let the words flow without worrying about quality or whether it makes sense. If your character changes wants in the middle, go with it.

"The only way to learn to write ..."

Inner spirit

Energumen - a person possessed as by an evil ghost, spirit, or entity.

Your character is a hunter of energumen. It's a typical fantasy element, sometimes placed in current times, but to be different, set it in the future. On Earth? On Mars? On a starship? On some other world of non-humans?

Does the energumen need killed or is the goal to remove the evil spirit? (Then what?)

Are the energumen obvious? Does the person know they're possessed? Does the person act in concert with the evil entity? If obvious, are they seen as "crazy" and how do you distinguish regular crazy people from possessed crazy people?

Is the entity truly evil? Or does just it need a host to survive in a symbiotic relationship, and the two can coexist together? Perhaps it's only the non-possessed who find the idea disturbing and the energumen is fine playing host. But if a person doesn't accepted the spirit until the spirit joins with them, then is it free choice?

I love a parade

"Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not really interested in order to get where you're going." -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)

I'm guessing he meant metaphorically, going along in the direction people are headed to help you get where you're going, but what if it's a real parade? What kind of parade? The kind with floats? Dragon performers? Virtual? Military? Your guys or theirs? In war or peace? Prisoner? Slaves to market? KKK? Circus? A famous band or troupe coming to perform?

Why do you need to join? To hide in plain sight? To get across? To go with the flow? To get where they're going or somewhere along the way?

"There is more pleasure ..."

Frog defeat

"The poor frog never had a chance." (Overheard at Barnes and Noble.)

Never had a chance at what? At the election? At eating something a tad large? At a jumping contest against ... what? At performing? Or is The Poor Frog someone's nickname?

A driving adult might have a particular image come to mind, but that's too easy! What other possibilities are there?

At Life's door

Okay, turning things around from the last post, your character has rung the bell at Life's door. Do they run away? Why? Do they wait? What happens next?

Who is this character seeking Life? A spirit waiting for a body? Someone who died? Are they calling on Life for themselves or someone else? Is giving someone life a gift or a curse?

Or some other reason? Do they have a question? Do they want to harm Life?

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines for August 2008

Though the Weekly World News is no more, here's the headlines from the archives of City Newstand in Chicago, for writing prompts or just for fun :-)

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines from AUGUST 1998

1. HEMORRHOID HEIST! -- WWN
   
2. Taco dog look-alike flushed down toilet! -- WWN
   
3. Newborn baby flies out of mom's womb at 50 m.p.h.! -- WWN
   
4. Live kittens rain from the sky! -- SUN
   
5. AIR FORCE PILOTS REPORT SEEING FLYING PIGS -- WWN
   
6. KA-BOOM!Exploding pig blows farmer into hog heaven! -- WWN
   
7. ZOOKEEPER SUFFOCATES IN 200 POUNDS OF ELEPHANT POOP! -- WWN
   
8. 'GIRAFFE' WOMEN FREED FROM HUMAN ZOO -- SUN
   
9. MAN DIES FROM BREAKING WIND! -- WWN
   
10. JFK WAS SHOT TO PREVENT HIM FROM REVEALING TRUTH ABOUT UFOs! -- WWN

Bafflement

"The key is to commit crimes so confusing that police feel too stupid to even write a crime report about them." -- Randy K. Milholland

Write from the investigator's point of view as he or she stumbles over clues that mean something but baffle the detective with their seeming illogic or chaos.

Detectives usually appear in contemporary fiction but don't be trapped by that. Create a fantasy detective. Is there magic in the world? Other races? A race that's always making fun of the intelligence of the detective's race and it's clear the member of the "superior" race is making fun of the detective.

Or set it in the future, with future technology. Is the detective less savvy about technology? Perhaps from a backward colony, or less sophisticated race. Is the crime on the detective's home planet committed by an alien or is the detective the alien called in because the clues seem targeted at the detective's people.

Or set it in some historical time. Mongols? Samurai? Inuit? Buddha?

At Death's door

"Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!" - Matt Frewer

Your character heard the advice and has rung and ran. Or maybe they missed it and has rung and is waiting. Or write from Death's point of view.

What happens next?

For several more possible Death's Door's check out

Death's Doors slideshow or
Death's Doors (page full) (click on an image to enlarge)

"For all my longer works ..."

Hunting bounty

This can fit any genre, past, present, future, fantasy. :-)

Your bad guy has escaped. Write up what a bounty hunter needs to find him or her: description, hang outs, what he or she did, friends he might contact, where he might head and why, reward amount (Dead or Alive).

Rolling Asteroids

Write a press release of your character's new band. The five members are from all over the galaxy and they've gotten together through a mutual fascination with an Earth music genre (80's hair metal, punk, Motown, hip hop, goth, country, boy band you choose :-) Describe each of the band members: where they're from, what they bring that's unique to the band (extra fingers? prehensile tail? ability to set self on fire ;-)

To get you started (if you need it) incorporate one of the following somehow into the description of each member: egg, amnesia, vapor, shynx, extinct.

"Writing is 1 percent inspiration ..."

The cousins

You just got the letter this morning from Aunt Yamna that the cousins are arriving, ready and eager for jobs in America. She's sure you'll like them and be able to help. And here they are!

Is that a real wolf or a stuffed wolf? (You decide.) And why did they bring it with them?

What kind of skills were they hoping to employ? Do they have some hidden talents that surprise you? Or maybe frighten you?

"You're just making things worse!"

"You're just making things worse!"

In real life that's not a good thing to do. For writers, it's a necessity!

The characters are generally trying to fix things, but it's your duty as their writer to make sure their fixes break something else or put them into a worse situation with new obstacles between them and their goal. :-)

So, begin with a want and keep ramping up the difficulty in getting to it.

Want: Your character(s) wants Pistachio Almond Fudge ice cream. Nothing else will do.

First obstacle: the local ice cream shop is out.

Along the way, the obstacles will somehow involve: an elephant, a tabloid reporter, a stuffed beaver, yak yarn, machete (in no particular order).

Resolution: You decide. Do they get their ice cream? Do they find something better? Do they find a more noble task but still want their ice cream?

You could write it as a story, a letter home, or just make a wild list of follies.

"The greatest rules of dramatic writing ..."

AlphabeTally

I ran across this on the internet by "Author Unknown" who is nearly as prolific and productive across all genres as "Anonymous".

A Friend …

Accepts you as you are.
Believes in you.
Calls you just to say "hi."
Doesn't give up on you.
Envisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts).
Forgives your mistakes.
(and it goes on through the alphabet)

Pick any subject and create something similar.

Maybe it's the subject of the example, but I can hear a teacher say "Write your own version about friends." Well, if she's talking in your head too, shush her. You're not in school. No one's going to scowl at you if you choose to write about Dog Poop! ;-)

Dog Poop ...

Always smells.
Broils on the sidewalk.
Clings to your shoe.
Draws the noses of dogs.

For X, "Author Unknown" wrote both "Xplains things you don't understand" and "XOXOXOXO".

You can see a nicely formatted version of "A Friend".

Snuggles?

frotteur - someone who gets his or her kicks by pressing against others in crowds.

What history has brought this about? Initial thought might be a sad history but need it be? (Being a pusher for the Tokyo subway system might be their ideal job :-)

Or are they perhaps not human? What could they be taking from the strangers they press up against?

Inspired by the compilation in Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words by Josefa Heiffetz Byrne. (Her definition is a bit, um, broader than the official definition! ;-) But let's leave it at that since it opens up a whole lot more possibilities ;-)

"In a good play ..."

Quick Draw Tarot

There are several fun random writing generators at Feath's Bookcase. First words, Fantasy generator, Genreless generator, Quick Draw Tarot, Random Quote Generator, Character.

This is from the Character and Plot tarot layout.

There is no interpretation of the cards and only the Major Arcana cards are used, so use your own interpretation. You can be literal or let the words inspire you. There's no wrong way to do it and the point is to jog some inspiration.

Character's personality: The World
Character's strength: The Magician
Character's weakness: The Star
Character's goal: Temperance
Character's obstacle: Justice
Character's hidden past: Death
Character's next move: The Emperor
Character's sidekick/minion: The Hanged Man
Character's environment: The Hierophant ("An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge.")
Plot conflict: The lovers
Plot theme: Strength
Plot genre: Wheel of Fortune

(The order of the cards at the website is odd so I rearranged them in a more sensible order.)

Passion fruits

Another inspired by the New York Times: "At the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise, Sarah remembers, she wept after visiting the closet-size room where van Gogh spent his final 70 days. 'I realized that for him being an artist wasn’t a choice. And just as much as I would have been unhappy being an artist, he would have been unhappy not being one.'"

Stories are about driven people. Sometimes it's a drive they're born with, like van Gogh. Sometimes it's a drive inspired by the loss of something they care about.

Write about someone who is driven to be what they are, someone who would even suffer hardships to do what they're driven to do. You could have them reflect back on some event in their life that captures their passion.

If you need some seeds to get the ideas flowing you can try one of the following. Feel free to change, mix and match or come up with your own:

• An android with a passion to create life-like dolls.
  
• One born into an ancient wizarding family with the inborn skills to be a great wizard but with a passion for restoring antique automobiles.
  
• A mouse, who has suffered many losses, who must be a slayer of cats.
  
• A cat who must serve and protect the tribe Wise One who is quite scatterbrained.
  
• One born in and raised in space, who is the heir to the captaincy of the family space transport line, with a passion for land based architecture. (Building towers that reach to the stars?)
  
• A vampire with a passion for fashion design.
  
• A troll driven to be a chef.
  

"I am irritated by my own writing ..."

Suzie Homemaker from Hell

Wandering about Amazon I ended up reading an excerpt from Nikki Sixx's (of Mötley Crüe) biography and came across the description "Suzie Homemaker from Hell" :-)

Take it from there. Play around with perspective and see how it affects how she comes out. You can write it from the point of view of someone observing her. (Omniscient (God's eye view), Dad's new girlfriend from the point of view of the ex-wife or (teenage) son or daughter, the next door neighbor of the new couple who just moved in, Suzie's mom. ) Or first person, from Suzie's point of view.

Foul fowl

Use the following homophones in sentences that have a science fiction theme.

praying/preying
rapped/rapt/wrapped
bite/byte
hole/whole
raise/raze
ceded/seeded
foul/fowl
might/mite
hair/hare
rack/wrack

"For your born writer ..."

In the beginning was the word

"In the common words we use every day, souls of past races, the thoughts and feelings of individual men stand around us, not dead, but frozen into their attitudes like the couriers in the garden of the Sleeping Beauty." -- Owen Barfield, author (1898-1997)

Every word has its beginning, a first time it was uttered, either as a new idea or as a replacement for an older word. Every word has important moments in its "career", moments when its presence in a speech or writing changed the course of events for good or bad.

Tell its story from the point of view of the word. You can use a real word and even be inspired by its real origin. Or make up a word and its story.

If you want to use a real origin, most dictionaries have word origins, as does Wiktionary, but here are a few sites with brief stories about words:

• Word Origins -- The Big List
  
• Etymologically Speaking
  
• World Wide Words -- Weird words

Like a demon in paradise

“Alexander Hamilton ran up those very treads!” said Steve Laise standing in the foyer of Hamilton's home. “It just puts you in such close proximity with the past. For those of us who really wish we were living back then anyway, it’s probably more of a stimulus to our imagination than we really ought to have.”

That was said in the New York Times. Steve has found his element as chief of cultural resources for the National Park Service.

Write about a character who feels he's in the wrong time or place or universe. (He doesn't need to be in contemporary times of course! Doesn't even need to be in or of our world.)

Has he found a way to fit in? Or appear to fit in? Does he spend all his time working on ways to escape? Does he escape?

"The story is always better ..."

Petal Pushers

Petal Pushers, a clever name for a new flower shop. Or is it merely clever? The shop has become very popular very quickly and the other flower shop owners in town are curious about their competitors' success. Is it the prices? The flowers? The customer service? The owners? Or is there something else that's drawing in the customers?

Write from the point of view of a customer, competitor, owner, investigator. Whatever inspires you :-)

Welcome to my nightmare

You've won a week's vacation at an old resort that's been resurrected and refurbished. When you arrive you're greeted by your hosts (pictured). Several other people have also won the vacation. You don't know any of them but one person does look vaguely familiar.

Each of the other guests (as few or as many as you want) is associated with one or more of the following words. (You don't need to use them all.)

falling star
zany
black velvet
winter solstice
formerly
serene
ruthless
mythological
vanquish
underworld
remorseful
smoky
inspire
whrling
sea of nectar
lotus blossom
sparrow
radical
winter grass
drum
flamingo

"It is better to write ..."

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines for June 2008

Though the Weekly World News is no more, here's the headlines from the archives of City Newstand in Chicago, for writing prompts or just for fun :-)

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines from JUNE 1998

1. MONA LISA WAS A HOOKER! -- WWN
   
2. Shakespeare had the world's worst B.O., says historian -- WWN
   
3. DISEASE MAKES WOMAN'S OWN HAND BEAT HER SENSELESS -- WWN
   
4. STUPID DOG EATS 8 WRISTWATCHES! -- WWN
   
5. Smart dog saves stupid cats from spinning clothes dryer! -- WWN
   
6. DA VINCI'S ROBOT COMES TO LIFE -- AFTER 500 YEARS -- SUN
   
7. HOW TO CREMATE PETS -- IN YOUR OWN HOME! -- WWN
   
8. Terrified villagers flee bizarre Devil Chicken! -- WWN
   
9. ANIMAL-RIGHTS NUTS CALL FOR BAN ON WEREWOLF HUNTING! -- WWN
   
10. Scandal over She-Pope rocks the Vatican -- SUN

Hansel and Gretel's revenge

As you recall, it was a time of great famine in the time of Hansel and Gretel and the step mother persuaded the father to abandon the children in the woods so the wife and husband wouldn't starve.

So, the kids get lured in by the witch and eventually kill her. Then what? What do the kids do? Do they return home where the step mother is still living? Do they get Dad out from her influence? Do they move on? Do they open a witch extermination service? Do they get arrested for murder?

That takes the cake

Two months ago, the bakery hired a very cute cake master who is definitely not from around here. He or she crafts incredible cakes. Your character has finally worked up the nerve to ask him or her out. But the cake master has disappeared. The bakers are worried. They've known your character since she or he was a child and let her or him into the cake master's room above the bakery.

Take it from there.

"Dreaming and hoping ..."

Deficient conscience

A recent discussion on another list was about the "i before e except after c" rule and the words that break it. There are a whole series of "cien" words that break that rule. The challenge today is to use as many as you can in a writing piece. Feel free to use other forms.

conscience
conscientious
ancient
deficient
(in)efficient
(in)sufficient
maleficient, maleficience -- doing evil, harm or mischief
prescient; prescience - foresight
proficient
omniscient, omniscience -- all knowing
pseudoscience
unscientific

and as an extra bonus:

tumefacient - producing a swelling, like a tumefacient insect bite.

(BTW, there are plenty more. If you go to OneLook dictionary which allows wildcard searches and type in *cien* you can see loads more.)

Hello wedding day!

Who has more products imprinted with their image: Kiss or Hello Kitty?

I don't think there's a Hello Kitty coffin but there is a Hello Kitty wedding dress. And your character has found it and it's perfect! Write about her. Who is she? Is she seriously in love with all things Hello Kitty or is it for kicks? What's her groom like? Does he think it's just as wonderful? What will the bridesmaids wear? Are they as enthusiastic?

"Whether you think you can ..."

Name that yogurt

Colombo Yogurt (owned by General Mills but I'm guessing the brand is local to New England) is running a contest to rename their flavors to reflect their New England heritage. Each state (Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York) will get their own flavor names.

The prize is a New England getaway to Cape Cod for two.

All the particulars are at the website.

Here's the flavors to rename. For some reason not blueberry. Maybe they're keeping that one for themselves!

Cherry
Peach
Raspberry
Strawberry
Vanilla
Boston Cream Pie
Cherry Vanilla
Creamy Vanilla
Juicy Peach
Key Lime Pie
Lemon Meringue
Mixed Berry (raspberries, blueberries and strawberries I believe)
Orange Creme
Red Raspberry
Strawberry Banana
Lowfat Plain
Nonfat Plain
Lowfat French
Nonfat Vanilla
Lowfat Strawberry

(Though there are thousands of writing contests out there, I don't post about them much since it's just too hard to make sure they're legit. Company contests are at least pretty safe!)

The smell of saffron fills the air

Here's the set up:

Two Chinese lovers are traveling to Europe
in a damp meadow.
The smell of saffron fills the air;
someone with horns approaches

Take it from there.

---

The idea was generated by "Writer's Idea Bank", which is a widget for a Google Homepage. I don't see anything at the website that allows you to generate more. You just need to install the widget on a Google homepage and refresh.

"I was raised by two lesbians in drag."

One of the following was overheard at a coffee shop. Use it to inspire the real story behind the statement or what the effect was on the one who overheard.

"I was raised by two lesbians in drag."
"Come on, come on, listen to the mommy dogs."
"Silence like a casserole."
"I was Barney Rubble."
"I will be your creature feature, anything you have in mind."

From He's Got the Whole World in His Pants and More Misheard Lyrics by Gavin Edwards. Click on the comments for the actual lyrics.

"Writing is a cop-out."

Hidden in plain sight

Though you can see it from everywhere in the city, people won't speak of it and it's airbrushed from official photos. Set a story there.

(When you're done, if you want to see the tale of the real building, click the picture.)

---

(Edit: The month before this prompt was published, construction resumed -- after 16 years. The current (2012) picture at Wikipedia looks much different. Soon, perhaps 2013 -- though don't hold your breath! -- it will be just another big hotel hardly worth airbrushing out of photos.)

Two's company

Two childhood best friends: KaiKai is outgoing, Eilian reserved. They decide to form a group and bring in two others to round out their talents: Gan and Rio. (It can be any group you want: fighters for hire, monster slayers, fortune tellers, musicians, dancers, samurai, exterminators, party hosts ...) KaiKai and Eilian have eyes for talent and the two new members' talents overshadow the two founding members'.

Gan and KaiKai discover their talents mesh exceptionally well and form a tight partnership when they work together. Eilian prefers to hang back and work in the background, but is there jealousy rumbling beneath? After the group has been together for a while, it gets out that the other new member, Rio, is of a reviled faction (religion, race, planet, philosophy, culture, heritage ...) but he or she has such charisma those who hire them don't mind. (But will it last?)

They haven't had a job for a bit and are getting hungry for work (and for a substantial meal.) Tempers are short.

Write from the point of view of one of the members. Or from each in turn.

"If you're not failing ..."

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines for May 2008

Though the Weekly World News is no more, here's the headlines from the archives of City Newstand in Chicago, for writing prompts or just for fun :-)

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines from MAY 1998

1. DOG SWALLOWS SHEEP -- SUN
   
2. Porcupine falls head over heels in love -- with a broom! -- WWN
   
3. One-armed man fights off monkey with fake limb! -- WWN
   
4. WERERABBITS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN WEREWOLVES! -- WWN
   
5. IRAQI TEENS GETTING HIGH ON ANTHRAX GERMS! -- WWN
   
6. Elvis fan has the King's JOCK STRAP! -- WWN
   
7. Used-car salesman is buried in fireproof suit -- so he won't burn in HELL! -- WWN
   
8. Police find dead woman in giant ball of string! -- WWN
   
9. BIZARRE DISEASE TURNS PEOPLE INTO HUMAN SNAKES! -- WWN
   
10. Wonder drug makes people bulletproof! -- WWN

Time and a place

Probably not the quote he wanted remembered for, but it has obviously been speaking to people for over a millennium and a half. ;-)

Use the quote as the first line, last line, somewhere in the middle or just for inspiration. (Did I cover all the possibilities? ;-)

O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.
-- Saint Augustine (354 AD - 430 AD)