Restless spirits

You're a spirit channeler, but instead of being hired by the living to talk to the dead, the dead hire you to pass on messages to the living. (What would the dead use for payment?)

Tell about some of the recent or more interesting channelings you've done. What unfinished business do they have? Is it for good -- to be able to say the good things they always wanted to, to aid someone still alive -- or for bad -- to finally be able to tell someone off , to send them on a wild goose chase? Was their death natural, accident, or deliberate? Did they take secrets to the grave that they can release now? Why now?

"Fiction is about ..."

A chronobet

Write a time travel alphabet, past to present to future, anything and everything that pops into your head about time travel.

Rather than starting with A, you might brainstorm to get the ideas flowing. No need to tie yourself to linear time or linear order of words. :-)

For a real challenge, turn it into a story. Each alphabet line will be another line of the story. (The sentences don't need to begin with the letter, just have a word that starts with the letter somewhere in them.)

Sharp edges

How did this sign come to be?

What were the consequences?

Or maybe it's usual for this culture? Why? What other kinds of signs do they have that we might think odd?

"My most important piece of advice ..."

Of two minds

Write the opposing point of view that you wrote for the previous prompt.

Alienable rights

Write an Op-Ed piece that supports an unlikely group or idea. (Op-Ed are the articles that appear opposite the editorial page in the newspaper.)

Some ideas, but feel free to come up with your own :-)

• Werewolf rights.
  
• Temporary rule by the advanced alien visitors who seem to have so many answers to humanity's problems.
  
• An Olympics for "enhanced" athletes.
  
• Extending time travel rights to ordinary citizens.
  
• Fusing ones' own DNA with animals (to create real catboys and catgirls, for instance ;-)
  
• Allowing non-humans to be elected president as long as they've been born in America.
  
• Outlawing (or allowing) dragon hunting.

"You can't say, I won't write today ..."

Demon mother-teacher from hell

Someone just described herself on a list as potentially becoming "the demon mother-teacher from hell". Interesting image! And potentially many interesting images:

Is that a demon mother who's a teacher?
A demon who teaches mothers?
A mother who teaches demons?
A teacher of demon mothers?

Are there other combinations? Play with it and see what inspires a story in you :-)

Through the eyes

As you go through your day, bring a wizard and a notebook with you.

Your eccentric uncle has dropped off a child at your house to stay for a few days. You're a muggle and the child is a wizard or witch -- but you don't know either of those! You're ignorant of that whole other world. The child has never lived with muggles, but has been instructed that he or she is safe as long as you remain ignorant of the wizarding world. The child is to pretend he or she is human.

You can write either from your own point of view or from the child's.

What do you do during the day that would frustrate or baffle the child who is used to adults using magic? What odd ways does the chlld react? What are his or her mysterious habits?

If writing from the point of view of the child, what do ordinary things look like to a wizarding child?

"First, find out ..."

Squad helps dog bite victim

"Squad helps dog bite victim"

Write the news article that goes with the headline. :-)

This is from a book of newspaper headline goofs: Squad helps dog bite victim and other flubs from the nation's press, compiled by Gloria Cooper.

Monkey see

What are the first words he or she speaks?

Who is he or she?

Is it a monkey? Have monkeys been pretending to less intelligence than they have? Why?

Or some other creature? An alien? Are there more? Why are they here?

Or just one of several intelligent species on a planet? What are the special skills and talents of this particular species? Is the society divided equally or are some species dominant in certain areas?

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines for September 2008

As of 27 August 2008 the Weekly World News no longer exists in paper form, just on the web.

According to an article in Time Magazine, it began "when the National Enquirer went color and the only thing the publisher could think of doing with the black-and-white printing press was to run all the joke stories his editors came up with to entertain themselves."

Though the Weekly World News no longer exists in print, here's the headlines from the archives of City Newstand in Chicago, for writing prompts or just for fun.

Top 10 Tabloid Headlines from SEPTEMBER 1998

1. 'MY TOILET IS POSSESSED BY SATAN!' -- WWN
   
2. 'A SPACE ALIEN ATE MY DOG!' -- WWN
   
3. A POLAR BEAR ATE OUR JEEP! -- WWN
   
4. DRUG-SNIFFING GORILLA RIPS SMUGGLER'S ARM OFF! -- WWN
   
5. 'I WAS SEXUALLY MOLESTED BY A GIANT OCTOPUS!' -- WWN
   
6. MOM FIGHTS COUGAR -- WITH A PENKNIFE! -- SUN
   
7. Gutsy granny kills 350-lb. bear -- with a pruning knife! -- WWN
   
8. DOLPHIN EYEBALLS ARE HOT DISH IN JAPAN! -- WWN
   
9. Burglar-alarm factory robbed! -- WWN
   
10. THE GHOST OF ELVIS GOT ME OFF DRUGS! -- WWN