White wizzard/Calling card

White wizzard
Calling card

What's a warm up?

(Sic wizzard. Blame White Wizzard. :-) I intended to find rhymes but, hey, wizards handing out calling cards!)

Stonnets

More fun with the sonnet form: Stonnets! Stories retold in sonnet form. If you want to turn the story into the character's thoughts on why they did what they did to keep the argument aspect of the sonnet, go for it :-) Or if you want to play around with the mechanics, you can rework the story into the rhyme scheme and meter of the 14 line sonnet form.

Try a fairy tale, nursery rhyme, favorite story from history, movies, books.

When you're done, Graeme King has played with the form to create a bunch of them at Funny Sonnets at Kingpoetry. (Where there are funny poems of many different forms, too.)

Cyberface (and 3 more)

Cyberface
Infinite space
Erase/Replace
The human race

What's a warm up?

The cool thing about sonnets

Ignore the rhythm and rhyme of a sonnet? In The Handbook of Poetic Forms, Ron Padgett suggests you do exactly that to get started writing them. Because there's a more interesting aspect of (English or Shakespearean) sonnets that's often left out of the descriptions: they're an evolving argument with a punch line.

(Padgett suggests after you get used to the unfolding pattern of thought, then work in rhythm and rhyme. Which is: 14 lines rhyming abab cdcd efef gg with each line having 10 syllables of alternating stress: ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM.)

• First set of 4 lines, the speaker sets up an idea.
• Second set of 4 lines, the speaker explores it further.
• Third set of 4 lines, there's a larger or new view of the idea. There's a turn in the speaker's thinking for a twist or conflict or emotional or mood shift. Quite literally the 4 lines may begin with But. (Here's some that Shakespeare used: so, yet, but, because, now, ah!, o!, never, for, alas!, thus, no, therefore, then, why.) "The speaker stops presenting evidence and starts to draw a conclusion from the evidence."
• Last set of 2 lines, there's another turn, and the poet draws a (sometimes surprising) conclusion. It can sometimes feel like a punch line.

In short:

Here's what and why.
Here's some more why.
But wait.
Ah ha!

Of course you don't need to be serious! You can argue why, despite many negatives, you'll still spend the extra money on Starbucks, or why you like the older chapters of Star Wars, or find cats superior to dogs.

As an example, Shakespeare's oft quoted sonnet that begins "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (#18) can be summarized as:

Here's why I shouldn't compare you to a summer's day.
All beautiful things fade.
But your beauty won't.
Because people will keep my poetry alive down the ages and give your beauty immortality.

Original side by side with modern English
Detailed analysis

And "When my love swears that she is made of truth" (#138).

Even though I know my mistress lies, I believe her and project the illusion of being an inexperienced youth.
Even though she knows I'm old, she believes me young and both of us willingly suppress the truth.
But why don't we tell the truth?
Because believing the lies helps us ignore each other's faults.

Original side by side with modern English

Detailed analysis

Jesus just left Chicago/The Devil went down to Georgia

Jesus just left Chicago
The Devil went down to Georgia

What's a warm up?

"The only problem with ..."

Blind guardian (plus 3 more)

Blind guardian
Invisible kid
The last illusion
Eye of the beholder

What's a warm up?

Love me not

Today, write a poem or prose piece with the word love in it several times. But make it not a love poem or piece.

---

Inspired by Day 208 in The Aspiring Poet's Journal by Bernard Friot.

Spellbound (plus 3 more)

Homeward bound
Spellbound
Lost and found
Face to the ground

What's a warm up?

A tattooed mouse

There was a crooked man,
and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat
which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
in a little crooked house.

Use that form as inspiration. What about a purple ghost? Or a tattooed mouse? A spotted dick? (Which is a pudding in England.) A dark black charm? A faceless clown?

Change as much of the content as you want. Can you make it work with a one syllable adjective and two syllable noun? Do you need to keep the dah-dah-DAH rhythm pattern or would a crabby werewolf work? Try tapping it out. Or jumping rope to it. :-)

Shadow on the sun (and 2 more)

Smile of the sun
Shadow on the sun
Till the sun turns black

What's a warm up?

"Happiness is sharing ..."

Plastic passion (plus 3 more)

Plastic passion
Alien nation
Symphony of destruction
No satisfaction

What's a warm up?

Funny finding you here

Found poems are pieces of writing not intended to be a poem but by arranging the line breaks become a poem.

You can find these poems in grocery lists, in your sister's diary, in newspaper articles, in novels, in biology class notes, in bits of overheard conversation, in assembly instructions, in dialog from TV shows,

in blurbs from TV Guide:

Arthur creates
a tribunal of justice
that solves disputes
via wits,
not blood.

and the backs of cereal boxes:

Every bite
of these


crispy,
     golden,
          flakes


is dusted
with just the right amount of cinnamon,
to make them
a delicious


choice


for your morning.

Here's a bit of found poetry from the description of found poetry in The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms:

The odd thing is
how the found words seem
to take on an added power
when removed
from their original context
and presented
alone.

And one rule:

A poet does not enjoy
a license to
change,
add,
or omit words --
a rule often broken.

Hypnotized/Demonized/Paralyzed/Organized

Hypnotized
Demonized
Paralyzed
Organized

What's a warm up?

Poetic fortunes

Speaking as a fortune teller, tell a fortune in poetic form. (She or he can be a character for a story.) The first line is: You will take a strange journey ...... Finish the prediction/forecast by describing the journey and giving instructions or advice or even warnings for the journey.

---

From 30 Writing Prompts for National Poetry Month at Book of Kells. Also lists for 2011 and 2010. They aren't specifically for speculative fiction writing but you may find something inspiring :-)

Lady Starlight (plus 4 more)

Lady Starlight
Moonchild
Mother Sun
Ziggy Stardust
China cat sunshine

What's a warm up?

"Poets are like baseball pitchers ..."

Diamonds and rust/Magic and sword/Silk and steel

Diamonds and rust
Magic and sword
Silk and steel

What's a warm up?

Grandmas like railroads

Cut up the following words, choosing one from pile A and one from pile B. Create similes by comparing A to B.

A

house
pants
grandmother
letter
roof
telephone
raindrop
arithmetic
windshield
shame
light
abyss
stomach

B

boat
dance
forgiveness
line
pebble
finger
rest
chair
keyboard
railroad
turkey
breath
tree

Feel free to replace all or some of A or B with C that contains some ingredients from speculative fiction. Feel even freer to add your own. :-)

C

spirit
star ship captain
werewolf
alien ambassador
vampire
assassin
spell
time travel
apocalypse
artificial intelligence
love potion
wizard
telepathy

This is from The Aspiring Poet's Journal by Bernard Friot. (With list C added by me, of course.) It has 365 fun and creative poetic exercises for a whole Poetry Year.

Sunlit nights/Moonage daydream

Sunlit nights
Moonage daydream

What's a warm up?

Emotion poems

Start out National Poetry month with a choice between two templates to pull out some colorful emotional language. This can be a useful exercise for prose writers too :-)

[Emotion]
If [emotion] were a color,
It would be [color].
As [color] as a _____.
If [emotion] were a taste,
It would taste like _____.
If [emotion] were a feeling,
It would feel like _____.
If [emotion] were a smell,
It would smell like _____.
If [emotion] were a sound,
It would sound like _____.

[Emotion] is [color] like a {object].
It looks like ...
It sounds like ...
It smells like ...
It feels like ...
It tastes like ...

The second template came from Poetry Ideas. The example given there expands beyond the template which is an encouragement to play around and use it as inspiration.

EXAMPLE:

If anger was a color
It would be bright red
As fiery hot as a volcano.
If anger was a taste
It would be just like red peppers.
If anger was a feeling
It would be as turbulent as pot of boiling water on high flame.
If anger was a smell
It would be awful as a landfill on a summer's day.
If anger was a sound
It would be loud as a parent when you come home late for dinner.

EXAMPLE (by Andrew Wesner):

Anger is red like fire
It pops and crackles in your head
It smells like smoke that you could choke on
It feels like you hair's on fire
It's going to explode!

Snow white queen

Snow white queen
Hall of the mountain king
Desert prince
Princess of the rising sun

Themed titles for poetic and prose inspiration. :-)

What's a warm up?

"Poetry is the art of ..."

All the fools sailed away

All the fools sailed away

What's a warm up?

Delightful cult heroes

Choose one of the following randomly generated scenarios and see where it takes you. (Feel free to mix and match.)

The story is about a eccentric creation who is a bride and an utterly delightful creature who is a cult hero. The setting includes a mist enshrouded palace. Include the following words: cure truth complete

The story is about a emotional giant who is an explorer and an anti-social griffin who is an outcast. The setting includes a ruined labyrinth. Include the following words: ring rejection indifference

The story is about a confused ferret who is a royal and a secretive mouse who is a story teller. The setting includes a muddy carnival. Include the following words: loom illusion act

The story is about a crimson alien who is a pawn broker and an aggressive android who is a priestess. The setting includes a smoky side street. Include the following words: report hyperdrive repair

The story is about a hard-boiled dwarf who is a monk and a wise-cracking demon who is a playwright. The setting includes a busy bakery and cafe. Include the following words: silhouette sacrifice gain

I fought piranhas

I fought piranhas

What's a warm up?

The rock or the hard place?

Your character has finally made a decision between two seemingly right choices. It could be they've decided which of two perfect people to marry. It could be they've decided tax dollars should go to the development of faster than light travel rather than cheap, renewable energy. It could be they've decided to slay the troll that has been threatening the village with ravaging for a dozen years unless tribute is paid to him.

And then your character receives a message from their character's future self persuading their current self why they need to make a different choice.

And then, to put a twist on it, once the character is persuaded, have a message from the future self of the other choice arrive to persuade the character why they need to make a different choice.

The king for a 1000 years

The king for a 1000 years

What's a warm up?

"When you take stuff ..."

Crash course in brain surgery

Crash course in brain surgery

What's a warm up?

Reject a hit

Writer's Digest has an ongoing challenge to write a rejection letter for a hit book. So far the winning entries have been for The Cat in the Hat and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

You can "take the WD challenge by humorously rejecting a hit in 400 words or fewer. Send your letter to wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com with “Reject a Hit” in the subject line."

Or, as a personal challenge, write a rejection letter for a hit movie, a popular product, a successful internet site, a mega franchise.

Deviant DESERT

Deviantly describe the scene without using the names of the objects. Don't use rocks, sand or bushes. Dig into what objects look and feel like rather than telling what they are.

Capture the senses' experience. What does it feel like to your whole body? Does it get inside your clothes? Does it get inside you? What does it smell like? Taste like? Sound like?

Go further and find a mood or personality of the place and let those inspire the descriptive words you choose.

Try unexpected adjectives and vivid verbs. For example, svelt, sleek, oozing, crouching aren't words normally associated with places, but can create fresh images.

(Hopefully the images I've collected for the picture version of Deviant Descriptions have an other worldly feel to them for you and don't just look like mundane old Earth!)

Tangos and tea

Write an introductory article for travelers interested in exploring the unique culture of Earth that has evolved around a species that needs two (!!) versions to reproduce. Touch on a few of the fascinating oddities visitors really must see. Provide tips for blending into the culture unnoticed and some dos and don'ts of social contact.

(Maybe you'll come up with some great ideas that could have improved the list of movies linked in the image.)

Mabel's fatal fable

Mabel's fatal fable

What's a warm up?

"The measure of ..."

Locomotive breath

Locomotive breath

What's a warm up?

Transformation overload

Okay, I've been trying to cobble together a writing prompt from the tropes generated by TV Tropes story generator for 3 days. As is true of most generators, and especially true of the complex ideas from TV Tropes, the items generated don't always work together.

Not a problem. I just have to compile the ones I like and generate more until I have a full set. Except at TV Tropes, once you dip in you can get lost for hours!

But one page I landed on seemed especially fertile for story ideas. Here's an attempt at compiling every transformation idea ever used more than once. So take one and come up with a fresh approach.

The Shape Shifting page linked also has a long list of shape shifting tropes (which are different from transformation tropes!) And each of the links below goes to a page with an longer explanation and loads of examples from literature to video games to music. But, trust me, just use the short explanations listed here. TV Tropes has got to be one of the biggest black holes on the internet. You really don't want to go to there unless you've got hours to spend.

Really.

Tropes related to transformations as an event:

• Baleful Polymorph - Transformation used as a weapon or punishment, to disable or dispose of an individual.
  
• Becoming The Costume - Particularly popular around Halloween, a curse that transforms the individual into whatever their costume resembles.
  
• Becoming The Genie - My third wish, make me an all-powerful genie! (Wait a second...)
  
• Emergency Transformation - If the only way to save your dying body is to have it transformed into something else. Whether or not you'd be better off dead is up to you.
  
• Fountain Of Youth
  
  • Thirteen Going On Thirty
    
• Fisher Kingdom - A world or setting that transforms your mind, mood, and/or physical form to match its expectations or requirements.
  
• Freaky Friday Flip - Switching bodies with another person...
  
  • Voices Are Mental - ...but not switching voices.
    
• Gender Bender - Being transformed into a member of the opposite sex.
  
  • Attractive Bent Gender - People start asking your new self out on dates.
    
  • First Law Of Gender Bending — It's easier to change into a female than it is to change back.
    
    • Second Law Of Gender Bending — Your new gender is always more enjoyable than your old one.
      
    • Third Law Of Gender Bending — And it comes with cool new clothes!
      
  • Man I Feel Like A Woman — Hey, free boobs!
    
• Humanity Ensues - An animal (or non-human) is transformed into a human. They usually aren't happy about the change...
  
  • Pinocchio Syndrome - ...unless they already wanted to become human.
    
  • Sense Freak - If they go wild over senses that we humans take for granted.
    
• Incredible Shrinking Man
  
• Karmic Transformation - Getting transformed into something you despise or that is otherwise ironic; often caused by Laser Guided Karma.
  
• Metamorphosis - A permanent, one-time transformation that occurs over the long term, and you may know about it well in advance.
  
• The Mind Is A Plaything Of The Body - Your thoughts and instincts transform to match whatever new form you have.
  
• Mutagenic Goo- Gooey Applied Phlebotinum that can mutate and transform living beings into monsters.
  
• Narrative Shapeshifting - A silent character recounts a story by playing shapeshifting charades.
  
• Not Quite Back To Normal - When a transformation leaves residual effects on the individual even after being transformed back.
  
• Scaled Up - Is turning yourself into a giant snake ever a good idea?
  
• Transformation Comic
  
• Transformation Ray
  
• Viral Transformation - Spreading a transformation from one person to another
  

GRAVEly deviant

GRAVE

.~          How does one Deviantly Describe?          ~.

Short version ...
From the given mundane, snoozer (though not so snoozer today!) of a word, generate as many different-from-each-other descriptions as you can. (Set a timer for 10-15 minutes if you wish.)

Longer version ...
Is preserved at the HOME of the first Deviant Description.

Green eggs on gravestones

Take it wherever you're inspired to!

Laughing in the hiding bush

Laughing in the hiding bush

What's a warm up?

"It isn't easy to live ..."

Victim of illusion

Victim of illusion

What's a warm up?

Queasy quince

Quenton felt queasy after eating quince and quail.

Keep going, using as many "qu" words as possible.

---

Quick one today! #126 from Unjournaling: Daily Writing Exercises that Are NOT Personal, NOT Introspective, NOT Boring! by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston.

No lotion for that

No lotion for that

What's a warm up?

Corporate voodoo

See other cool illustrations by Michael Heald

List at least a dozen reasons why the world's largest corporation would hire a voodoo priestess to practice her craft in their corporate office.

It might help to imagine specific corporations rather some generic evil money grubbing empire as you list ideas. Bank of America, Apple, Exxon, Disney, Coca Cola and Wal-Mart would all have different reasons.

This is one of those "Why couldn't I come up with a cool out of the box idea like that!" that I just had to share from Inkprovoking. :-)

Too late to run for cover

Too late to run for cover

What's a warm up?

"I always do ..."

Land of a thousand dances

Land of a thousand dances

What's a warm up?

Easy cheesy

"Why do you have ten cans of Easy Cheese?" Lorni stared into her friend's shopping basket.

Ari grinned with a touch of wickedness. "You'll never guess."

So what's going to happen with those ten cans of processed squirt cheese food product?

WWBSD*?

*What Would Bart Simpson Do?

Earthquake weather

Earthquake weather

What's a warm up?

Accidents happen

They say, "Accidents cause History."

Begin with a great event (either positive or disaster, real or imagined) and tell the story of the ordinary, maybe even bumbling accident that began a series of events that resulted in the big event. Maybe it's a cat that knocked the muffins from the table that began a war between neighboring planets. Or a dropped jar of pickles that ended in the collapse of the kingdom's economy. Or a phone dropped in a puddle that resulted in two celebrities getting married?

You can write it as a story or as a sort of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series of events. (You can view the pages at the Amazon link.)

Hazy shade of winter

Hazy shade of winter

What's a warm up?

"You don't find time ..."

Ministry of Saints

Ministry of Saints

What's a warm up?

Big meanings, small packages

All last week Anu Garg sent out as his Word a Day short words that have multiple meanings. Pick one word and use as many of the meanings of it as you can in a piece. For a real challenge include all the words.

FELL
adjective:
1. Fierce; cruel; lethal.
2. In the idiom, in one fell swoop (all at once, as if by a blow).

verb tr.ve
1. To knock down, strike, or cut down.
2. To sew a seam by folding one rough edge under the other, flat, on the wrong side, as in jeans.

noun:
1. The amount of timber cut.
2. In sewing, a felled seam.

noun:
A stretch of open country in the highlands.

noun:
The skin or hide of an animal.

PIP
noun:
1. The small seed of a fruit, such as an apple or an orange.
2. Something or someone wonderful.

noun:
1. One of the dots or symbols on a die, playing card, or domino.
2. Any of the diamond-shaped segments on the surface of a pineapple.
3. An insignia on the shoulder indicating an officer's rank.

noun:
1. A disease of birds marked by mucus in the mouth.
2. Any minor, nonspecific ailment in a person.

noun:
The smallest change in the exchange rate for a given currency pair. Most major currencies (except yen) are priced to the fourth decimal place, so a pip is 1/100 of one percent (.0001).

verb tr.:
1. To defeat, especially by a narrow margin or at the last moment.
2. To hit with a gunshot.
3. To blackball.

verb intr.:
To peep or chirp.

verb tr.:
To break through the shell of an egg when hatching.

SEADOG
noun:
1. A veteran sailor.
2. A harbor seal.
3. A pirate or privateer.
4. A faint rainbow-like formation seen in foggy conditions. Also called mistbow, fogbow, and white rainbow.

FLUKE
noun:
1. The flat, triangular piece at the end of an arm of an anchor.
2. A barb or barbed head on a harpoon, arrow, etc.
3. Either of the two lobes of a whale's tail.

noun:
A chance occurrence, especially a stroke of good luck.

noun:
1. A flatfish, especially a flounder of the genus Paralichthys.
2. A trematode: a type of flatworm.

Deviant PETs

PET

.~          How does one Deviantly Describe?          ~.

Short version ...
From the given mundane, snoozer of a word, generate as many different-from-each-other descriptions as you can. (Set a timer for 10-15 minutes if you wish.)

Longer version ...
Is preserved at the HOME of the first Deviant Description.

In good hands

Click the picture to find out what it really is.

First, what is it? A statue? A giant robot? A mecha? A golem? The entrance to something? An alien amusement ride? A house? Something else?

Is the man hiding? Put there? Coming out for fresh air? Asking for help? From who?

Where is this? Here and now? Another world humans are exploring? A fantasy world? Someone's dream?

Dethrone tyranny

Dethrone tyranny

What's a warm up?

"If not now ..."

This came from Wordboner.

TYPO+QUOTO
GRAPHY WITH
PERSON
ALITY.
DAILY.

Over 1000 pithy sayings in clever typography. Also available on T-shirts at the Wordboners store.