The Kinslayer

The Kinslayer

What's a warm up?

Angels in the Trenches

Angels in the Trenches.

What if they were real angels? What if the trenches were in Heaven? In the clouds?

Against who? Angels and fallen angles? Two new angel factions vying for power? Alien angels vs. "regular" angels? The "angels" of different religions after a barrier fell between the realms overseen by each religion's God?

Or on Earth in a war between Heaven and Hell with humanity caught in the crossfire?

What if the setting is the future? The past? During dinosaur times? In a fantasy land?

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"Angels in the Trenches" was Saturday Night Live's Turner Classic Movie spoof. I could be losing it but I thought they usually did real movies. This one sure sounded like a real movie title. :-) But it's not. Though it was a book long ago!

Slaves and bulldozers

Slaves and bulldozers

What's a warm up?

"Find the key ..."

By the grace of the witch

By the grace of the witch

What's a warm up?

My dog never loved me

Arno is on a woeful quest for the love of his dog Diesel ... who couldn't care less. Diesel doesn't hate Arno. Arno is just way down on Diesel's priority list of Life's Interesting Things. Which includes things like butt sniffing. Lying in the sun. Checking who's dropped by the hydrant. Keeping an eye on the neighbor's cat.

So what has Arno done to win his dog's affection? And can you build affection for Arno and his futile quest to matter to the one who matters most to him when the tale is absurdly about a dog? ;-)

(Feel free, of course, to change the sexes. Make it a tale from childhood. Set it in any setting.)

Deviant GEYSER

The return of the picture version of Deviant Descriptions!

Deviantly describe the scene without using the names of the objects. (This one's a bit easier since it doesn't look like it's from this planet! ;-) Don't use water or rock. 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? What does it sound like. What does it smell like? Taste 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.

(When you're done, the picture links to the Wikipedia article about it.)

Shotgun innocence

Shotgun innocence

What's a warm up?

A tale of two ... other objects

Pick any two objects and have them fall in love.

Two houses when a long standing wall is removed?

Two gifts for a new born baby?

Two objects that have been dumped together but are about to be separated?

Two star ships? From opposite sides of the war?

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Two objects from your favorite books? Or movies?

Which is where the inspiration for this post and last week's post came from: the Crack Pairings trope at TV Tropes. (Some content and links are mature so enter at your own discretion.) Under literature. Under Harry Potter.

The Whomping Willow and the Ford Anglia?

Hogwarts and the Shrieking Shack?

Hogwarts and the Giant Squid? Ew. Oh. Wait. Well! The power of well chosen words can overcome the squinkiest of ideas is all I will say.

Demonoid phenomenon

Demonoid phenomenon

What's a warm up?

"Each writer is born ..."

Howl in the sky

Howl in the sky

What's a warm up?

A tale of two tales

Tell the tale of two books' encounter with each other.

A romance novel and a high tech spy thriller?

A manga about cat girls and one of those 100 Novels You're Supposed To Read Before You Die?

A book about the paranormal and a physics book?

A well worn kids book and a well worn (or barely read?) quality adult novel?

Your favorite childhood book and your most recent favorite book?

A book about movies and DVD documentary about books?

Which could expand into an encounter between 2 DVDs ...


Do they love each other? Do they hate each other? Do they agree to disagree?

But you were smiling ...

But you were smiling ...

What's a warm up?

"Drama is life ..."

Train of consequences

Train of consequences

What's a warm up?

More than a penny's worth

As you do everyday on your way to work you pass the Fountain of Fate and toss in your usual copper coin for good luck.

The coin plonks into the gently splashing water as usual. Followed by an extraordinary whoosh and this appears.

Everyone else is passing by as if nothing unusual were happening.

Well, crap, looks like you've been chosen! For ... something. But ... but you've got an overdue project. And a meeting with a potential patron whose work you need badly. And ... and a cat who pisses on your pillow if you don't feed him promptly at 6PM.

You move on but apparently she doesn't need the fountain for her watery spectacle.

Take it from there. (As usual, feel free to place this in any setting you wish.)

(Ah, sorry about the automatic postings while I was on vacation. Looks like I set the dates properly but not the times so they arrived by mail in chunks occasionally. And I'll see if I can fill in those missing Wednesdays over the next couple of days. :-)

Don't you think this outlaw bit's done got outta hand?

Don't you think this outlaw bit's done got outta hand?

What's a warm up?

"As with all other .."

Put your cat clothes on

Put your cat clothes on

What's a warm up?

11th Commandment

11th Commandment

What's a warm up?

"There is no idea ..."

Feist and Watt-Evans

Dog inside your body

Dog inside your body

What's a warm up?

Death on two legs

Death on two legs

What's a warm up?

"A moment comes ..."

7 days to the wolves

7 days to the wolves

What's a warm up?

Smacked by god

Photo by Nessa

Use each of the following words and phrases in a piece in any order that strikes you. (You can cut them up and draw from a pile.) "Smacked by god" can be used too if you wish. (What kind of smack? Upper case God or lower case god?)

My inclination is to cram all the words in at the beginning. Which can make for a surreal story! ;-) Someone suggested working with one or two at a time and building slowly. It's hard to contain the eagerness to get through the list but can result in better story flow!

Awake
Greed
Bad Magick
Sick of life
Goin' down
Mistakes
Trippin'
Forgive me
Vampires
The journey
Spiral

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Titles from Awake by Godsmack.

Who killed Mr. Moonlight?

Who killed Mr. Moonlight?

What's a warm up?

"A writer doesn't ..."

Frontier psychiatrist

Frontier psychiatrist

What's a warm up?

Twitfic

Catherine McEver has more
"never worn" baby shoes at her blog.

You have 140 characters (Twitter's limit) to write a complete story. That includes a character or characters, a problem and a satisfying stopping point. You may find it useful to do a lot of implying, using objects or stereotypes that encapsulate a lot of meaning in a word of two!

Ernest Hemingway (supposedly) wrote the quintessential micro-fiction with: "For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn." And that's only 33 characters!

I suspect key to the dramatic impact of those six words are two things: "baby shoes" supplies not just characters (father, mother and baby) with strong, easily grasped relationships but also an impending event; and "for sale" suggests that's the end of the story.

N.E. Lily likens the structure of Twitter fiction to jokes where there's the "set up" and the "climax". And many of them do read that way. Many others read like setups to a story rather than a complete story. And some actually do feel like a full story (in pill form perhaps ;-)

If you'd like to browse some to get a feel for what people have done with the form so far, there are links below.

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Arjun Basu (arjunbasu), William Brazill (InstantFiction), Geoff Meeker (AStoryIn140) are all currently tweeting stories.

Thaumatrope has a collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror Stories and Serials. (Click on Read More after any of the serials to see all the tweets.) They stopped compiling Sept 3, 2010 but there's almost 2 years worth to page back through.

Nanoism and Picfic are both still collection conventional Twitter fiction.

Crazy cats/March of the pigs/Dogs of war

Crazy cats
March of the pigs
Dogs of war

What's a warm up?

"Writing teaches ..."

The king will return

The king will return

What's a warm up?

Y?

Photo from Wikipedia

Here are some common English words that contain no other vowel except y. Use them all in a writing piece.

• cry
• crypt
• fly
• gypsy
• hymn (song praising someone or something, most familiarly the Christian God but can be any deity)
• lymph (can also mean pure water in addition to the clear liquid in blood)
• lynch
• lynx
• myrrh
• myth
• nymph
• pry
• pygmy
• rhythm
• scry (predict the future with a crystal ball)
• shy
• sly
• spy
• sphynx (hairless cat breed)
• spry
• sync
• tryst
• wyrm (a dragon without legs)

and if you can fit it, just because it's a cool word ;-)

• syzygy

And some short but less inspiring words you may want to sprinkle in:

• by
• my
• dry
• fry
• gym
• ply
• sky
• sty
• try
• why
• wry

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There are more words at List of words in English without vowels but most are pretty odd, obscure or specialized (like srsly in text-speak). The page is part of a larger collection of English words with uncommon properties, like words with alternating consonants and vowels (honorificabilitudinitatibus for instance), q not followed by u (which gets its own whole page!), kangaroo words (words that contain the letters in the right order of a similar word like masculine/male, observe/see), pyramid words (where one letter appears once, another letter twice, another three times, like banana and sleeveless).

Seven Doors Hotel

Seven Doors Hotel

What's a warm up?

"One nice thing ..."

Background by ValerianaSTOCK

Clown in the mirror

Clown in the mirror

What's a warm up?

Dear John

Dear John,


I know it's been 127 years since we last saw each other ...


Take it from there!

Why has it been 127 years? Was it supposed to be 100? Was it supposed to be 5?

Did their previous encounter(s) cause the long lives or is that normal for their species?

Was the last time they met right before a classic "Dear John" letter?

Does "John" need to be a man? Human? The same species? On the same time line? What if the writer or John is a self-aware machine?

Hmm, John is Sherlock Holmes's companion's name ....

Fermenting enchantress

Fermenting enchantress

What's a warm up?

"It's better to write ..."

Men, Martians and machines

Men, Martians and machines

What's a warm up?

Classy characters

As with most images, they lead somewhere when clicked!

Anyone who's familiar with role playing games knows about the class system of thieves, warriors, priests, sorcerers and various others and combinations that you choose from for your characters. The following are humorous classes generated at Seventh Sanctum. Generate your own Humorous Fantasy Class or pick one or a few of the following and let them inspire you. You could write a typical scene for such a character, or a run in with the character currently working with in a story, a series of gag comics, epic poetry ...

Mercenary/Traveling salesperson
Enchanter/Manicurist
Alchemist/Cook
Plumber/Shaman
Inquisitor/Maid
Stripper/Swordsman
Nanny/Ninja
Priest/Streetsweeper
Pirate/Decorator
Launderer/Sorcerer
Assassin/Tailor
Comedian/Prophet
Druid/Groundskeeper
Warlock/Knitter
Matchmaker/Mystik
Thief/Conceierge

If you'd like to add in some generated personality quirks, try the Detailed Character Generator at Serendipity. (You can just ignore the profession.) Where you'll get stuff like:

This calculating, impulsive spinner has golden skin, brown eyes, and red hair. She is delicate, with a heart-shaped face. She is married, with a single son.

This irresponsible, melodramatic fisherman has brown skin, green eyes, and dark brown hair. She is muscular, with a long, mournful face. She is unmarried.

This man is slender, with pale skin and a square-jawed face. He has long, silky, black hair and amber eyes. He is a physician who is cynical by nature, though polite.

This man works as a dyer, although his real interest is romance. He has hazel eyes, and his hair is shoulder-length, straight, silky and brown. He is delicate, with a small-featured, delicate face. He is stubborn and clever.

This platinum blond-haired, green-eyed man is a historian with a fragile build and round, bland face. He is contrary, and is interested in travel and children.

This serious, wary thatcher has nearly black skin, green eyes, and black hair. He is big-boned, with a round, cheerful face. He is newly married.

Last of the independents

Last of the independents

What's a warm up?

"I can’t help but to write ..."

What's next to the moon

What's next to the moon

What's a warm up?

The secrets of witchy women

Viewers watching NTV's Witchy Women were likely on the edge of their seats when the host delivered the following spiel: "Please welcome a young enchantress who's going to divulge a heck of a secret, even though it could cost her dearly in terms of employment."

So what secret did the enchantress reveal?

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The above is a paragraph from an article at Daily Yomiuri Online where a more mundy world secret was revealed. (It's also in the comments in case it disappears.) I loved the fact the show is called Witchy Women and the announcer called her an enchantress :-) Though perhaps both are Japanese terms and the translator is responsible for the inspiration!

Blasphemous rumors

Blasphemous rumors

What's a warm up?

"Those who write ..."

Fly on the windscreen

Fly on the windscreen

What's a warm up?

A day in the life of a monster

Describe an ordinary day in the life of a monster. It might be ordinary activities -- like brushing teeth, eating breakfast, taking a bath-- done in monsterly fashion or ordinary activities for a monster -- like collecting a daily quota of 5 brains, creating new crop circle designs.

Victim of changes

Victim of changes

What's a warm up?

"The art of writing ..."

Three imaginary boys

Three imaginary boys

What's a warm up?

All parents must die!

"This cannot end well for them." Photo ©Rich Thomas

Whoa, bit over the top there with the title!

It's a common complaint about Disney movies that they're fond of killing off parents. The problem is that parents have an annoying habit of stopping their kids from risking life and limb so it's hard for kids to save the world when the parents want to lock them up safe and sound. ;-) So the parents tend to be red shirts.

A commenter on The Not So Grand List of Overused Fantasy Cliches mentioned making parents inept is another cliche way of preventing parents from interfering.

It's cool when parents treat their kids' ideas as worthy with enough sense not to want to kill themselves even while taking risks ;-) The Addams Family parents were awesome at supporting their kids. :-) I can also remember Encyclopedia Brown's mother treating his desire to solve mysteries with respect, though he wasn't exactly risking his life. ;-) But I'm pretty sure Danny Dunn had some grand dangerous adventures and his mother was cool about it.

Kids want to read about kids taking charge and tackling their problems.

So what ways can you think of for parents to not interfere? Come up with a list. :-) Come up with your own ideas and collect the ideas of how other authors have tackled the problems.

I'd love to see your collections :-) If you'd like, you can post them in the comments.

Accidentally like a martyr

Accidentally like a martyr

What's a warm up?

"Imagination is more important ..."

Rebellion in dreamland

Rebellion in dreamland

What's a warm up?

Oh, noes!

I had to get one of those job things! One that pays you to spend your time doing stuff other than what you want. (Though if they teach me how to decorate cakes, that won't be so bad!)

I love creating the prompts so to continue, I'll slow down to one regular prompt a week. It won't be forever! But it will be for a while :-(

Prepare for takeoff

Byrony felt someone watching her as soon as she stepped aboard the afternoon shuttle for Mars. Glancing surreptitiously, she saw no one she knew and no one watching her. Which was good since she wasn't supposed to be here and must be the source of the feeling. Hefting her backpack higher onto her shoulder she continued down the aisle, the feeling accompanying her.


Keep it under 1000 words and include the following words. It can be helpful to spread them out rather than trying to cram them all in at the beginning! :-)

marmalade

chessboard

mandatory

blister

furor

mythology