Category: Writing Prompts

Prompts are short, fun exercises that can be used to get the creative juices flowing or break the ice at a critique meeting. They start as a brief list of ingredients, forming a challenge for the writer to incorporate all of them into one self-contained piece. There are many ways to come up with prompts and each author will find a unique way to express a given prompt.

Minerva du Mauvais Stood Naked in the Forest

  • by jenwe who shared a womb
  • pointing at a couch
  • the oath of Hippocrates
  • despite the freezing night
  • sly apple-polishing
  • Moon maidens must be strong

Minerva du Mauvais stood naked in the forest despite the freezing night. Moon maidens must be strong, she admonished herself inwardly, and suppressed a shiver. Her brother Devlin paced the clearing, reciting the oath of Hippocrates in its original form — before it was co-opted by the do-gooding healers.

Once finished with the ceremony, Devlin led Minerva inside the black condo they shared. “Wait for me there, darling,” he growled, pointing at a couch. “And none of your sly ‘apple-polishing’ before I return. Save your energies for me.”

“Spoil sport,” Minerva pouted, but she laced her fingers together and twiddled her thumbs to occupy her time while Devlin made a few arcane phone calls.

“We who shared a womb with the devil know all his secrets. Isn’t that right, Mirny?” Devlin said upon his return. Minerva knew that meant the ritual had succeeded and they were now free to celebrate in the most carnal of ways.

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“It Might Interest the Patient”

  • k-avatartheatrically emotional
  • accomplish
  • interest
  • circumcision

“It might interest the patient that his becoming theatrically emotional is entirely apropos in an operating theatre, but I would remind him that his state of mind will limit the effects of hypnosis, under which I shall accomplish his circumcision due to his refusal of any other anesthetic.”

bonus points for using them all in one sentence!

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Aarto Hammersmith Was a Tall Norwegian Man

  • by jena pair of filthy feet
  • an enormous cantilevered balcony
  • a bin of oval fish
  • On a sailboat?
  • Free-Range Antelope Chops
  • a tall Norwegian

Aarto Hammersmith was a tall Norwegian man with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a penchant for sailing inherited from his viking forefathers. Standing on the prow of a ship made Aarto feel like he had discovered an enormous cantilevered balcony over the fjords of his homeland.

When the ship docked in Tokyo harbor it took on several passengers and a bin of oval fish of a type Aarto had never seen before. Intrigued, he tracked down the owner of the bin to ask what the odd oval fish were called. He found her sitting on the deck, dangling a pair of filthy feet through the railing. They were, in fact, her own feet, which was good news to Aarto because she was gorgeous: a beautiful Japanese marine biologist named Hiromi Sakai. They spent the afternoon together talking fish and falling in love. That night at dinner Hiromi, explaining that she never ate the fish she adored, ordered Free-Range Antelope Chops.

Antelope chops? thought Aarto. On a sailboat?

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“Sit Down”

  • k-avatara place of our own
  • make you an ass whooper
  • would so love a bookcase
  • do some jump rope
  • gorgeous cookies

“Sit down, and I’ll make you an ass whooper.”

“Thanks! Those are the most gorgeous cookies.”

“But they’re fattening.”

“Oh, I’ll do some jump rope later.”

“Things like this are so much easier here than back at the apartment.”

“It’s wonderful to have a place of our own.”

“It’ll be even better when we get some furniture. I would so love a bookcase.”

“The sofa will do for now.”

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Underneath the Fancy Bustle

  • by jensmooth as a sunset
  • too young to produce
  • her naked bottom was small
  • It was a truck-driver bang
  • president of Midnight Mink
  • clench her fists and stomp her feet

Underneath the fancy bustle, her naked bottom was small. Her inability to afford surgery to augment it drove Shirley to clench her fists and stomp her feet in frustration. She was too young to produce movies, which was her life’s ambition, and this led to more frustration.

“Why did I ever move to Hollywood?” she wailed.

Shirley’s moment of self-doubt was interrupted by a loud knock at her door. It was a truck-driver bang, she thought, but when she opened the door she found not a truck driver, but the President of Midnight, Mink McGee, with his pale, pale skin and his auburn hair as smooth as a sunset. The look in his deep blue eyes told Shirley that Mink did not find her naked bottom too small.

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Do You Have Them Memorized?

  • k-avatarDo you have them memorized?
  • gravity tugging at her cheeks
  • pale glow rippling above the strongman’s skin
  • By the crossed eyes of the Jumbo!
  • I am captured!
  • as the animal disappeared
  • great plaid bags of trousers

“Do you have them memorized?” Zelda asked Lorenzo, prompting him to glance up from her breasts in embarrassment. Decades of gravity tugging at her cheeks had made her countenance sorrowful and her pants ill-fitting, yet had somehow left her bosom unravaged.

Lorenzo lifted the tent flap to peer outside, and decided it was safe. But after two strides, a pale glow rippling above the strongman’s skin told of his miscalculation as he suddenly froze in place.

“By the crossed eyes of the Jumbo! I am captured!”

Zelda poked her head out of the tent and immediately saw the culprit: a force-projecting depantser, which she recognized by its vermilion tailfeathers as the animal disappeared into the forest. Lorenzo would be fine in a moment, but his pants were gone forever, added to the depantser’s hoard. As Lorenzo blushed, Zelda imagined the cave, filled with great plaid bags of trousers.

 

bonus points for using them in order!

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There Will Be No Tribunal, Humpries

  • by jenIs it a sea dragon?
  • dropped the feather in the sand
  • already weep from loneliness
  • fortune teller’s blood
  • his spindly legs
  • There will be no tribunal, Humphries
  • another troupe of acrobatic midgets

“There will be no tribunal, Humpries,” Abercrombie said as he dropped the feather in the sand where it joined the coagulating pool of the fortune teller’s blood. “You will be banished and I will simply hire another troupe of acrobatic midgets to take your place.”

Humpries wobbled on his spindly legs. He hadn’t expected to be caught in the act of murder. He had expected time in which to cleverly stage the scene so that the superstitious carnies would all wonder aloud, “Is it a sea dragon? What else could have done this?”

But instead he’d been found out. Humphries couldn’t bear the thought of banishment. He felt that he could already weep from loneliness as he watched Abercrombie stalk away across the beach.

Perhaps, thought Humpries, the sea dragon could leave two victims…

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The Overseer Came to My Section Today

  • k-avatarcivilians were too nervous to stick around
  • instantly I was chilled to the bone
  • work a little congealed bacon grease into our hands
  • I noted how strange and stiff he sat as he rode
  • having nothing better to do with her time

The Overseer came to my section today, on his Knucklehead. I noted how strange and stiff he sat as he rode past me, and how his eyes roamed every inch of me. Instantly, I was chilled to the bone. Roxie nudged me under the table and, having nothing better to do with her time, suggested we work a little congealed bacon grease into our hands. I returned her smile, but inside, my troops were frantically digging trenches. My inner civilians were too nervous to stick around.

 

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Three Years Ago

  • by jenembraced this tree and wept
  • screwing around with the girls
  • make rocks fry eggs
  • Larry “The Boot”
  • before the sound left my tongue
  • possibly due to the polka-dot bow tie

Three years ago I ran into this forest, embraced this tree, and wept. Three years ago I caught my boyfriend Larry screwing around with the girls from the nearby private academy. Three years ago I got so mad that the power of my fury was great enough to make rocks fry eggs in a 2 meter diameter circle around me, but when I opened my mouth to give Larry “The Boot,” as they say, something froze me before the sound left my tongue. I have spent the past three years trying to figure out why I couldn’t tell Larry off, and I have concluded that it was possibly due to the polka-dot bow tie he was wearing.

bonus points for using them in order!

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A Midnight Spot Check

  • k-avatarI have been pregnant for five days
  • carrying a white dove
  • slung the towel over his shoulder
  • a midnight spot check
  • heaved him over a hip
  • and a green hat

A midnight spot check revealed Denise carrying a white dove and a green hat. When asked to explain herself, she said, “I have been pregnant for five days. He slung the towel over his shoulder, and I heaved him over a hip, and that was all it took.”

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