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.

The Perfume Wafting Up

  • by jenfinished the baklava
  • I sneezed repeatedly
  • made my hair prickle
  • filthy looking meal in a rusty can
  • perfume wafting up

The perfume wafting up from the bottom bunk smelled almost as pungent as the filthy looking meal in a rusty can they served me for dinner last night. I sneezed repeatedly, which drew the guard’s attention. The malevolent look in his muddy eyes made my hair prickle on my arms and neck. If I had known it would end like this, in this wretched culinary prison, I would have finished the baklava for His Majesty on time!

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Helen Had Almost Finished

  • k-avatar— and to a lesser extent the cat and the horse
  • “Exactly!” whispered the doctor
  • finished powdering her nose
  • a killer whale’s muzzle
  • felt a strange quiver
  • dark brown man

Helen had almost finished powdering her nose, which was a noteworthy accomplishment. It looked like nothing so much as a killer whale’s muzzle, broad yet graceful, and packed with needle-sharp teeth.

Lurking in the closet, and watching Helen’s reflection through a gap in the door, the dark brown man felt a strange quiver. He drew a deep breath.

“Be still!” hissed a nearly inaudible voice behind him. Hunkered below the hanging skirts and gowns were two more people, and it was the gawky northerner who’d shushed him. The other,  a savage beauty almost as dark as the dark brown man, rolled her exquisite eyes in a meaningful manner. “Exactly!” whispered the doctor, “— and to a lesser extent the cat and the horse!”

 

 

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Hand-Drawn and Pale-Colored

  • by jendrawn and pale
  • clay alien bust
  • that’s gotta come first
  • made my teeth sweat
  • leg had healed so well

Hand-drawn and pale-colored stars decorate the clay alien bust that is the centerpiece of the exhibit. Hieronymus Warhol describes the sculpting process like this: “Inspiration — that’s gotta come first, before the clay is ever touched. I had this idea and it was so good it made my teeth sweat, or maybe it was the pain medicine that made ’em sweat. My wife Fiona told me I should stop taking the medicine once my leg had healed so well, but I didn’t listen to her. And it’s a good thing I didn’t.”

bonus points for using them in order!

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She Jumped At the Forbidden

  • k-avatarbright cherry fruit
  • impossibly enormous
  • whirling on the kitchen floor
  • pushed the popcorn at her
  • or jump out of the car
  • illegal glass of wine

She jumped at the forbidden, bright cherry fruit of an illegal glass of wine, laughing and swooning through the elegant dinner at Le Gourmangerie before I led her stumblingly to my convertible for the short drive to the drive-in where High School Musical 7 was showing and where I thought she might scream or jump out of the car when I pushed the popcorn at her impossibly enormous breasts, but she kept her cool and shared the buttery exploded kernels with me and asked me in after the ride to her place and soon enough we were whirling on the kitchen floor like a punctured beer can dropped by a clumsy pledge.

 

bonus points for using them all in one sentence!

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The “Lost” Episode of Tagalong Bub

  • by jenlatent potencies later in the program
  • you got so carried away
  • ignorance of the law is no excuse, Bub.
  • a betrothal my father renounced
  • chump on the dome

The “Lost” Episode of Tagalong Bub

“You got so carried away, but ignorance of the law is no excuse, Bub,” said Pappy.

“I know that now, Pappy, and I’m terribly sorry. I feel just like a chump on the dome.”

“Oh, sonny,” said Pappy, patting Tagalong Bub on the shoulder, “don’t beat yourself up. We’ll get this all straightened out. You’ll see.”

“She’s just so awful purty, Pappy,” said Bub, as a heart-shaped thought balloon image of the cartoon’s villainess RunAmok Sal hovered over his head. “I never dreamed I’d fall in love and wind up involved in a betrothal my father renounced.”

And so it seemed that Tagalong Bub had narrowly avoided RunAmok Sal’s trap, but the love potion Sal used was complicated and revealed its latent potencies later in the program when she sneaked into Bub’s bedroom and forcibly consummated their union.

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I Think Our Troublesome Renegade

  • k-avatarthe priest tucked her in
  • profusely awkward
  • our troublesome renegade
  • display her milk-heavy udders
  • you did it up brown!
  • they are also cannibals

“I think our troublesome renegade will like this room. It should make her feel at home.”

Sheila followed Stefan into the upstairs bedroom, eager to see the redecorating. “You did it up brown!” she squealed, knowing instantly that Tarantella would indeed like it. And without any curtains, it would be profusely awkward for the horny savage to display her milk-heavy udders to Father Shultz at naptime when the priest tucked her in.

“Oh, it’s perfect,” she murmured. “Stefan, you know so much about poor ‘Tella’s people, and their preference for earthtones. They are religiously attached to somber colors.”

“They are also cannibals, so tell Shultzy to be careful.”

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“Johnny? Johnny?”

  • by jena full partner
  • still facing the lighted rectangle
  • How will she face the wrath of god?
  • hours
  • Johnny? Johnny?

“Johnny? Johnny?” Minerva becomes more convinced by the minute that brother was right. Making Johnny a full partner in this endeavor was a mistake.

It has been hours since she cast the spell, and Johnny is still facing the lighted rectangle, immobile and unspeaking.

The attempt to create an oracle failed. Minerva wonders about her fate. How will she face the wrath of god? Anubis is notoriously stubborn about holding grudges, after all.

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Professor McMurphy

  • k-avatarsuch isolating topography
  • blanched, blotched, and faded
  • a beautiful double-cube room
  • some gigantic log spinning
  • slid into the huge four poster bed
  • why in all the hells

Professor McMurphy liked to follow a carefully planned curriculum, spending the early part of the semester on simple quadratics and such, isolating topography from less demanding material. But his students showed little appreciation, showering the professor with old cabbages that were blanched, blotched, and faded. He taught Abstruse Mathematics, lecturing in a beautiful double-cube room (216 square meters, 125 seats) in a prime location (room 97). Overhead, a mobile made of aluminum numerals slowly pivoted, like some enormous exponent or some gigantic log spinning in the air. But the students didn’t care.

Kelsie was by far the worst, but Professor McMurphy couldn’t flunk her. She knew too much. Where he was ticklish, mainly. That night, as she slid into the huge four poster bed beside him, he wondered why in all the hells she didn’t share his passion for math. Then he turned his mind to other things (computing the billionth digit of Pi) and turned his body to Kelsie.

 

bonus points for using them in order!

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The Aesthetic Accomplished by the Artist

  • by jeninsecure escapist
  • certain foundation of misery
  • witches who steal penises
  • aesthetic

“The aesthetic accomplished by the artist is a certain foundation of misery seen through the eyes of an insecure escapist,” Desmond wrote, “but why this piece is called ‘Witches Who Steal Penises‘ is beyond me.”

bonus points for using them all in one sentence

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They All Shared Her Grace of Posture

  • k-avatarfor verily, her breasts were like melons
  • the sitter responded with a slack-jawed grin
  • complimented Ian on his quick head
  • inwardly he didn’t feel too sympathetic
  • they all shared her grace of posture

They all shared her grace of posture, oddly, for verily her breasts were like melons. Her ass was like additional melons, a fact perhaps holding the key to the mystery of her poise.

Balance. Balance in all things, not just melons. The young twins lacked melons altogether, having yet to attain lemons, but they were balanced. When their parents went out, the twins looked forward to their sitter’s company.

“Stephanie!” enthused both youngsters. The sitter responded with a slack-jawed grin. (But a well-balanced one.)

Lurking in the bushes, two snipers shared candy. Discovering that the bag held an odd number of M&Ms, the left-most assassin placed the last chocolate morsel under a bush, for the squirrels. Keith complimented Ian on his quick head. Ian expressed poetical regret that they must make orphans of these children, but inwardly he didn’t feel too sympathetic.

 

 

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