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.

Devlin du Mauvais Knew Himself to be a Very Attractive Man

  • by jenperhaps a bit long and square-jawed
  • unable to cause his larynx to make sound
  • something as mundane as a monkey reflex
  • through his half-open shirtfront
  • “Welcome, gentlemen, to Sugarloaf Mountain.”
  • next thing you’ll be hearing church bells
  • with their passionate tornadoes of paper

Devlin du Mauvais knew himself to be a very attractive man, even if his hair was perhaps a bit long. And square-jawed masculinity never went out of style, he knew, but it did nothing to explain his skill as a black magician.

Devin’s sister Minerva grasped the throat of the dead man on the table, but no matter how hard she squeezed, she was unable to cause his larynx to make sound.

“Why does this carcass defy me!?” she demanded. “He should at least possess something as mundane as a monkey reflex, not just lay there inertly.”

“Sister, dear, calm down, or the next thing you’ll be hearing church bells ringing through your nerves and the men in white, with their passionate tornadoes of paperwork, will take you away again.”

Minerva took a deep breath, then she smiled seductively and tweaked Devlin’s nipple through his half-open shirtfront.

As they kissed, she ran her hand down to his erection and cooed, “Welcome, gentlemen, to Sugarloaf Mountain.”

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Hector and Amelia

  • k-avataran unenviable chore
  • sagging out from under her hand
  • “Coffee?”
  • the youngest of the preschool children
  • it thumped ponderously east
  • an interminable bawl

Hector and Amelia sat atop the youngest of the preschool children as it thumped ponderously east.

“Coffee?” Amelia suggested, the sopping brown towel sagging out from under her hand. Hector shook his head and stared at the moon just risen ahead of them. Wringing the stuff out into a mug was an unenviable chore given the uneven motion of the mammoth toddler’s head. And if any of the hot liquid touched his scalp, he’d set the mountains a-tremble with an interminable bawl.

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Arnold Gazed in Dismay

  • by jenthe vulgar world of newspaperdom
  • did not suggest a tightly packed foundation
  • my island, my mountain, my land
  • whatever portion of the anatomy
  • it’ll swallow the house
  • roller coasters, whorehouses
  • “Oho. Deranged am I?
  • don’t like being put in such a position

Arnold gazed in dismay at the stripper. Whatever portion of the anatomy she chose to display, it did not suggest a tightly packed foundation.

“Her ass is so big it’ll swallow the house,” he complained to his pal Ricky.

“I like it,” Ricky replied.

“You’re deranged.”

“Oho. Deranged am I? Well at least I’ll get laid tonight. Nothing pleases you, Arnold. Not roller coasters, whorehouses, or foot massages. This is my island, my mountain, my land, and you’re making me feel like an inadequate host. I don’t like being put in such a position and so I shall banish you back to the vulgar world of newspaperdom from whence you  came!”

“Whence?” complained Arnold. “Who uses that word anymore?”

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Sally Was No Longer Certain

  • k-avatarHow observant the females
  • slipping cautiously into the mist
  • wrong end first, only compounded the confusion
  • letting her own need flower
  • exclamations crowded her brain
  • overhanging the poop deck
  • a rumbling chuckle ruffled her curls

Sally was no longer certain she should have come on the voyage, and the sight of Alphonse’s vessel slipping cautiously into the mist, wrong end first, only compounded the confusion in her mind. She raised the spyglass, leaning far out over the railing overhanging the poop deck, but the heavy mist made the instrument useless. Alphonse and his ship had vanished.

A rumbling chuckle ruffled her curls, and she cursed the rat-sneak who styled himself captain of this tub, but not aloud. He had an eerie way of sneaking up behind her. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“How observant the females, and still, ah, vot is the word…” the grizzled Russian stared off into the ice-choked distance. “Stupid. Yes.”

Exclamations crowded her brain, and Sally’s eyes widened, but she checked her indignant reply.

“I brought you nice coat. Sealskin and arctic fox.”

Sally hadn’t felt cold, too intent on Alphonse’s fate, but now realized she was shivering violently. Hating herself for accepting anything from the vile captain, she reached for the garment and greedily shrugged into it. The captain chuckled again.

Sally hid her tears in fox fur. Alphonse had been content back home on the farm, but she had needed an adventurous man. And now she stood here, freezing, alone, sorry for letting her own need flower into her beloved’s doom.

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Inez Claims to be Spanish

  • by jenhis Austrian cannon
  • lights a small cheroot for herself
  • sexuality is the key
  • that should relieve her boredom
  • Inez claims to be Spanish
  • so many homosexuals of both kinds

Inez claims to be Spanish, but no one believes her, even when she lights a small cheroot for herself and affects a heavy accent.

Inez is bored. She has spent the day surrounded by so many homosexuals of both kinds. Heterosexuality is the key that should relieve her boredom.

Luckily Hans enters the dance club just then. Inez smiles, thinking of his Austrian cannon.

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Harry Would Always Try Like Hell

  • k-avatartry like hell to tailor
  • it would look like a slump
  • theoretical mathematical inherent possibility
  • flight only smaller cats
  • $2000

Harry would always try like hell to tailor his advice to the particular needs of the recipient.

“Fight only smaller cats,” he recommended to the scratched and bedraggled dachshund. Not fighting at all would generally be better advice, but a weiner-dog has to think about the standings. It would look like a slump if he didn’t notch any victories.

“Go for it,” he called up to the woman on the ledge. To the aghast bystanders all around, he said, “She might float down slowly and be fine. It’s a theoretical mathematical inherent possibility.”

Every time Harry’s prescription ran out, he enjoyed at least a day of such lucidity and wisdom. And to think, he thought, I spent $2000 on those pills!

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

The Fee For Government Burial

  • by jenas smoking tears poured from his eyes
  • my mother was alive then
  • one extraterrestrial humanoid
  • furtive-faced little man in an oversize raincoat
  • The fee for government burial is ten dollars
  • with cars, refrigerators, a castle in Scotland

“The fee for government burial is ten dollars,” said the furtive-faced little man in an oversize raincoat as smoking tears poured from his eyes and he exposed himself.

“Let me give you some advice,” Carlo said, “one extraterrestrial humanoid to another. Keep that thing covered or the earthmen will know that you’re not just an eccentric rich man with cars, refrigerators, a castle in Scotland, and all the rest.”

“Sorry,” said the furtive-faced little man. “In my grief I forget myself.”

“Surely you can afford the ten dollar fee,” said Carlo.

“I used to wealthy, years ago,” said the man, “but my mother was alive then. When she died, our money was cremated along with her body. And now I cannot even afford the government fee to bury my monkey.”

Feeling sympathy, Carlo slipped the man a tenner.

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

“Rude Drivers. They Kill People.”

  • k-avatara man in a white spacesuit
  • the greedy bastards
  • workers washing their boots
  • the pilots had been drinking
  • They kill people
  • code word to alert the bodyguard

“Rude drivers. They kill people.”

Steve returned to his magazine, hoping to read in peace until take-off. A man in a white spacesuit had the seat beside him, and seemed determined to pry into Steve’s reasons for everything, up to and including his choice of air travel over the highway.

As he read an article about workers washing their boots as part of a work stoppage, the greedy bastards striking for more pay and more days off, Steve heard a commotion in first class. Some celebrity and his whole entourage were trying to leave the cabin, the spoiled celeb calling out “guacamole!” over and over.

It must have been a code word to alert the bodyguard that the pilots had been drinking.

 

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

The Latest Album From My Favorite Band

  • by jenthe Danish East Asia Company
  • emitted a ghostly hiss
  • suicides and bankruptcies
  • the rain poured down
  • with Mussolini making speeches

The latest album from my favorite band, The Danish East Asia Company, emitted a ghostly hiss as it started to play through my headphones. The hiss built into a lush, haunting melody and the lyrics told a story of suicides and bankruptcies as the rain poured down in my ears. The next track was angrier, with Mussolini making speeches in Italian in the samples they had chosen to construct the complex beat.

 

bonus points for using them in order!

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

“Abigail! Bad Dog!”

  • k-avatarthe seven battalions of the Lepracaun
  • rent all her needlework asunder
  • made a merry, scornful sound
  • the princess’s spaniel
  • “Hop! Hop!” he cried

“Abigail! Bad dog!” exclaimed Princess Flamisham after Abigail, the princess’s spaniel, made a merry, scornful sound and rent all her needlework asunder.

But soon the princess marveled at her pet’s alertness, for revealed beneath the ruined coverlet were the tiny General Shamrock and the seven battalions of the Lepracaun.

“Good dog, Abigail! Sic ’em!”

Shamrock issued commands in a frenzy, hoping to avoid a total massacre. “Hop! Hop!” he cried.

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!