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.

“There You Are”

  1. Character – tooth fairy
  2. Setting – gazebo
  3. Object – bagpipes
  4. Situation – suicidal tendencies

“There you are. Why’d you run off?”

“I can’t go on. You don’t understand.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have a bottle of nightshade. Go away.”

“You can’t mean to –”

“Go! You sellout! What do you know?”

Lucky bit back his reply. The cereal contract made some of the traditionalists, like Toothy, look down on him. Sharp words would only worsen this situation.

“Maybe you just need a vacation. A couple of us could stand in for you for a bit.”

“Just go away. Leave my dignity.” The Tooth Fairy stood dramatically in the gazebo. But Lucky knew she was serious.

While they’d argued, a dozed kilted men had lined up in the park and were now filling their bagpipes.

Toothy eyed her bottle. “No more teeth.”

The pipers began Amazing Grace.

Great, thought Lucky, that’ll help.

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I’m Going To Kill My Agent

  1. by jenCharacter – supermodel
  2. Setting – the world’s most inappropriate McDonald’s
  3. Object – phone number
  4. Situation – dropped contact

I’m going to kill my agent, thought Wifty, as she struggled valiantly to look thrilled. Wifty knew she had to make good on her contract so she wouldn’t get a bad rep with the industry. But, c’mon! If there was a less appropriate place for a McDonald’s, she’d like to know about it. Right in the middle of Victoria’s Secret? She was sure some geek had a fetish about girls in thongs and push-up bras scarfing french fries. Ugh! The smell of the fryers was drowning out the perfumed lacy underthings.

The stage manager tweaked Wifty’s nipples to perk them up, slid a bra strap off one shoulder, and handed her a Shamrock Shake. Then she was on the runway again, photogs leering and flashbulbs flaring. At the end of the runway she winked seductively and lost her contact.

Backstage she grabbed her cellphone and started dialing. Contract be damned.

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Atop The Desolate Hill

In this special holiday edition, the stichomancy prompt phrases were all taken from Christmas carols. Not that Kent let that cramp his style. Happy Boxing Day!

  • there arose such a clatter
  • laughing all the way
  • was a jolly, happy soul
  • heedless of the wind and weather
  • five golden rings
  • the fire is slowly dying

Atop the desolate hill, the fire is slowly dying, revealing five golden rings among the embers. Dvortmund has come here, heedless of the wind and weather, to enact the rite of binding, and sanctify his bid for power.

Once, Dvortmund was a jolly, happy soul, but when his family cast him out he became a twisted maniac. Soon they will pay.

He sprints down the hill toward the manor house, laughing all the way. His laughter alerts the sentries, who shoot him with muskets. The shots bring forth his family, and they assemble around his fallen form.

“Last time there arose such a clatter, I got presents,” proclaims his nephew.

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“Does He Expect Us”

by jenIn this special holiday edition, the stichomancy prompt phrases were all taken from Christmas carols. Jen went in a different direction with it, though. Happy holidays!

  • you can do the job when you’re in town
  • me, I want a hula hoop
  • with a broomstick in his hand
  • dressed up like Eskimos
  • later on we’ll conspire
  • down through the chimney

“Does he expect us to go down through the chimney?” I asked, incredulous. “That place is impregnable. There’s a guard at every door, and I don’t mean the kind with a broomstick in his hand. I mean the kind with guns.”

“Boss says ‘you can do the job when you’re in town,'” replied my partner in crime. “Like it’s easy to assassinate traitors in broad daylight. The man hasn’t been out in the field in at least a decade. His expectations are unreasonable.”

I downed another shot before replying. “When he was on active duty, the Russians all dressed up like Eskimos. Made ’em easy to spot. Let’s just do this damn job. Later on we’ll conspire about a coup.”

The bartender approached. “Another round?”

My partner perused the drinks menu, then said, “Me, I want a hula hoop.”

“Make it two.”

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As His Rage Subsided

  1. Character – the Grim Reaper
  2. Setting – pool hall
  3. Object – bull whip
  4. Situation – last date

As his rage subsided and the flashing red haze cleared from his vision, Tony saw Carmen.

She was sprawled across one of the tables, seeming to study the 8-ball with unblinking eyes. A braided leather cord was cinched tight around her throat, its length trailing over the side of the table to the stout handle Tony grasped.

He could remember a fight, his stupid jealousy. Carmen wasn’t moving.

A dark figure drifted in through a solid wall. He was cloaked and carried a scythe. He drifted over to Carmen, and a translucent copy of her took his hand and sat up.

“It’s like I tried to explain,” she said as she stroked the Reaper’s cheek, “I’m going with somebody else now.”

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“I Knew I Should Have”

  1. by jenCharacter – Typhoid Stanley
  2. Setting – the caves of Neptune
  3. Object – scissors
  4. Situation – lost

“I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque,” muttered Stanley.

He peered through the windshield at the luminous blue-green walls surrounding the hoppercraft.

Mary sighed heavily. He knew what she was thinking. Another Typhoid family vacation ruined.

“I’ll ask where we are,” he said, and stepped outside. He stretched his tentacles and floobled over to the information kiosk.

“The Caves of Neptune Welcome You,” he translated the sign.

Stanley sighed and floobled back to the hopper.

“We’re lost,” he said. “That’s the last time we let Junior play with the scissors and the map.”

Two Figures Move Along The Catwalk

  1. Character – judge
  2. Setting – zeppelin
  3. Object – nail-gun
  4. Situation – hiccups

Two figures move along the catwalk, one in black robes and one in blue overalls. With his hands up, the robed man turns to face his captor.

“This won’t solve anything,” the judge says to the roofer.

“You put me away for a long <hic!> time,” drawls the man in overalls, menacing the judge wit his nail-gun.

Not long enough, thinks the judge. A low groaning sound permeates the superstructure as the Zeppelin Chambers – literally the highest court in the land – banks slightly to port.

“Careful with that. You’ll kill us all!” the judge implores.

“May <hic!>, maybe <hic!> that wouldn’t <hic!> be such a <hic!> bad thing!”

Oh why didn’t I take my gavel with me at recess? the judge lamented.

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Xyblorgyz Peered At His Ticket

  1. by jenCharacter – alien
  2. Setting – dry dock
  3. Object – one-way plane ticket
  4. Situation – obscene phone call

Xyblorgyz peered at his ticket. Murmansk. One way. It was the closest he could get to Tunguska. He hoped he wouldn’t miss his train connection. The shuttle to the mother-ship wouldn’t wait for stragglers.

But where was Niplodiuma? She should have been here by now.

Xyblorgyz’s digits fumbled with the tiny buttons as he tried to reach her on her Earthling cellphone.

“Hello?” said the female voice that answered.

“Plody, it’s me. Where are you?” he said in their native Centroplaxis tongue.

“Oh gross!” the female voice said. “You obscene phone callers need to get lives!”

That definitely wasn’t Plody. Xyblorgyz looked around at his fellow passengers. They were all brawny, sweaty, and wearing work gloves. How odd. His phone rang and Xyblorgyz answered it.

“Blorgy! Where are you?” It was Plody. “They’ve begun boarding!”

Xyblorgyz looked around.

“Not where I am.”

“Where are you?” She sounded frantic.

Xyblorgyz checked his translator. “Dry dock.”

“Blorgy! I told you to get that thing fixed! A dry dock is not the same as an airport!”

Xyblorgyz looked around in shocked horror.

“Oh, frazglark!”

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Steve Walked Up To The Counter

  1. Character – interior designer
  2. Setting – shopping mall
  3. Object – lunar rock
  4. Situation – dropped a contact

Steve walked up to the counter with his purchases – a “moon rock” and two hand-crafted replica ceremonial masks “from Honduras.” These seasonal stores at the mall sure made his job simpler.

“Forty-three Seventy-five. Charge? Okay.”

Steve ran his hands through his long hair while the cashier waited for her machine. She was an older unit – the cashier, not the machine – but had a tattoo peeking out over her low collar.

“So you collect this stuff?”

“It’s for a client. I’m an interior designer.”

“Hey! My nephew would love to meet you.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tightly, causing his right contact to pop out. “I’m not gay, alright? Just because a guy has long hair and decorates for a living doesn’t automatically make him gay!”

The cashier wilted. “Jimmy’s not gay either. He just bought a new house, though.”

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Lolita Panned Around The Garden

  1. by jenCharacter – retired pearl diver
  2. Setting – botanical garden
  3. Object – camcorder
  4. Situation – quitting the order

Lolita panned around the garden with the camcorder, looking for the best view. The orchid display was exceptional, the delicate white and pink flowers providing startling contrast to the black rubber worn by all of today’s participants.

Lolita made sure the camera was white-balanced properly and sat back to wait.

Gustav and Yoko were finally ready. Their wetsuits got harder for them to struggle into each year.

After the swearing in of the initiates, it was finally time for the retirement ceremony. Lolita started filming, then left the tripod. Gustav and Yoko looked warmly at her, extending their hands for the ritual handshake.

Lolita choked back tears as they removed her triple-strand pearl necklace and oxygen tank. After the ceremonial returning of the flippers, it was all over.

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