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.

Tessa Couldn’t Have Known

  • by Kentone blissful month
  • you have long, elegant toes
  • clowns that had been said to be lurking nearby
  • the legendary “Zoot Suit Riots”
  • debunk the theory that two pizzas would be smashed together to create

Tune in next time part 778      Click Here for Earlier Installments

Tessa couldn’t have known how her suggestion affected me, because she knew nothing of that one blissful month I’d spent living in the islands as an ink harvester, diving for squid all day, and sleeping on the sand every night. Or, did she know more than I realized? It was unwise to underestimate her investigative skills. Did she know what I’d said to Gladys, my dive master (“you have long, elegant toes“)? Did she know that I fled that tropical paradise to escape the clowns that had been said to be lurking nearby?

In any event, even a giant squid couldn’t have restrained me from jumping into the aquarium, so fervid was my nostalgic dive-lust. It turned out there were no squid in the aquarium, but by the time I figured that out Tessa was done rummaging in the costume closet and had selected us matching outfits in which we would look like participants in the legendary “Zoot Suit Riots” — but, even dripping wet, I was determined to choose something a bit more timely.

A white lab coat was an easy choice. Instant credibility! As I shrugged it on, Tessa asked who I was supposed to be. “I’m Professor Trattoria, whose life’s work is to build the Large Calzone Collider and debunk the theory that two pizzas would be smashed together to create the universe as we know it.”

Tessa smirked, shaking her head. She said, “You do know we’re still doing those tattoos, right?”

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“Maybe Fleur has a Point”

  • by jenBreak out the macrame vests and the hip huggers!
  • it’s lust, pure and simple
  • eating pasta barehanded
  • hallucinating and perspiring greatly
  • catch your own squid and harvest the ink by hand

Tune in next time part 777      Click Here for Earlier Installments

“Maybe Fleur has a point,” Tessa said. “Where are we running to?”

“Trust me,” I said. “I’m a general. I know my way around a Contrarian Royal Airship. We’ll find a place to hole up together. But first I need some clothes. Preferably not a uniform, so I blend in.”

“Break out the macrame vests and the hip huggers!”

Tessa always wants me to dress like a hippie. It’s lust, pure and simple. She likes it best when the hip huggers are paisley. If I’m also eating pasta barehanded while hallucinating and perspiring greatly, it’s like porn to her.

“The costume closet is beside the aquarium,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“While I choose your outfit, you hop in the tank, catch your own squid and harvest the ink by hand,” Tessa purred. “That way we can give each other tattoos!”

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Fleur Was Convinced

  • by Kent“dancing till all hours” as my grandmother put it
  • Is it me? My refrigerator?
  • but it’s kind of a secret
  • as fast as my brain can tell my finger to
  • bemused drawl and conman grin

Tune in next time part 776      Click Here for Earlier Installments

Fleur was convinced that this was a Tessabot, but I felt certain she was the real thing. But, had my sister let my wife in on some hidden info? Was I deluded? Did infatuation have my brain “dancing till all hours” as my grandmother put it? Why do such imponderables keep interfering with my life? Is it me? My refrigerator? Is it time to throw away that old pickle relish?

“I asked you,” Tessa said, “which sister you talked to. It’s important!”

“It is important, yes,” said Fleur, still hauling me down the corridor by my collar. “I get that, but it’s kind of a secret. And I wouldn’t tell a robot anyway.”

While she was distracted, I was undoing the buttons on my jacket as fast as my brain can tell my finger to poke them through their holes. That brain must not have done too much dancing, for in seconds, Fleur was holding the empty garment and I was dashing with Tessa down a side passageway.

“Sure, run away,” Fleur said with a bemused drawl and a conman grin. “You gonna run right off the airship?”

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I Edged to the Right

  • by jenthat sister of yours
  • a fleeting intensity in his look
  • too much truth serum
  • sent a handwritten note
  • New York’s elite muckety-mucks

Tune in next time part 775      Click Here for Earlier Installments

I edged to the right, gripping Tessa by the elbow. We could sneak away while Zeus and Fleur had each other distracted. On a vessel as large as a Contrarian Royal Airship there had to be some private place where we could talk uninterrupted.

“I should have listened to that sister of yours,” Fleur said, snagging me by the collar. “She warned me you’d try to slip away.”

Which of my sisters had she been talking to?

“Which of his sisters have you been talking to?” Tessa asked. “Most of them are liars.”

“Go away, Pamplemousse,” Fleur said. “I have business with my husband.”

A fleeting intensity in his look told me Zeus Pamplemousse was greatly vexed to be dismissed like this. “Too much truth serum is poison for a relationship, Fleur,” the giant man grumbled. “You really ought to spare my feelings.”

“If I wanted to spare your feelings I would have sent a handwritten note, and being the daughter of the Contrarian Warlord, it would have been a thing of calligraphic wonder. Now go.” She flapped her hand at him.

“This isn’t over!” he roared. “New York’s elite muckety-mucks will hear of this! You’ll never be invited to another polo match!”

Fleur tightened her grip on my collar. “Come with me. And bring your robotic Ultra-Druid.”

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“Fleur!” Exclaimed Zeus Pamplemousse

  • by KentThat poem is unforgivable.
  • “I say no!”
  • with a grip on his throat
  • time for someone else to be touching your body
  • I thought you were in Africa

Tune in next time part 774      Click Here for Earlier Installments

“Fleur!” exclaimed Zeus Pamplemousse. He fell to one knee and recited:

“Of all that ever once did bloom,
you were the sweetest flower on the moon.”

My wife scowled at him. She folded her arms and replied:

“I do not forget.
Go away. That poem is
unforgivable.“

“They say time heals all wounds,” simpered the Moon Monarch.

“I say no!” Fleur shot back, lunging forward to emphasize her words with a grip on his throat. “Eternity wouldn’t fix what you did.”

Zeus stood up, unperturbed by Fleur’s nails gouging his neck. “I understand, now, that it was time for someone else to be touching your body. But at the time, I was unprepared for what I walked in on. It surprised me.”

Fleur released her choke hold, mainly so she could stop standing on her tiptoes. “You say you were surprised when you walked in? I thought you were in Africa.”

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After Smothering the Fire

  • by jenchasm of emptiness in my heart
  • “Here’s the masterpiece,” I said
  • “Of course I can beatbox.”
  • always been moderately (and occasionally very) embarrassed
  • nervous giggling, hiccuping, and sniffling

Tune in next time part 773      Click Here for Earlier Installments

After smothering the fire, Tessa dressed herself in the vestments of a Contrarian Ultra-Druid. You might think I would be disappointed for her not to be naked any more, but that just tells me you are unfamiliar with the ways of the Ultra-Druids. She looked more obscene now than I’d ever seen her, so obscene it turned Pamplemousse into a mountain of nervous giggling, hiccuping, and sniffling absurdity.

Tessa grinned when she saw the looks on our faces. “Let’s go get that ice cream!”

As we strode through the corridors toward the cafeteria we passed another of Jason’s bottle sculptures. I have always been moderately (and occasionally very) embarrassed about my lack of rap skill when compared to my brother, and now I kept encountering evidence that he was also better at making found art. Tessa saw my sour expression and immediately knew what I was thinking.

“Darling,” she said. “Can you still beatbox?”

“Of course I can beatbox.” That was one realm where I outshone my twin. I smiled.

“At the Academy you were working on your beatboxing magnum opus. Do you remember it? Could you perform it now? For me? Please?”

There was no way I could deny her anything, especially when she was dressed like an Ultra-Druid. I cleared my throat. “Here’s the masterpiece,” I said, and launched into it. When I wrote it I’d been inspired by my love for Tessa, however over the years that we’d been apart it had gained resonance in the chasm of emptiness in my heart. I wanted to really wow Tessa, so I gave it my all.

I got so caught up in my magnificent mouth noises that I didn’t notice Fleur until we were right on top of her.

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My Dash

  • by Kentrolled out from underneath
  • “If I’m going camping, it’s going to be inside.”
  • so many novelty ice cream flavors
  • want to spritz myself with oranges and attract hornets
  • on the clown shoes

Tune in next time part 772      Click Here for Earlier Installments

My dash for the nearest exit from the chapel knocked over several tall candlesticks, but I didn’t slow down until Tessa and I were in the corridor and I’d pulled the door shut behind me. A lone candle rolled out from underneath the door, leaving a trail of wax.

Tessa’s trance broke the moment she was unable to see the Moon King’s socks. “I think I saw something catch fire back there,” she said.

I wasn’t too bothered for Pamplemousse’s safety, but a blaze would put the whole airship at risk. I grumbled, but I opened the door back up to see a cheery fire roaring in the center of the chamber. It consisted of dozens of those damned candles arranged with their wicks together. It looked like an emoji of a campfire, but the heat was all too real. Pamplemousse, meanwhile, was in the process of draping his cloak over a pew to make a tent. He noticed my return, but seemed unfazed, merely saying, “If I’m going camping, it’s going to be inside.”

“We can’t trust him to control that fire,” Tessa protested.

“Why not come with us,” I reluctantly offered. “We’re going to the cafeteria for some treats. No place has so many novelty ice cream flavors like a Contrarian Royal Airship.” The idea of continuing to deal with this lunatic made me want to spritz myself with oranges and attract hornets.

“Sure, that sounds wonderful!” Zeus Pamplemousse enthused. While he collected his cloak and hurried to the door where I was beckoning, Tessa sought a way to put out the fire. The area around the altar held the emergency vestments for a wide range of religious orders. This included the Alamode Evangelicals, whose outfits and facepaint are far too flammable to be of use, but Tessa was able to smother the blaze using the carton the clown shoes were stored in.

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The Silver-Fringed Washcloths

  • by jentiny but sharp
  • “Leave your calling card on the silver tray
  • “I swallowed it,”
  • shrugging his great shoulders
  • we will use the celebrated diagonal method

Tune in next time part 771      Click Here for Earlier Installments

The silver-fringed washcloths in Zeus Pamplemousse’s hands emitted an eerie humming sound. I directed tiny but sharp kicks at Tessa’s ankle in an attempt to break her sock-trance without alerting the loony lunar giant. I tugged on her wrist.

Zeus stood to his full height. Through some rudimentary trick of origami, he folded the two washcloths into a single flat rectangle that he balanced on the fingertips of one hand. It rang like a bell. “Leave your calling card on the silver tray,” he commanded.

Since I don’t live in a regency romance novel, I had no calling card. It was clear that Pamplemousse would never accept that answer though. “I swallowed it,” I lied while tugging Tessa’s wrist again.

Shrugging his great shoulders, the Mad Moon King said, “I can wait.” He cracked his immense knuckles. “I’ve heard of many ways to speed that sort of thing up, but I think that today we will use the celebrated diagonal method.” He reached for me.

I gave up on all subtlety, hoisted Tessa into my arms, and turned to flee.

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Zeus Had Removed His Boots

  • by Kent“Go back in, my sugar bug.”
  • strenuous and dangerous
  • “Fish?”
  • roommate at the university
  • weird washcloths

Tune in next time part 770      Click Here for Earlier Installments

Zeus had removed his boots. The Moon Socks glowed with cold, white light. They were indeed mesmerizing.

“Oh no,” Zeus said playfully. “There’s a piggy poking out!” He waggled the toe, then reached down to stretch the sock out over it. “Go back in, my sugar bug.”

I considered jumping him while he was distracted, but fighting someone so large and unhinged seemed likely to be strenuous and dangerous. I opted instead to try to exploit his distraction another way.

“Hey, Pamplemousse,” I called. “What animals make the best pets on the moon?”

He ruminated for a few seconds. “Fish?”

The answer I had been looking for was mice, on account of cheese somehow, but since he was taking the bait and it was obvious he hadn’t realized it was meant as a riddle I just rolled with his response. “Why do you say that?” I nudged Tessa’s foot with mine to try to get her to look away from the radiant Moon Socks.

“My roommate at the university — and yes, I did almost say moonmate at the lunarversity — had pet fish. I fed them sometimes. I came to think of fish as the ideal pets for anywhere, so of course that would apply on the moon.”

I nodded at Zeus while trying to herd Tessa toward the least candle-filled doorway. Her eyes were still riveted to his feet. The Moon King himself became hypnotized by his own socks. He stared at them while he reached into his boots and pulled out what looked like weird washcloths. I really didn’t want to find out what they were for, but Tessa was moving so slowly I feared it couldn’t be avoided.

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“Speaking of Birds”

  • by jenland one on his chin
  • used only body glitter for makeup
  • “You don’t have to worry about me.”
  • backstory about my socks
  • what will happen if I let myself fall asleep

Tune in next time part 769      Click Here for Earlier Installments

“Speaking of birds,” said Zeus Pamplemousse. “Before I can allow any wife of mine to spend time with her manstress, she must train a flock of Moon Owls and land one on his chin.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Tessa and I said in unison. The Moon King’s lunacy was quite remarkable. It reminded me of a teacher at the Academy who used only body glitter for makeup, and used quite a lot of it. He was quite sparkly. Problem being the glitter had a high mercury content, and the teacher went quite mad.

I scoped out the zeppelin’s wedding chapel for escape routes, and found them all blocked by candles. Many, many candles. If we made a break for it, it would be quite dangerous. Tessa saw what I was up to, and the look on her face said, “You don’t have to worry about me.” I squeezed her hand.

“And while she is training the Moon Owls,” Pamplemousse continued, as if we hadn’t interrupted him, “she will have to memorize the entire backstory about my socks — my Moon Socks! — and what makes them so special, and why I can never wash them.”

What will happen if I let myself fall asleep right now? I wondered. Will my dreams be any more bizarre than my reality?

I was ready to run for the exit, but Tessa was distracted, mesmerized by Zeus Pamplemousse’s astonishing Moon Socks.

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