Agent Smedley Raised the Collar of his Trench Coat

  1. k-avatarCharacter – inept hacker
  2. Setting – world’s most inappropriate McDonald’s
  3. Object – nail gun
  4. Situation – midlife crisis

Agent Smedley raised the collar of his trench coat, shot a shifty glance up the hill to see if he was being watched, and ducked into the restaurant. He queued for his ultra-fatty burger and deep-fried potatoes.

The vibrant yellow insignia that had led him here stood in garish contrast to the centuries-old stones of the fortification that housed the establishment. Mere steps from the site of royal decapitations, amid the grand murk of the Tower and its veil of history, lurked a hive of incipient obesity and totem of the very rebellious colonists who repudiated this empire.

Smedley surveyed his fellow diners, alert for anyone else who seemed to be looking for someone. His contact had said, “Meet me at the world’s most inappropriate McDonald’s,” and this had to be the place.

It was Smedley’s turn. He looked at the person awaiting his order, and saw that his piercing gaze was being shrewdly returned. He smiled.

“Deep-fry me a nail gun,” he muttered.

“This job is just part of my midlife crisis,” responded the young man in the polyester hat. He slid a tray across the counter, and Smedley noted an excessively printed order slip. He nodded and took the empty tray to an equally empty table.

He read the slip. He shook his head. Although there was lots of jargon about firewalls and encryption, all the strip of paper really told him was that he’d been outbid for the clock he really liked on eBay.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Marita Shuddered and Closed Her Eyes

  1. by jenCharacter – alien robot
  2. Setting – dry dock
  3. Object – engagement ring
  4. Situation – scattering ashes

Marita shuddered and closed her eyes. With any luck the horrible cyborg wouldn’t think to look for her in her hiding spot. A ship in dry dock has no need for lifeboats, after all.

Curiosity got the better of her, and Marita opened her eyes. Peering through the crack between the boat and its canvas tarp she caught a fleeting glint of sunlight reflecting off the machine’s shiny blue casing. A second later there was a sharp, electrical noise as the robot fired a blast of energy at the stack of lumber where Lyle was hiding. The wood disappeared in a cloud of ash which quickly scattered in the breeze, exposing Lyle on bended knee, proffering a ring.

Marita watched in amazement as the robot holstered its ray gun and pulled Lyle to his feet. The two of them embraced and walked together to the waiting rocket ship.

“That ring was meant for me!” Marita grumbled, knowing that she would now need to swear vengeance upon the alien robot and its kind in order to save her dignity.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Finishing each other’s sentences

r-avatarWith our workflow, the basic building blocks of a first draft are scenes. The outline gives us a very rough scene list, and then we move on to making stubs, which for the most part correlate one-to-one with scenes.

We divvy up the stubs, and normally each scene is written wholly by one or the other co-author. Things sometimes call for a bit of improvisation, though, like the other night. We each pecked away until we got almost to the ends of our respective scenes, and then both of us felt stuck. So we swapped scenes. What stymied Kent turned out to be easy for Jen, and vice-versa.

Either one of us writing solo would have just stared at the screen. Separately, we’d have been blocked. Together, we barely broke stride.

Our “official” process would place this type of cross-fertilization in the second-draft phase. We know that the rough scenes come off the conveyor belt with a bit too much of the particular flavor of the collaborator who took care of it. Or, perhaps a bit too little of the other’s seasoning, as the case may be. Either way, we fix it by revising each other’s scenes. We do that on successive drafts, until sometimes we don’t even really remember who originated a certain scene.

In this case, we got a jump on that part. Now that we’re working on our fifth novel together, we’ve internalized the Rune Skelley voice to such an extent that we no longer need to explicitly merge our individual styles. But we do still rely on each other to augment strengths and cover for weaknesses.

 

“I Don’t Understand”

  1. k-avatarCharacter – porn actress Turkish Delight
  2. Setting – vestibule of the time travel agency
  3. Object – camcorder
  4. Situation – need to find the black market

“I don’t understand.”

“Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople.”

“Just sell me a ticket.”

A notched blue card popped out of the slot in the counter.

“Two dollars.”

“Wow. Thought I was cheap.”

“We invest it hundreds of years ago. Compound interest…”

“Thanks.” Turkish Delight bent to pick up her bags, and every male in the room locked on like a radar defense grid. She slung the camcorder bag over her shoulder and surveyed the assortment of geeky tourists. The one in full plate mail caught her eye, but the logistics were alarming to consider. Loincloth, too far the other way… There! The Renaissance rogue. Very tasty.

Delight swayed over to him, enjoying his confident smirk at her approach. She batted her dark eyes.

“Hello,” he said, in a voice that made her knees weak. “You look familiar.”

Delight smiled shyly. “I get that a lot. My name’s Dee.”

“I’m Jacob.”

“Well, Jacob,” Delight purred, “I’m making a movie. Want to be in it?”

“Absolutely!”

“Great. Hope Constantinople is on your itinerary.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. When we’re done making movies, maybe you can help me.”

“Oh really? How?”

Jacob patted the bulging leather satchel hanging at this side. It seemed to shift a bit in protest.

“I need to find the black market.”

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Enrique Stared at the Small Blue Puddle

  1. by jenCharacter – bounty hunter
  2. Setting – billabong
  3. Object – sno-cone, funnel cake, candy apple, hot sausage sandwich
  4. Situation – lost

Enrique stared at the small blue puddle as it slowly seeped into the marshy ground. The crumpled paper cone joined the sticky remains of the candy apple in his rucksack and he took a moment to survey his surroundings.

The billabong was a festering miasma of life that stretched for another 20 feet before the river dried up again. Enrique swatted a mosquito on his calf and wished he hadn’t eaten his hot sausage sandwich so long ago. Bugs in general avoided him as he sweated out the sausage stink.

He hoped he would find his quarry soon, and preferably not in the jaws of a crocodile.

Enrique stepped out of the shade as a sudden downpour commenced. It did nothing to abate the sweltering heat and it ruined his innate sense of direction.

Damn. He’d never find his way back to the ranger station now. He was lost, at least until the rain stopped.

A paper plate with the sodden remains of a funnel cake floated toward him on the newly reconstituted river. Enrique froze. He might be able to snare his prey and collect his bounty after all. The funnel cake was still warm.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Bedtime Story

r-avatarAs you write you become fully engrossed in your scenes, whether you write solo or with a collaborator. You know why you chose the words you did, and why you left certain things unsaid. You have an innate understanding of the work because you created it. When you are working with a writing partner, it can be a challenge to fully absorb what your other half has composed, to gain that same level of understanding. But for a novel to feel like a cohesive whole, and not merely the sum of its parts, both you and your co-author must find a way to gain that intimate knowledge.

One of our nightly rituals is to read aloud the new pages that were written that day. It really helps to bond us both to the work, and we both get it imprinted in our brains. After the reading, we discuss. We talk about what we liked in each other’s piece, and what we think needs work. We share why we handled things in a particular way, and talk about whether it was the best way. This is a great time to iron out little inconsistencies, too. It can be tricky to make everything line up seamlessly when we’re working simultaneously on scenes that lead one into the other. Some changes get made immediately, others get a note that will be addressed during the first editing pass.

Even if you work by yourself, you should routinely read your stuff out loud. It’s a very useful method for spotting awkward construction, and repeated or dropped words. Read to your sweetie or your pet if you feel silly reading aloud to an empty room. Or marry your writing partner and spend your life crafting your own favorite bedtime stories.

Banquets at San Simeon

  1. k-avatarCharacter – tour guide at San Simeon
  2. Setting – backseat
  3. Object – wind sock
  4. Situation – lost love

Banquets at San Simeon aren’t generally part of the tour, but inevitably two or three groups come through the hall while it’s being set up. The visitors gawk at the linen-draped tables and mounds of meat, fruit, and pastries.

Today there’s an ice sculpture, which in and of itself isn’t terribly notable. However the sight of it stops Muriel so abruptly that three gawking tourists bump into her. The sculpture freezes Muriel as it melts, dripping on a pyramid of oranges.

It’s her own nude form, reclining on a bench. She knows it’s her the same way she knows the bench is not a settee but the backseat of a ’74 Impala. The artist’s style is unmistakable.

Ernst has been here. Might be here still. Muriel abandons her group, not caring if they become lost and must remain at San Simeon forever. She dashes to the veranda overlooking the helipad. The wind sock morosely turns, north, to northeast, and back, as if wordlessly saying, “too late.”

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Jerome Hung His Pompadoured Head in Shame

  1. by jenCharacter – Elvis impersonator
  2. Setting – prison
  3. Object – engagement ring
  4. Situation – unplanned amputation

Jerome hung his pompadoured head in shame. He was no longer fit to wear the spangly jumpsuit. He’d have to sell his collection of blue suede shoes to pay for his lawyer. It was either that or Lola’s pretty pink engagement ring, and he could never do that to her. Any woman who could overlook what he did was worth her weight in bacon. If only Lola’s mother hadn’t reached for the sandwich just as he was about to cut it…

Well, at least he’d get the chance to perfect his “Jailhouse Rock” dance routine. Hopefully the other inmates would be understanding.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator

Is it good for you?

r-avatarRune Skelley novels tend to contain quite a bit of sex. How graphic it is, and how kinky, depends on the project. Not all stories call for any, and the decisions about where to draw the line on details are for each author to make for themselves. Like anything else that happens to your characters, though, it should be rendered convincingly.

It’d be too easy to drop in a joke here about writing what you know. Joking aside, how does any of us really know what sex is like from the other side? (In the case of gay relationships, the “other” side isn’t any different. So this post doesn’t really apply.) A female character should approach romantic or hedonistic situations from a fundamentally feminine viewpoint, while a male character’s viewpoint on such matters should be informed by a different set of factors. We’re all familiar with general stereotypical differences between men and women; falling back on those tropes will probably just distance readers from your characters. But there are real, honest differences. You want your characters to exist as individuals, complete persons of whom gender is only part of their makeup. You need to give them honest feelings and desires, not the flimsy sham of a cliché.

Writing with a partner who happens to be of the opposite gender offers a chance to explore intimacy and physical pleasure more fully (at least on the page). But if you and that partner aren’t comfortable being frank with each other about the experience of sex, then it’s probably best to focus on stories that don’t call for it. That would also be true if we replaced “sex” with “politics” or “religion.” If talking about the issue would involve incessant giggling or reliance on euphemisms, then you’re not ready to write together about it.

I Knew I’d Find Him Here

  1. k-avatarCharacter – burned-out kindergarten teacher
  2. Setting – botanical garden
  3. Object – sunflower seeds
  4. Situation – 21st birthday

I knew I’d find him here. Mr. Rodkis, good old Mr Rodkis. He could never cut it with kids any older than 5 or 6, on account of that name.

“Sit down! Be quiet!” He’s bawling out the sunflowers now, although those chrysanthemums are only waiting for him to turn his back.

“That’s it, young lady,” addressed to an 8-foot plant. “You’re in time-out!”

I pincer out some more seeds from the pouch I bought at the gift shop. “Hey, Rodkis,” I want to call out, “I found your troublemaker’s baby sister.”

These tall blossoms are the Botanical Garden’s primary claim to fame. Sadly banal, as a claim to fame. Like Rodkis. I guess that’s why he always winds up here.

I thought it would feel triumphant to track him down on my 21st birthday, to look down on the cranky little man who’d looked down on me those 15 years ago.

But, in hindsight, I agree with my friends. This is a depressing place to spend my birthday.

about 4 elements writing prompts

handy dandy writing prompt generator