Hello dearies.

Now, this decided to do something a bit different for this weekend update to kind of extend last week’s moral a bit (TLDR make writing difficult for yourself) – as you might’ve guessed from the title, I’m handing out prompts to the unwilling congregation! If you are in need of something to curb your writer’s block and somehow cannot find better alternatives elsewhere, I’ve got just the ticket! I will divide this main event into four categories: Word plot prompts, picture prompts, character prompts and tricky pickles.

Plot prompts – go an’ use your imagination.

• “My kitchen sink was plugged with woodlice.” (Right weird one to kick off)
• “We shouldn’t have stayed up all night watching Will Ferrel. I saw him in my dreams.”
• “Bloodied in tooth and claw” (Bloody Tennyson, too)
• “Aliens watching American Psycho.” (They won’t want to visit us then!)
• “The forecast said it would be 70 degrees celsius/ 156 degrees farenheit tomorrow.”
• “Lost boot in a maize maze.” (that’s corn to you)
• “The sky was green and the grass was blue.” (Postmodern art for you)
• “Dragons are overrated. Fight a giant pie instead.” (Yes, do.)
• “I wish I could hold you in my arms again.”
• “One for sorrow, to for joy…how’d the rhyme go again?”

Picture prompts – Have a look see

(Credit to Juan Miguel Lopez Barea and the “Blasphemous” team for the above image)

(I tore up the following magazine myself!)

Character prompts – Test your knowledge of your own baby!

• The antagonist of your story is cooking a meal for your protagonist. Describe how they would prepare for it.
• A character of your choice has dropped something valuable down into a drain/pond/inconvenient hole in a croweded environment. What do they do?
• Your character has one day left to live. How do they spend it? (Reason for impending death is up to you)
• Your character meets Pip Pirrup from Great expectations. Explain how their interaction goes down.
• Your character finds a lost child on their doorstep/path etc etc. What do they do?
• Your character is out walking one day when a bystander throws a brick at them. What happens next?
• Four of your characters (chosen at random) have to team up to fight John Wick. Describe what unfolds.
• Describe the last time your character got lost.
• Your antagonist needs an ingredient of some kind. Explain their journey to get it.

What the Fudge – are these prompts?

• Rewrite the first chapter of your novel or a short story you’ve written in the styles of:
  • Ernst Hemingway. (He retold the story.)
  • Jane austen. (As priority dictated her duty, she thus began to recount these salient happenings to her utmost ability before virtual company, replacing her stylus at the first line.)
  • Cormac Mcarthy. (He tore the old narrative to razor shreds, casting it’s fluttering, quivering remnants into a searing hearth of resentment, human resentment, and scraped fresh imitation onto the bald face of a new victim…)
  • A.A. Milne (“That’s not how I remember it.” Said Piglet. “Well, it’s how I remembered it.” Returned Pooh, trying again.)
  • Stephanie Meyer – yes, really(I’d never given much thought about how I would describe what I’ve just read, but here goes…once upon a time…)
  • Tara Gilesbie – if you fancy a complete joke. (Hi my naem is Enoby Dar’kness Dementia Ravenclaw etc etc)
  • Any other author you fancy.
• Write a story without using the letter E once. (5 in this part thus)
• Write a story without using any pronouns – No he/she/they, no what/why/when, no this/that/these/, no possessives (obviously), not even indefinitives (Somebody, any, such etc). Have a reference of them all at hand to avoid them!)
• Write a story where each line begins with the sequence of the alphabet – ABCDEFG etc. You can skip X, U and Z is you’re a CHICKEN! Loop the rule over after line 26/23.
• Write a piece of flash fiction WITHOUT repeating words. See if you can make four-hundred-and-fifty lexemes. I have succeeded here!
• Take turns writing a story if you’re with someone – play a game of consequences! Keep it going for at least half an hour.

Weel, that’s the lot for tonight. I hope these prompts help put your noggin to a testing! Now, I’ve done the first part of the post – what about the more bit?

A vote – with NaNoWriMo coming up, I’m thinking of writing a hell of a lot of short stories…but here’s the catch! I’ll be writing them centred around one of my pre-existing characters: someone I’ve written about on this blog before. Here’s the roster –

• Naerun – A sentient plant elf-thing living in a twisted forest world.
• Dolninna – A powerful general from a subterranean world where the rivers glow, the sun is evil and the dead are clawing their way up from the underworld.
• Neville Sprig – A mortal boy working at a antique store that sells haunted artifacts to powerful cultists who increasingly finds himself at odds with the arcane underworld. (director Zeno doesn’t get a pick because he’s too expository)
• Sheep – Yes, you can vote to have me write exclusively about the culture of a bunch of stupid even toed ungulates. I might spice it up a bit with some monsters and natural disasters, but it will still be absolutely inane.
• Somebody completely new – I’ll make someone new up!

To vote, if you can be bothered, please let me know in the comments – I’ll be deciding on the unlucky subject of my literary torture by the 28th of October. If nobody ends up commenting, as I expect, I’ll just pick someone at random. Can’t blame me from trying to turn it over to the public!

Anyway, hope you have a good weekend! I’m off to bed.