May 2011
32 posts
5 tags
Writing Prompt #150: Person, Place, Thing!
These all go in your story. Otherwise, it will probably suck.
a mimeograph machine, a basement, a lounge singer
11 tags
Writing Prompt #149: Seven Words
Use all of these words in your story.
unctuous, blunder, penchant, laborious, industrial-strength, soap, spew
4 tags
Writing Prompt #148: That's What She Said!
Use this line of dialogue somewhere in your story:
“Harriet won’t give up until she catches one of those atomic cherry blossoms.”
5 tags
Writing Prompt #147: She's Goin' Bald
Your protagonist is a lady. One morning she wakes up to find herself bald. Deal with the aftermath or explain why the hell it happened. Or both!
“She drew her comb acrost her scalp / And brushed what she had left / I tried to salvage what I could / And threw it in a sack / She made a b-line to her room / And grabbed all kind o’ juice / She started pourin’ it on her head...
10 tags
Writing Prompt #146: Pop vs. Culture
Brush up on your pop culture knowledge and incorporate these random things/people/whatever in your story.
Angelyne, a box of Hydrox cookies, the Bat Boy, the reanimated corpse of Clara Peller, a Zamfir record, an AMC Pacer
8 tags
Writing Prompt #145: Person, Place, Thing
All three. In your story.
a cup of tea, a writer, an empty bedroom
Nouns rock. I’m not so sure about this prompt, though.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #144: This One's Kind of a Downer
A 13-year-old with big dreams of being an artist or a writer (or something else awesome) gets a glimpse of their future as a cubicle-bound office drone stuck in a dead-end job. How does this affect them, and does/can he or she do anything to change the future?
Well, I’m going to go swallow some pills now …
8 tags
Writing Prompt #143: Horror at Party Beach
A monster terrorizes a beach full of partying, unsupervised teenagers in normal, ’50s B-movie style, with one caveat: it is not a literal monster. Maybe the monster is a STD that spreads like wildfire or gas prices so high no one can leave the beach or diseased cheeseburgers. Something lovely like that. Let your imagination run free like a bikini-clad blonde on the beach.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #142: Runnin' Naked But the Cat...
What do animals think of our nudity, anyway?
Doesn’t matter. It won’t help you with today’s prompt.
Someone just shows up to work naked one day like it’s no big deal. Write about the hilarity/horror that ensues.
“And we’re buck naked now / We ain’t got no clothes / Bare assed for sure / In the eyes of God.” — “Buck Naked” by...
6 tags
Writing Prompt #141: Person, Place, Thing!
a supermarket, a tabloid, an executive business-type dude
Use all of these in your story, or the Bat Boy will surely come to get you!
5 tags
Writing Prompt #140: Some of My Best Friends Are...
… because I have absolutely no social skills and debilitating halitosis …
Just kidding, bibliophiles.
But seriously. Write a story about a book that is totally evil. EVIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!
4 tags
Writing Prompt #138: Blame It on the Rain . . ....
It’s just another stupid, rainy afternoon … until … until …
You figure out the until part. Aliens invade? Something explodes? The cat throws up? I’m sure you can come up with something decent.
5 tags
Writing Prompt #137: Drink the Kool-Aid
Write a story in which Kool-Aid is integral to the plot. And for the love of all that is decent, no Jonestown fan-fiction, please!
Besides, that Jonestown guy actually used Flavor-Aid. Cheap bastard.
9 tags
Writing Prompt #136: Seven Words
Here are some words. Use them in your story. If you dare.
flabbergasted, pale, bland, oeuvre, gingham, erode, brunch
7 tags
Writing Prompt #135: Desert or Dessert?
Use these things in your story. Right now!
a small desert town, an ice cream cake, an artist
You know you want to write a story about Marfa, Texas. Just go on and do it.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #134: Cereal Killer!
Right around the time a new, tasty cereal comes out on the market, people start dying by the hundreds. Related, or coincidence?
It’s your job to figure that out. I can’t do everything for you.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #133: You're So One-Dimesional
Write about someone who travels through multiple dimensions to accomplish a goal. The goal could be getting a tasty hot dog or escaping from a serial killer or something else entirely. Just make sure there’s a magical baby in it. Or not.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #132: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Write a story about a very unusual garden. Maybe it’s filled with man-eating plants or Anne Geddes babies or enticing-yet-poisonous plans. You decide.
6 tags
Writing Prompt #131: A Genre, a Person & a Problem
All these things. They go in you story.
Genre: black comedy
Person: A former infomercial host
Problem: A new family moves in next door. The daughter appears to have disturbing supernatural powers.
4 tags
Writing Prompt #130: Heaven Is a Place Where...
Write a story that takes place in heaven, either the Biblical one, or some other one (maybe even the one in someone’s head) and make a bunch of crazy, weird shit happen. There’s no need to be bored in the afterlife, after all.
5 tags
Writing Prompt #129: Person, Place, Thing!
Use all of these in your story. Why haven’t you learned this by now?
a pumpkin, a barista, a black hole (in space or wherever)
5 tags
Writing Prompt #128: Decaffeination Situation
Caffeine suddenly ceases to exist! Write a story about the aftermath! It must involve a treadmill and a bucket of fried chicken!
4 tags
Writing Prompt #127: Do As I Say, You Sexy Thang,...
Write about someone who suddenly finds him or herself to be an unlikely sex symbol.
3 tags
Writing Prompt #126: Stop Making Sense
Your protagonist finds him/herself in a world where no one else speaks his/her language. Write about it!
6 tags
Writing Prompt #125: Person, Place, Thing
Use all this crap in your story. Don’t whine; just do it!
a possessed doll, a housewife, a junkyard
2 tags
Writing Prompt #124: Oh, No You Didn't!
Use one or all of these writing no-no’s in your story.
A writer protagonist
Second-person point-of-view
Fan fiction
Hackneyed plot-line
Predictable twist-ending
“It was all a dream” ending
5 tags
Writing Prompt #123: Easy As . . .
Write a story in which a failure to count results in disaster. Or hilarity. Or both.
4 tags
Writing Prompt #122: I Ain't Gonna Work Here No...
Write about someone who quits their job and things don’t go exactly as they planned afterward.
“Honey come and dance with me, ‘cos I ain’t gonna work here no more.” —David Byrne, “A Million Miles Away”
6 tags
Writing Prompt #121: A Genre, a Person & a...
Use all three of these in your story.
Genre: exploitation (interpret however you please)
Person: a 17-year-old
Problem: Someone ripped one of those tags off a mattress. You know, the ones you’re not supposed to rip off. Like that guy in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
5 tags
Writing Prompt #120: Wedding, Schmedding . . .
Write a story about a wedding that gets completely destroyed. The wedding really needs to be truly obliterated.
3 tags
Writing Prompt #119: Take It and Turn It
Apparently all my titles are yanked from You Look Nice Today this week.
Write a story in which a record player is used as an instrument of death.
[Insert “OMG! Remember records? They’re so old!” joke here.]
4 tags
Writing Prompt #118: Quote, Unquote
Use this line of dialogue in your story.
“Time to take a picture of my face!”
