Embers ~ November 2022
A collection of writing prompts
I hope the month of November has treated you well.
I’ve been having a lot of fun creating writing prompts again. For the most part, I come up with these ideas during lulls in my school day. I put on some relaxing music, take out my notebook, and try to generate two or three decent prompts in one sitting. Most of the time I can only get about ten minutes to myself, but I find that these quick bursts of creative fun set my mind right and allow me to continue my day.
Below is this month’s edition of Embers. I hope you find these prompts useful in starting some scenes or stories of your own. If you’ve been here a while (from my Micro 2 Go days), you may recognize one or two of the prompts. I felt that they were worthy of dusting off and sharing again.
All the best,
Justin
Go to your junk drawer (we all have one, right?) and pull out two or three objects at random. Find a way to integrate these items into a scene or story.
Write about an insignificant action or routine chore that turns into a pivotal moment in the character’s life. For example, Josh is doing the dishes when he learns about his mother’s death. Or…Marcy is slipping her shoes on when a brick comes crashing through the kitchen window. Thrust your character immediately into the conflict!
Write something supernatural. Place your character in a spooky setting and have them encounter a ghost, spirit, or some type of inexplicable phenomenon. What is the outcome of this event or experience?
Write a scene or story about something getting spilled. How did the drink – or other liquid – spill? Was it accidental or on purpose? Gentle or forceful? These actions can dictate a character’s motives. If you want to take this in a different direction, write a story or scene about someone “spilling the beans”.
Write a story about a proposal, a rejection, or both. The proposal could be the big question – Will you marry me? – or something as trivial as what to put on one’s sandwich. Whichever direction you take, try to include at least one of these elements.
Write a story in which mud plays a key role in either developing the plot or is central to the conflict. Perhaps the mud caused an accident, an unwanted stain, or even the game-losing fumble in the fourth quarter of a football game. Whatever direction you take this, get those hands dirty!
Write a scene or story about the neighbors. Are they strange in some way? Nosy? Too loud in the middle of the night? Maybe their children always find their way onto the main character’s property and mess up his landscaping. However you approach this, try to integrate some type of interaction with the neighbors.
Sometimes it’s fun to incorporate opposites in writing. For this particular exercise, use the words attack and defend in your scene or story. If the idea is too vague initially, think of all the instances where one might attack and/or defend. A physical or verbal altercation, various sports, military/combat tactics, Facebook feuds…the list could go on and on. Make a list if you need to brainstorm, but then attack that keyboard! (Or notepad, or paper…you catch my drift.)
Delivery drivers must see some interesting stuff. Put yourself in their shoes for a little while. Write a scene or story about a delivery. Some scenarios: wrong address, wrong/missing items, animals on the premises, seeing something they weren’t supposed to, and so on. (Also, always give yourself permission to break the rules and/or venture off the beaten path. If the prompt doesn’t “speak” to you in its entirety, take a part of it that might work and run with it.)
Grab a six-sided die or use virtual dice here. You’ll need to roll three times. Follow the lists below to determine your character, setting, and object — then write a scene or story using all three. Have fun. Give yourself permission to get silly. (Also, do whatever you’d like!)
Roll 1: Character
1 - A toddler, who is only wearing a diaper
2 - A tattooed, long-haired guitarist
3 - An elderly person who owns many pets
4 - A chef who isn’t afraid to don their apron wherever he/she goes
5 - A sports fanatic
6 - Someone seeking love, desperately
Roll 2: Setting
1 - Library
2 - Graveyard
3 - Somewhere on Main Street
4 - At a holiday-themed get-together
5 - A bar (I really hope you didn’t roll a “1” before this)
6 - At a shopping mall
Roll 3: Object
1 - A tray of brownies
2 - A bouquet of flowers
3 - A toy lightsaber
4 - A slingshot with a small bag of acorns
5 - Flip flops
6 - Pulled pork