PROMPT 45 – FILL IN THE BLANK

This method will give you the barest nugget of an idea and it will be up to you to really fill it out to its greatest potential. But I find I often do my best creative work under these very conditions. Select a noun. You can pick one out you like or find some random method of producing one. For instance, School or Serial-Killer. Then imagine there is a blank either before or after the noun and fill it. It’s sort of like playing the old television game show . . . Match Game.

Example: [Blank] School or Serial Killer [Blank] can turn into Bully School and Serial-Killer Accountant. The more bizarre the combination the better the odds of coming up with a truly original storyline. Now all you have to do is create a story around it.

 

Bubba’s School for Underprivileged Bullies -

It isn’t Chuck’s fault that he’s bigger and stronger than everyone else. Or that he sometimes accidentally knocks over the other students while he’s daydreaming about becoming the first planetary explorer. So he was happy when his parents enrolled him in the strangely-named Bubba’s School for Underprivileged Bullies. But that all changes when he finds out he’s the smallest kid in the school and that most of the other children act in a decidedly alien manner. He’s forced to form an alliance with the most famous bully in the entire state in order to escape from the school. Chuck isn’t sure which is worse . . . an alien invasion of Earth or spending time with Darlene Pimpleton.

 

 

            PROMPT 44 – STORY ROULETTE 

            Select or randomly pull two character labels, like cowboy and a college professor. Then select or randomly pull an issue that these two characters will clash with one another about. For example: an old cowboy and spinster kinder-garden teacher clash over the issue of how a child should be raised. Now put all that together to create a story.

            Here are two lists to get you started:

            Character Types                                               Issue

1. Soldier                                                                     1. Baking the perfect cake

2. Busy CEO                                                                2. Faith
3. Stay-At-Home Mom                                                3. Who gets the last seat to safety
4. Lawyer                                                                     4. Discovery of a dead body
5. Waitress                                                                   5. A monster among us
6. Homeless Man/Woman                                            6. Ownership of a dog that is found

* For even more fun, roll a die for random selection of characters and the topic.

 

Example: I had my son roll a die three times and generated the numbers 1, 3, and 6 – in that order. Using the chart, that gives me a soldier, a stay-at-home mom, and ownership of a dog.

See Spot Stay -

When the family pet runs away, a young stay-at-home mother clashes with a homeless vet over the ownership of the dog and eventually must decide whether her children or a friendless man deserves the dog most.

Writing Prompt #43

            PROMPT 43 – KNICK-KNACKS

            This prompt is similar to Three Item Monty in as much as it uses items to stimulate your mind into generating new story ideas. If you have an old knick-knack drawer or memory chest, look through it. Take out the items one at a time. Perhaps they generate a memory that triggers a story idea. Or maybe they are interesting enough to give you ideas if you think about the item in hand. If you don’t have a collection of memorabilia then take a trip to a antique store and look around. Something is bound to shake loose an idea for a story.

Example: I have an old aftershave bottle shaped like a car. It still has most of the aftershave in it, but I can’t imagine its any good after all these years.

 

The Glass Factory -

An inquisitive young man visits a factory that makes the most popular toys on the planet. Everything the factory makes is made out of the most beautiful glass—that doesn’t break. When he slips away from the guided tour of the factory he discovers a gateway to a world where technology is based on glass manufacturing and is powered by strange scented-liquids. Before he can return to the tour he is captured by the Glass Baron and put on trial as an industrial spy. His only hope of returning home safely is to escape the Glass Castle and find the portal that will take him back to Earth.

 

Writing Prompt #42

            PROMPT 42 – THREE ITEM MONTY

            Grab three random items and put them on a table. To make sure these items are as random as possible, make sure they each come from a separate room or location. Line then up in front of you and see if you can find a correlation between them that can be used for the basis of a story. If not, move them around until you do.

            Example: A blue plastic tumbler; a small, blue fan; and an old-fashioned lantern that uses a candle for light. Blue reminds me of cold. The tumbler and fan make me think of someone who is trying to cool down. And the lantern gave me images of a storm raging and the electricity going out.

 

Monster Storm – When invaders from another planet trigger a global storm, Dave takes refuge in an old, underground tunnel complex, but he discovers that he is not alone in the dark.

 

Writing Prompt #41

PROMPT 41 - DREAM MACHINES


            This prompt requires quite a bit of imagination. The idea is to make a list of imaginary devices and then feature one of them as the centerpiece of your story. For example, a radio that eavesdrops on your neighbors. Here is a list of ideas for the origins of your devices:

            - Recently discovered/invented tech.

            - Tech brought back from the future/an alien planet/a different dimension.

            - A magical artifact passed down as a family heirloom.

            - An artifact given as a gift from the gods.

            - A cursed object of power inhabited by an evil spirit.

            - The object mysteriously shows up one day.

 

What Will the Neighbors Say? – Who doesn’t love a yard sale? But when Greg and Monica buy a vintage radio from the strange old man living next door, their lives are changed. By simply changing the station Greg and Monica can listen to any conversation taking place in the houses on their block. They discover which of the people in the neighborhood are really their friends, which are snooty pretenders, and which ones are planning to murder someone living on the block.

 

Writing Prompt #40

    PROMPT 40 – SAY AGAIN

            Take a common phrase and imagine someone saying it to you during a conversation. Then work through a list of uncommon responses until you find one that really ignites your imagination. Develop a story based on that response.

            For example: the phrase, “Go to blazes/Hades.”

Imagine what kind of story you could write if the response was, “Nope. I can’t go there. Satan still has a restraining order on me.”

            Or for the phrase, “Would you like a hand?”

The response might be, “Sure, but where would I put it?”


            Here are a few phrases I found especially ripe for story-mining:

            - The best of two worlds.
            - Add insult to injury.
            - A blessing in disguise.
            - Costs an arm and a leg.
            - You’re playing the Devil’s Advocate.
            - Every cloud has a silver lining.
            - You let the cat out of the bag.
            - Steal someone’s thunder.

Writing Prompt #39

            PROMPT 39 – OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD

 

            Story ideas abound in the world around us. They can even be taken from our jobs. This prompt gives authors a chance to pull from something they know quite well—their jobs. If the author has a problem picking an event from their job then they can look to the profession of a relative or a friend.

            Choose a profession and then add a surprise to the normal work routine. A doctor could find that his/her patient has a mysterious organ that doesn’t belong in a human body. A construction worker might discover a buried artifact, or a body, on the construction site. A nurse could walk into a room and find that a coma patient is awake and asks her to write something down because it is important.

            For example, one of my first jobs was as a projectionist in a small independent movie theater. What if a character started a new job at a theater and discovered that the projector started by itself at midnight every Saturday and showed images of the future?

 

Sneak Peek – Randy loves his job as a projectionist, staying up late and watching movies felt more like entertainment than work. Then a friend asks him to cover his Saturday night shift, everything changes. He discovers that the projector can start on its own and shows images of events that will take place in the week ahead. But his friend doesn’t return to work and Randy is left as the sole caretaker of a projector that predicts the future and a mystery of a missing coworker to solve.

 

 

 

 

 

Writing Prompt #38

            PROMPT 38 – NAUGHTY TECHNOLOGY

            Technology is a wonderful thing—most of the time. Put a sparkling new gadget in a writer’s hands and the results may not be a warm and fuzzy tale describing the enlightened nature of mankind. And if you want the story to engage readers the exact opposite is the more likely result.

            Scientific journals and magazines are a good source of inspiration for this writing prompt. Find a new technology or an updated to an existing technology and think of a way it could be used for evil or misused with disastrous results. It could even be a matter of unforeseen side affects that threaten to bring ruin. Then write a story around it.

            This can also be done with recent social trends, such as car sharing, reverse brain drain, or the development of mega cities as large as some of our smaller states.

 

            For my example, I looked at the trend to apply smart technology to everything.

Too Smart – As the man who found a way to link all of the smart technologies together, Howard is known as the Father of the smart world. His plans to enjoy the fruits of his labors are disrupted when his own personal “Smart System” begins to have daddy issues. He must find a way to control his disgruntled child before he is forced to embrace a non-tech lifestyle in a remote region of the world.

 

 

 

Writing Prompt #37

            PROMPT 37 – VILLAINS FIRST

            While it is important to have a well-rounded set of writing skills the truth of the matter is that some elements in a story are more important to its success than others. Strong opening hooks and a killer tagline are pivotal in attracting an audience to your story, but the villain is often the deciding factor in how much they enjoy it once they immerse themselves into your tale.

            Where would Star Wars be without Darth Vader? Or Silence of the Lambs without Hannibal Lecter? This prompt is based on the premise that you can build a story around an interesting villain.

            Start with a concept for your villain. Maybe you already have one in mind that has been sitting in your character diary for years waiting to get out. If not, take a look at stories with strong villains and either alter one of them to fit your story or combine two of them to create someone completely different. Once you have a villain determine what it is they want and throw the hero in the way.

 

            For my example, I latched onto the idea of a villain who believes that if he kills the people that he loves they will be with him in the afterlife. So he is motivated out of a fear of being alone and wants to make sure that when he finally dies he will be surrounded by the people who really loved him. I decided to place my villain into a Romance-Horror. (Is that even a category?)

Kill the Ones You Love – After years of dating losers, Mary has finally found the perfect man. He is kind, sensitive, and funny. Her life is perfect until she discovers a link between her fiancé and a serial killer who has murdered his four wives, all of his family, and a large number of his in-laws. How can she convince him to call off the wedding without making him mad enough to kill her?

 

 

 

Writing Prompt #36

            PROMPT 36 – HAZARD DUTY

 

            Novels, television, and movies are filled with stories about police, fire-fighters, soldiers, and lawyers. These seem to be the professions people consider the most dangerous or dramatic. While in some cases that might be true it doesn’t need to be for the story you are writing.

            Pick a profession and then think of a storyline that puts the character into danger or an otherwise interesting situation. The problem could be fantastic, or mysterious, or even mundane and funny. Selecting an occupation which you have worked will allow you to draw from your personal experience. In not, the story will develop out of your research about the chosen profession.

            These professions were taken from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

            - Dump Grounds Checker (Sanitary Landfill Worker)

            - Laserist (Creates laser light shows)

            - Rug Cleaner

            - TNT Line-Supervisor

            - Senior-Commisary Agent in Air Transportation

        

One Man’s Garbage – Working at the dump was slow, dull, and stinky. Just the way James liked it—except for the smell. The important thing about it was that his job was blissfully void of any excitement which might over-stress his weak heart. That is, until he noticed that the trucks from one specific company were entering the dump empty and leaving it full. The situation gets worse when he discovers the trucks are being driven by aliens from outer space. Now he has to convince someone in the Federal government that Earth has been invaded before he has a heart-attack or the aliens catch him?

 

 

Writing Prompt #35

            PROMPT 35 – PLAY IT BACKWARD

 

            Endings are incredibly important. If an author nails the ending then readers are going to be psyched for the next book. Get it wrong and you have the chance of losing your readers. This writing prompt places the ending front and center during the story creation process.

            Start by writing a killer ending. Maybe you have one in mind, a scene that screams award-winning finale. If not, take a look at stories that ended strong. See if they give you any ideas. You can even examine stories that failed to deliver a satisfying ending. How would you end them differently? Once you have an ending, decide how the characters reach that point. In other words, write the story backward, from end to beginning.

            My killer ending ends with one word—Oops.

Manic Pressed Destiny – Dash has two problems. The first is that he enjoys life—all of it. There simply isn’t enough time to go everywhere and experience everything. That is until the personification of Destiny recruits him for a mission to save the universe. Breath-taking views, beautiful damsels in minor situations of distress, wickedly cool bad guys, and opportunities for daring adventure. Unfortunately, there’s that second problem. Dash is a total klutz.

 

Writing Prompt #33

            PROMPT 33 - OBSESSION

 

            This prompt is useful in creating character-driven stories. Select multiple characters in the story and give them conflicting obsessions. These can be characters you developed yourself or they can be based on characters out of other stories. The point of this prompt is to decide how their lives and the story would be different if they chose to follow their obsession instead of their original goal. You can even use this on story you have written that seems to lack sufficient sizzle.

            You can also give a single character conflicting obsessions and see how it plays out. Imagine how different Frankenstein’s story would be if he had an obsession for fame and fortune in addition to his passion for science.

  

Wright and Wrong – Kittyhawk marked the birth of aviation history and the start of a feud between the Wright brothers. Always pragmatic, Wilbur wants to establish the first aeronautical empire while Orville aims to soar high in the social circles of Europe and the United States. Their only hope of doing either depends on them working together.

 

 

Writing Prompt #31

            PROMPT THIRTY-ONE – THAT STINKS

            This is a character driven prompt. Take a few moments to visualize a character. It can be as simple as stating a stereotype like a newspaper boy or a boring banker. Then think of the worst thing that could happen to him/her. You can even take it a step further and decide on a character for the B-Story and create the worst situation that could exist between them.

            Here are a few character suggestions to work with.

 

            A teen-aged witch

            A star college football player

            An alien spy from another planet

            Your neighbor

            Your spouse

            Your best friend           

 

            My pitch for this exercise is based on an alien spy from another planet.

Star Power –Zarklo received very specific instructions for his mission on Earth. Stay out of sight and observe the humans. All that is left in the proverbial galactic space dust when he wanders onto a Hollywood movie set and is mistaken for the title character in the latest creature feature. Fame, fortune, and did we mention fame? His picture is on billboards and in advertisements across the globe. Then he receives news that his supervisor is on his way to monitor his mission progress.

 

Writing Prompt #30

PROMPT THIRTY – MENTAL MOVIES 

            At the start of your writing time for the day, jot down three ideas that interest you. Then pick the one that most interests you. Close your eyes and imagine it as a movie playing inside your head. What happens? Write about what took place inside your head.

            Instead of a topic you can do this with a character. In this case, close your eyes and picture the first person that comes to mind. Describe this person and then plop him/her into a setting and see what develops.

            In either case, let the images flow on their own and write down the result in your movie/writing journal.

            My movie journal entry for this exercise is based on an image of an angel coming to my mind.

Angels and Children – Tommy is a junior angel. His eighth birthday was just around the corner when he was called back to heaven. That was a year ago. His first assignment starts when a young mother prays for her six-year-old child who is starting school the next day. Tommy must help the handicapped Patrick as he navigates the strange, new environment without friends and hiding a handicap. Quite a first assignment for a junior angel.

 

Writing Prompt #29

            PROMPT TWENTY-NINE – BRING OUT YOUR DEAD 

            It may sound a bit morbid, but with this prompt you’re going to get inspiration for your story from the obituaries. Look at a couple of the biographies on the obituaries page and select one that grabs your attention. Ask yourself what sort of story would a person like this be involved in. Make changes to the character as needed.  

            Sample Obituary: Following high school, Robert Pulson enlisted in the Navy, serving on a ship that patrolled the Panama Canal area. He received a B.S. degree and spent his career doing hybrid corn research in Kansas. Due to his disability he took an early retirement from Corn King Co. His retirement interests were music related.  

            The pitch for this exercise is based on the above obituary.  

Ghosts of the Corn – A Navy enlisted man and his buddies spend a week trekking through the jungles of Panama and discover a native tribe who cultivate a corn field where the dead walk the earth. When he steals several ears of corn to plant in his parent’s farm in Kansas, tribal spirits of the dead work against him, first to prevent the corn from growing and then to disrupt his studies to develop a hybrid which will grow in Kansas where his brother is buried. Robert wants is one last conversation with his brother to resolve the argument they had before his death, but the haunting may drive him insane before his research succeeds.

 

 

Writing Prompt #28

            PROMPT TWENTY-EIGHT - MEMORIES

Using this prompt should result in creating stories that are more emotionally driven since they will be based on the author’s life experiences. Allow words to flow from your subconscious to the page, making a list of any nouns that are generated this way. Then let your mind associate those with mental pictures out of your past. These become the foundation for your stories.

For instance:

Airplane – climbing a plane monument in a park and nearly falling off.

Truck – my family taking a vacation in my dad’s beat up Chevy.

Lumber – working with an accident prone laborer twice my age.            

 

Slow Moe – Randy started his construction career as a laborer under the tutelage of Joe “Moe” Morrison. Moe suffered injury after injury, remaining a laborer even after Randy started his own construction company and hired him. Then Randy suffers a debilitating work injury and Moe offers help Randy at home until he recovers. In the wake of their strengthening friendship, Randy discovers that Moe’s mishaps weren’t funny at all.

 

Writing Prompt #27

            PROMPT TWENTY-SEVEN– IF YOU BUILD IT

 

This is similar to the Titles prompt in which you look at the names of books, movies, and songs to inspire you in creating an original story. The difference is that with this prompt you are creating the title yourself rather than looking at what’s already out there.

During the process of naming some of your earlier works you may have developed a list of titles that sounded great, but didn’t fit the story as well as you would have liked. This is a perfect time to trot those out and put them to use. Or maybe a great title for a story popped into your head while you were driving to work. Now you just need a story to go with it.

If inspiration hasn’t dropped the name of a story into your lap then you will have to work a bit to build one. Modify a quote, an old saying, or a verse from the Bible to make it sound snappy. Make a list of random words from the dictionary and move them around until they form some sort of cohesive line that grabs your attention. Take the first line of your favorite novel and turn it into a title.

            The pitch for this exercise is based on a title that came to me several years ago and, for whatever reason, caught my attention—The Price of Souls. 

The Price of Souls – Lona dreamed of becoming the first woman President of the United States. Then she grew up. Life in the fast lane seemed more realistic and entertaining than childhood fantasies. One party too much and Lona stands in front of the Creator. She is charged with correcting the mistakes of her life—a task that may take generations to undo the series of ill events which resulted from her actions.

Writing Prompt #26

            PROMPT TWENTY-SIX – SKEWED VIEW

 

            This prompt is based on writing a story from a radically different point of view, like that of an insect, or an alien, or even a stuffed animal. Andy Griffith started his comedic career this way when he did “What it was, was football.” The subject matter can be a common, every-day item like a family vacation.  

            Here are five unique POVs. 

            Wilson from Castaway

            Moby Dick from Moby Dick   

            The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland

            The portrait in The Picture of Dorian Gray

            The brooms in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

 

            Based on the broom in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice I generated this pitch.  

Stick Men - Broom marvels when he is brought to life. Before he was nothing but a tool in someone else’s hands, but now he can act on his own and he has purpose. The water has to be moved and he is just the one to do it.

            Then the world goes crazy when the creator attacks him. Or perhaps it isn’t the world that has gone insane – maybe it’s just the creator. A lowly broom may have no chance against the mighty sorcerer, but that isn’t going to prevent him from fulfilling his prime directive. And anything that gets in his way will pay the price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            As part of a challenge set by my critique group I used this method to write Red Christmas. It’s a short story about what would happen if Santa was a communist. My wife hated the story and made me write “normal” Christmas stories every year after that for the family celebration.

 

Writing Prompt #25

            PROMPT TWENTY-FIVE – FAIRY BAD

 

            When I was introduced to this prompt fairy-tales were used to generate ideas for new stories, but this works with any kind of story or even news items. Take your favorite fairytale/story and develop a plot from the villain’s point of view. Make the villain the good guy in your story. And you don’t have to keep the setting. Feel free to turn the big bad wolf into insurance salesman in New York City.  

            Here are five villains.            

            Marie Antoinette

            Chronos

Nurse Ratched

Nixon

            Cruella De Vil

 

            Based on the Nurse Ratched I generated this pitch.  

Crazy Like a Fox – With a family to feed Rachel is forced to take a job at the State Mental Hospital. She has just about adjusted to the rigorous demands of the new job when the Justice Department commits a man accused of murder. As the weeks pass by, Rachel uncovers a plot by the criminal to recruit the rest of the inmates into his own private army and declare war on the city. But no one believes her. The criminal vows to target her family first when the inmates escape. Now she has to find a way to stop the criminal mastermind and his crazy army before the killing starts. 

 

Writing Prompt #24

            PROMPT TWENTY-FOUR – TOUGH LUCK

            This prompt gets personal. Drawing from your own life experiences, take the most difficult decision you ever had to make and then write a fictional story based on that choice. Obviously, this lends itself to serious pieces of fiction, but it could be turned into comedy with a poignant message.

            Based on a tough experience in my life I generated this pitch.

Seperated - John and his son have been a team since the day that Johnny was born. Life blind-sides him when his ex-wife appears one day with a court order giving her temporary custody of Johnny. The one constant in John’s life has been his son’s love and without it he wonders how he can survive the daily grind. Knowing that if he creates a scene it will only cause more trouble for Johnny, he says goodbye. In the days to come he will not only have to find a way to return Johnny home, but also adapt to life without him.