Brainstorm a list of at least 10 title ideas for any three of the following genres, topics or types of writing. Use free-writing, where you toss things off of the top of your head. Odds are the first things you write down will be stereotypical, so try to keep going past that point. When you’re done, note whether you came up with any that inspire you.

• Horror

• Science Fiction
• Romance
• How-To
• 10 Ways to…
• Western
• Holidays
• Religion
• Politics
• Scientific
• Travel
• Animals

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

Click on the following thumbnail to see the larger version of the photograph “Raluca II” by photographer Mircea Bezergheanu:

Who is this woman? What is her home & family life like? What will happen to her tomorrow that will change her life forever?

Technorati Tags: characterization, journaling, photo.net, photographs, prompts, write, writers, writing

It’s been a while since I put up one of these, so it’s time for another word association game. Take any of the following sets of words and free-associate off of the combination or work all of them into the opening page of a story, article, or essay:

• homicidal, fall, guy

• dune, reservation, moved
• queen, grass, sees
• jaw, kick, salt
• mice, time, sand
• souvenir, moist, impropriety, heartbreaking
• details, perfection, heiroglyphic
• drooping, monsoon, jello
• instant, napalm, minnow
• midrange, low tide, venison
• dark, influences, settle
• incineration, tongs, mist
• noble, all-inclusive, warship

Indecision Sticker (Bumper)

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

For today’s exercise, imagine that you’re an ordinary person who has, for some reason, decided to destroy the world. Write a story, journal entry, or free-write that discusses the following:

• What does it mean to “destroy” a world? What criteria would you need to meet to accomplish your goal?

• How would you go about accomplishing your goal? Remember, you’re an ordinary person who doesn’t have access to great wealth or power.

A few guidelines to follow:

• Be creative. You can be as subtle as you choose–or not at all. Just be creative.

• You can use this world as the titular planet, or you can use a fictional world: past, present or entirely other.
• Keep in mind that “destroying” a world could take many forms. Come up with your own.
• I suggest creating a brief, paragraph-long character portrait of your “ordinary person”. Not only will it give you details to work with (career, resources, contacts), but given today’s paranoid mind-set, it means that if anyone stumbles across your writing exercise it’ll be much clearer that it’s fiction. (It’s so sad that I even need to address this at all, but that’s a subject for another day.)

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

Today’s prompt-found-on-the-web is from Writers Write, entitled I wish someone told me:

Todays prompt is this:

I wish someone told me..

Begin with that line and go on to a paragraph or more.

Or, turn it into the opening line of a story.

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

There are so many ways in which a person can feel exposed. Our vices or shames can be exposed. Our bodies can be exposed. Our deepest fears or desires can be exposed. Our secret image of who we are can be exposed. Our most sacred feelings can be exposed.

• Write a short story involving a moment or act of exposure, and the results.

• Write about a moment of exposure that you once risked, and what happened.
• Write about your feelings regarding some kind of exposure.
• Write a character sketch about a person who has things to hide, and what might happen when they’re exposed.

This theme came to me after reading an interesting post on the consequences of misinterpretation when one exposes one’s feelings on the web.

Word Nerd Tote Bag

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

Without reading the artist’s statement below the image, take a look at Bad Waters, a fascinating print of a merman, a cloud of jellyfish, and a monster. Free-write about what you imagine might be happening in this image, write a short story, or outline a longer story. Afterwards, of course, feel free to read the artist’s statement describing the scene.

Technorati Tags: journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.
      ~ Carl Jung

Today, free-write about wickedness and how it might “spread” from one person to another. Or, write a story that examines wickedness as a theme. Try to avoid trite explanations (or the old lazy fallback of “he’s just eeeevil”). You might also try free-writing a list of some of the ways wickedness has been treated in fiction and literature before now, and perhaps some thoughts on how you might add to or diverge from those treatments. How might a wicked person (deliberately or inadvertently) tempt those around him with his wickedness?

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

Today, write about (or begin a story based on) the following quotation:

Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
      ~ Oscar Wilde

If writing a journal entry or free-write, you might consider the place of disobedience in your life or the lives of those around you. Consider its virtues and problems. Of course, a piece of fiction involving disobedience can take so many forms and paths. Must someone find the strength to consider disobedience in order to do the right thing? Must someone find the strength to trust a superior rather than following the instinct to disobey? Situations are rarely clear-cut in real life–you might brainstorm some of the ways in which disobedience could be necessary or could cause severe problems within a given plot.

“Writer at work” magnet

Technorati Tags: free-writing, journaling, prompts, obedience, quotations, quotes, write, writers, writing

Take a look at this collection of infrared photographs by Allon Kira and keep in mind a line from an old Queensryche song, “I only see in infrared.” Imagine a person(?) who sees in infrared, whose vision is much like these pictures. Who or what is he or she? How does he live? What happens next?

Technorati Tags: fiction, free-writing, journaling, prompts, write, writers, writing