Children’s book authors Glen and Karen Bledsoe have helpfully provided a set of writing prompt generators. One provides a phrase (”the [adjective] [noun] that went [verb/phrase]”). For example:

The shy scratching post that went fishing

The second provides three random items, to be combined in a story. For example:

A zucchini squash, a fishing rod, and a Tarot deck.

The final generator is a complex piece that provides a plot out of the following building blocks: protagonist, antagonist, setting, goal, an important event, and an important object.

Today, use one of the above examples, or go to the page and randomize your own. Enjoy, and pay a visit to the Bledsoes’ page frequently!

Gravity Wins

I admit it, the site design over at WritingFix makes me dizzy thanks to its overly-busy look and wild array of colors. However, it has a ton of prompt categories that you should take a look at:

Daily Writing Prompts provides a very nice random prompt generator that chooses one from over 500 possibilities, such as:

“What can we learn from contrast? Write a description of something very dark (like a crow) in a very light place (like a field of snow). Make the dark thing seem innocent and the light thing seem ominous.”

Right-brained prompts includes a wide variety of visual sparks, poetry prompts, sentence creators, alliterative sparks, story starters, and more. This example comes from one of the Serendipitous Word Games options:

• Setting: the top floor of a building
• Character: an artist
• Conflict: the ground is covered with something awful

Poetic prompts are prompts just for poets, such as the random poetic phrases generator.

Left-brained prompts make use of the logical side of the brain to get your fingers moving. For instance, you might try the Start and Stop Game, in which “your writing’s first and last sentence must contain the same word, phrase, or clause.” I love the first one I generated:

“if I knew any better”

If that isn’t enough, the site also contains:

• Picture book prompts
• Chapter book prompts
• Literature prompts

Use one of the above prompts or go to there and generate your own. Either way, make sure you visit their site. Hopefully someday they’ll pick some colors that are easier on the eyes.

Today I recommend that you visit the Not My Desk New Food Dire Warning And/Or Healthful Revelation Generator. Generate a dire warning or two and start writing:

• A press release warning the public about this new hazard. Be as deadpan or over-the-top as you please. In the case of a revelation, a press release extolling its benefits.
• A story about someone afflicted with or paranoid about contracting the new problem. In the case of a revelation, a story about someone who prays his life will be changed by it.
• A story about the new plague or benefit’s effects on society.
• A free-write based on the concepts linked by the warning or revelation.
• A poem based on the unusual linkage of images and thoughts.

For today’s exercise, try the following pre-generated health revelation:

Butter sculptures shown to prevent creeping jowls.

Random generators of nearly any kind can be used for writing—they don’t have to specifically be plot generators, character generators, or the like.

“write with curiosity”
Mugs, buttons, shirts, cards, more!

Today’s prompt-on-the-web comes to you courtesy of The Student Story Starter. The Starter provides you–at the click of a button–with the following tidbits of information:

• Protagonist’s Gender
• Protagonist’s Job/Profession
• Antagonist
• Key Object or Symbol
• Setting
• Theme

It’s aimed at the modern world, and here’s one randomized selection to get you started today:

My protagonist is a female. My protagonist is a florist. The antagonist in my story is a day laborer. A key object or symbol in my story is a traffic light. My story will be set in a motor home. My story is about revelation.

My personal experience with this tool has been that it tends to provide one piece of information too many–usually I end up leaving out one thing, I think most often the setting, in the interests of not overloading the piece–but your mileage will, of course, vary. Regardless, I’d rather have it provide more than I need than not enough, since it’s easy to leave out a piece! I highly recommend visiting this little tool now and then and auto-generating a prompt or two.

What if… the next knock on your door was the police coming to take you away for a crime you’re certain you didn’t commit?

You could journal about the real-world possibilities, or you could put a fictional character into this situation and see what happens. This needn’t be as straightforward as it seems. Did your character commit the crime or not? Was she framed or is it a misunderstanding? Are the police themselves after your character, are they the agents of something far more sinister, or are they the unwitting dupes of someone who has cooked up some very convincing evidence? How will all of this affect your character’s life?

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Incongruities can be great story starters, plot generators, and keys to characterization. According to dictionary.com, something that is incongruous is:

1. out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming …
2. not harmonious in character; inconsonant; lacking harmony of parts …
3. inconsistent

Things that are out of place make you question why? or how? For example, the other day I saw a fancy convertible. Its top was up, and a kayak was strapped to the top. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kayak or the like strapped to the top of such a car before, and it made me wonder what sort of people were driving that car.

Things that are out of place can also lend instant three-dimensional characterization to an otherwise flat character. A stoic, stern warrior who doesn’t like to show his emotions is nothing new, but what if when in bed with his beloved he finally smiles and laughs every bit as playfully and happily as she does?

Today, create or find an incongruity and use it to brainstorm a character or story premise.

Roleplaying games build character

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Use the lovely artwork Her Valentine as a story starter today. Use it in any way you like–it might appear as a piece of art in your story, or the scene from that image might be a part of your story. Whatever you do, make sure the image puts in an appearance within the first two pages–preferably start with it.

Technorati Tags: art, fantasy, journaling, prompts, deviantart, write, writers, writing

Not that long ago I received a spam with a randomly generated subject line of “be my delusion.” There’s something fascinating about that particular phrase. Today, do one of the following:

• Begin a poem with that line.

• Include it as a line of dialogue in a story.
• Free-associate from the phrase, using it to brainstorm a plot or character.

You might also think about what it means to be delusional and how you could treat the subject in a non-stereotyped manner.

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Take a look at this unusual image from Hours of Darkness with its contrasting figures.

Tell their story.

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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