Hey all, welcome back to week three of the Odd Prompts writing challenge. We’ve gotten some stellar submissions over the past two weeks, so be sure to check out the comments for both stories and community interaction. Tips on effective recalcitrant muse prodding are always appreciated.
Week three’s prompt list is below. Be sure to send in your suggestions for next week to oddprompts@gmail.com. Missed submitting an idea this week? Check out one of the extra prompts below the chart and join in!
Most of all, have fun. No minimum, no genre restrictions. You do you, then share with the rest of us – and thank you, for being willing to share.
| Prompter Name | Prompt | Promptee |
| Becky Jones | You answer an ad for an in-house chef for what’s described as an “active investigations organization.” At the interview you find out it’s a monster hunting crew. Do you take the job? | nother Mike |
| B. Durbin | A pickle glows when you run 120V current through it. Why are you running a 120V current through a pickle? | Leigh Kimmel |
| Fiona Grey | “I am brave.” Why are you saying this phrase? Will you be persuasive? What actions will accompany your words? | Misha Burnett |
| Misha Burnett | A woman discovers her husband is having an affair with something that isn’t human. | Kat Ross |
| Cedar Sanderson | Living in a mossy forest, there is… | Cal Primer |
| Leigh Kimmel | Strange visit to a place at night—moonlight—castle of great magnificence etc. Daylight shews either abandonment or unrecognisable ruins—perhaps of vast antiquity. | Fiona Grey |
| Kat Ross | Photo Prompt (see below in post) Peekaboo Deer | Cedar Sanderson |
| Cal Primer | She looked over the cliff’s edge with a hint of longing. | B. Durbin |
| nother Mike | Your kids sent in your DNA samples for analysis, and the company wrote back, explaining that they only do human DNA analyses… What do you tell them? Describe that scene with your kids. | Becky Jones |
There were quite a few extra post submissions this week. Have at ’em!
- You cook (and/or bake) for stress relief. You’ve just had the worst day of your life. What happened, and what are you making?
- A rocket scientist is observed going through the trash. What’s his story?
- The alchemist was barely tall enough to see over the counter. “I shall need a copper tube, a kitten – recently dropped off by a pirate is best – and twelve glass flasks,” the voice squeaked.
- The scent of burning stars
- A trip to an amusement park based on one particular SF novel
- A conversation between a human and an AI appliance that won’t do what the human asks
- An adult discovers a toy from her or his childhood in an old box and the toy appears to be brand new and sparkling clean.
- In a quiet suburban neighborhood a mutated form of common plant or animal becomes a deadly threat.
- The online employment offer said you had to be willing to travel, but they didn’t tell you it would be that far out of this world…
- You hear a woman screaming in the parking lot behind your apartment building. But when you go back to look, there is only a deer there. What do you do?
See you in the comments!
More Odds Than Ends 
“Be afraid,” the monster said
“I am fierce and fearsome.”
“I’m not afraid,” I replied
“And I don’t think you’re gruesome.”
“I’ll eat you up,” the monster warned
Displaying needle teeth and fingertips
“I am brave,” I told her
And I kissed her on the lips
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[…] week from Odd Prompts: “She looked over the cliff’s edge with a hint of […]
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Woohoo! Two weeks in a row!
Petrichor
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Oh, I liked this a lot. Thought it would go in a darker direction, so I wasn’t expecting the ending. The water tie-in with the harness was great.
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Very good! Like Fiona, I thought it was going to be a darker ending, but you surprised me. This is a story I’d keep reading.
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Nice. I was also expecting something darker.
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Here we go… first raw cut, no thinking, just bash it out. 2235 words, and fun, I think. Comments welcome!
https://mbarker.dreamwidth.org/230464.html
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Good job!
Very good details on the non-descript building. I think a few of us have seen those buildings. (okay, mine were more law enforcement types, but I suspect all “gov’t” buildings have that look)
I confess when I got to the “We are a monster hunting organization.” I almost blurted out MCB, where’s Franks. I don’t think my co-workers would have understood. 😀
Much enjoyed, I hope you plan to do more with Gil.
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Fantastic!
I’ve worked in buildings like that. This was my prompt and this is a very cool response. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story works out.
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My chosen prompt was: A rocket scientist is observed going through the trash. What’s his story?
======
I was walking past the alley between facility buildings when I heard the yelling.
“Where is it! How did it get out! How could they think it was trash?”
All this from a little guy standing in a dumpster wearing a suit and an honest to God lab coat.
“Hey buddy,” I said, “Is everything okay? Do you need some help?”
I must have startled him, because he spun around and almost slipped. He caught himself on the edge of the dumpster.
“They threw it away!” he cried, “Somebody thought it was trash and they threw it away!”
He was almost wailing and I could see tears forming behind the thick, round lenses of his glasses.
“It’ll be okay, pal.” I said gently, walking closer to the dumpster “I can help you look.”
“You don’t understand!” he shouted, “It’s unstable. If I don’t get it into a controlled environment…”
He was interrupted by a white flash followed by a wall of noise. That’s the last thing I remember.
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Damn those lab cleaners! This sounds like a true dumpster fire. 😀
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Ba dum tiss. 😀
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[…] week three of the More Odds Than Ends writing prompt challenge! This week, my task was from Leigh Kimmel: “Strange visit to a place […]
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[…] again, it’s time for prompts from More Odds Than Ends. Many thanks to ‘nother Mike who created this prompt, and continued thanks to Cedar Sanderson […]
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OK, here’s mine. This was a lot of fun.
DNA and Me: https://profornery.wordpress.com/2020/01/18/dna-and-me/
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Nice! Now, are the kids going to go one step farther and ask if they are human? Wait a minute, if you’re not human… does this mean I have secret powers, like Harry Potter?
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I’m thinking yes. They’re going to want to know what exactly that means and yes, are they Harry Potter. The flip side of that is stopping them from experimenting on the dog and cat and other kids…
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I went with the “mutated animal or plant” choice. Figured I’d do something a little different and fun. Maybe I’ll do a short, or just leave it. Not sure… but it was a lot of fun to write…
http://www.jfposthumus.net/post/weekly-prompt-january-14
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That is … disturbing.
I love how matter-of-fact they are, like mutant ROUS are perfectly normal. I find myself wondering what else they hunt. Or is this a case of you really don’t want to know?
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LOL! Thanks! It was fun to write, even if I don’t have a solid story to go with it… yet. 😉
There’s also the question of how they came to be… and is it contagious? Or was the garbage panda (aka raccoon) another victim of what plagued the nest of squirrels? So many questions…
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[…] round of prompts from Odd prompts. This is getting to be challenging and […]
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Here’s my response to Misha’s prompt.
https://undomesticatedfeline.wordpress.com/2020/01/20/story-the-affair/
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I enjoyed this – the background investigator perspective kept my attention much more than “just” an affair (even a rather odd one) would have.
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Thank you. 🙂
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[…] is my weekly prompt submission for Odd Prompts. I was challenged by Kat Ross with an image of a peek-a-boo deer. I challenged Cal Primer with […]
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Here’s my prompt! It’s short, but in my defense I’ve been working on the next novel. This one is sort of a continuation of Jack’s Stick. https://www.cedarwrites.com/2020/01/21/odd-prompts-the-white-stag/
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Very fitting for a white stag to be part of the story. I hope you’ll keep roping these together as the prompts fit!
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My response is now up at my LiveJournal at https://starshipcat.livejournal.com/684079.html.
I didn’t write as much as I would’ve liked — I’m still undecided whether Disaster Ensues or Hilarity Ensues, or some combination thereof. However, I do know this scene fits somewhere in the story of the founding of Shepardsport Pirate Radio, which figures pretty prominently in the Rising of the Moon novels once I finally get them written.
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Why are you running a 120V current through a pickle?
Why not? Then, once upon a time there was this ‘collection’ of old ‘spent’ fluorescent tubes, some clip-leads, and a 15 kV transformer… so… of course things got all lit up. No, thing was summoned. Or was that me?
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