Fionagreywrites

Week 20 of Odd Prompts

 

This week, signs of life are popping back into the world. Not just flowers and sunshine as winter finally ends, but also human interaction. Road traffic feels more alive, even if everyone forgot how to drive over the past two months.

But I digress. Even introverts need contact, after all, and not all stories come from the imagination. Observation is a powerful tool – as is the question, “what if…?” – that sparks the creative mind. To behold the world from a different point of view, it helps to watch others.

So come on, friends. Come one, come all, to write; to dance merrily in an unanticipated direction, from a writing prompt you did not expect. Seize a spare and take it for a whirl around the floor, and the point is to try, so who cares who’s watching, or if you’re dancing different dances?

Creation is powerful, and there’s satisfaction in its accomplishment, even for works that are never quite finished. Take a prompt, give a prompt, twirl a spare prompt if you’re so inclined. Let no genre go unexplored!

Prompter Prompt Prompted
Leigh Kimmel A thing that sat on a sleeper’s chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind.
Cedar Sanderson
Cedar Sanderson “When I said weed eater, that isn’t what I meant…” Fiona Grey
nother Mike When she held the seashell to her ear, first she heard the crashing waves, then the songs the mermaids sing, and then… a timid little voice said, “Mommy? I want to go home now?” Becky Jones
Fiona Grey Your phone lights up, and the app notifies you the camera’s spotted someone at the door. Feeling lazy, you pull up the video and take a peek. It’s a giant murder hornet. And it just rang your doorbell. Leigh Kimmel
Kat Ross (Photo: house below) Why is it abandoned? Or does someone still live there? Why are you there? nother Mike
Becky Jones You step out of your front door to an altered world. Subtly altered, but altered. Kat Ross

 

Visual prompt: ‘house’ by Kat Ross

I’m told spare prompts are like popcorn, one handful leads to another.

spare When he rolled through the door, right eye higher and bigger than the other, his nose off-center and tilted left, and those gaping teeth sticking out over his fat lips, the matchmaker whose slogan was, “There’s always someone somewhere just right for you!” took a deep breath and prepared to get down to work… (inspired by https://www.thefarside.com/2020/05/08/2 )
spare Hard hats, orange warning vests, the crew working on the roadside was so ordinary that no one gave them a second look. Two days later, though, the road…
Spare “One day they go on about free will,” the woman snarled into the magic mirror. “The next day, they tell you the evil queen position is genetic.”
Spare “It’s a potato clock,” your son tells you proudly, and hands you a science project worthy of the local bomb squad.
Spare Wanted: Self-rescuing princess

See you in the comments. Can’t wait to read them! And don’t forget, send in next week’s prompt submissions to oddprompts@gmail.com.

Header image by Fiona Grey, White Sands vicinity, New Mexico.

 

21 comments

    • LOL! I love it! My grandparents traveled a lot and my grandfather always made suggestions as to what he could bring home for me. One time, he suggested a moose and said that I could probably convince my dad because the moose could mow the lawn!

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    • Nice! Makes a person want to wander on the beach, looking for what they might find there… even a mermaid, if we’re lucky!

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  9. My prompt this week is that picture up there. And a little bit of thought left me with this…
    Comments welcome!

    That Old House (650 words)
    By Mike Barker

    Hank got out of the taxi slowly. He looked at the weeds, the tumbled bushes, and the house. He couldn’t believe it.

    “Are you sure this is the right address?”

    The taxi driver’s voice woke him up. He looked at the houses around him, the street. Yes, this was the right place.

    You can read the rest at
    https://mbarker.dreamwidth.org/234922.html

    Liked by 1 person

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