Cedar Sanderson

Week 27 of Odd Prompts

They don’t come much odder than this crew, and you’re all awesome for coming along on this ride through creative expressive… weirdness.

Just as a reminder, as we come into the second half of 2020: if you send in a prompt, it will be randomly paired with another prompter, unless you specify ‘spare’ in the subject line.
There is no wordcount limit. You could put one of those taut little 6-word-stories in the comments, and call it good. Or you could make art, a photograph, collage… whatever piques your fancy.

To submit your prompt, simply post it somewhere public: a blog, a live journal, etc. But not social media, since a lot of people don’t go there. The put a link in the comments. Or you could put the whole darn thing there! The comments of this blog work for ‘public submission’ as well. If you do have a blog, we encourage cross-linking with your prompter or promptee because why not share the love? But it’s not a requirement.

Finally, and most important: Just relax and enjoy letting your imagination slip the leash!

Prompter Prompt Prompted
Becky Jones Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, decides she’s done playing coy and lets a boat full of tourists see her. How does that end? Fiona Grey
Cedar Sanderson It was an ergonomicist’s dream Misha Burnett
Fiona Grey Oh, no! The coffeepot has been stolen! nother Mike
nother Mike There was an armored gauntlet holding a bundle of money laying on the kitchen table.
Cedar Sanderson
Misha Burnett A power spirit creature in the form of a sentient book has the ability to contain exactly the information that whoever is holding it needs. It’s in a thrift shop when a new owner finds it. Who is the owner, and what does the book appear to be to them? Leigh Kimmel
Leigh Kimmel The song “Sausalito Summer Nights” by Diesel is the story of a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The Wikipedia article mentions that Sausilito is north of San Francisco, in a context that implies that the songwriter mislocated it as being south of San Francisco. In fact, the lyrics clearly mention crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to get into San Francisco. Why does the narrator of the song go east around the Bay to get to San Francisco instead of heading north on El Camino Real? Visiting a friend in Marin County on the way? Wanting to avoid the possibility of getting stuck in Silicon Valley traffic with a car prone to overheating? Some other reason? Tell me the story. Becky Jones

Spare Visual Prompt:

photo by Cedar Sanderson

Spare Prompts! If you aren’t feeling up to the whole concept of a prompt challenge, but you need something to get your juices flowing, the spare prompts are for you! Like the Spare ‘Oom of Narnia, there is more to these than meets the eye…

Spare He was glad to get out of the house at last. It was about time for some inhuman contact.
Spare Trying to find out when the annual meeting of habitual prevaricators would meet was difficult. Everyone he asked gave him a different date. (suggested by https://www.thefarside.com/2020/06/25/4 )
Spare The aerosol cannot be defined, unless___________
Spare A minor god wanders the Earth making deals with mortals–the god can grant limited wishes in exchange for services. Describe the god, its appearance, and its sphere of influence.
Spare A new invention like a 3-d printer for food comes on the market at an affordable price. It can make any meal from a brick of protein. How does this change society?
Spare
A (wo)man, tired already at the start of day, walks into a store to get a cup of coffee and waits through a line that feels like it’s going like molasses, while their glasses get fogged up by their face mask. Feeling irritated at everything, (description of irritants), they finally step up to the cash register pull out their wallet….but as soon as they grab it something doesn’t feel right.
See you in the comments!

And feel free to share this challenge around. The more, the merrier!

21 comments

  1. I spent many, many years driving from LA to San Francisco. Now I have to remember the route and see about why in the hell anybody would take such a roundabout way into the city.

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  5. This week, my prompt from Fiona Grey was, “Oh, no! The coffeepot has been stolen!”

    A missing coffeepot? That sounds like a job for Gil, the Monster Hunter chef… I have to admit, I’ve done two quick versions, but I still think it isn’t quite right. Anyway, here’s the current writeup…

    Getting Ready for Surprises (985 words)
    by Mike Barker

    Gil had just handed a customer their lunch when he turned around and saw a skillet on the range start flaming. Black smoke poured out, and Hanna jumped back, her hands up.

    Billy grabbed a pitcher of water and sloshed it over the range. The grease splashed, of course, so now they had some fire on the range, and some running onto the floor.

    Gil looked around, quickly. No red extinguishers? Then he reached over and grabbed the box of baking soda sitting where they had been making bread earlier, and a pot lid.

    [You can read the rest at https://mbarker.dreamwidth.org/235843.html%5D

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  7. This whttps://www.cedarwrites.com/2020/07/07/the-case-of-the-perambulating-hatrack-part-21/eek’s prompt was great! And this week’s section of Hatrack is lengthy. It’s been a productive week! I finished a novel, The East Witch, but also found time for my prompt. No promises on the quality of next week’s work.

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