A full year, folks. That’s right. We’ve almost made it. The finish line approaches, but does not end. If you’re used to thinking that years have only 52 weeks, get ready for a discovery. Because 2020 continues to surprise everyone, am I right?
Interested in accountability, if only to yourself? Need some gentle feedback from a welcoming group of creative minds? Want some inspiration for your next painting, baking session, writing sprint, or photo shoot? Join us! Send in a prompt to oddprompts@gmail.com, either as a trade or as a spare.
With that, let’s get going in this weird year of years.
| Prompter | Prompt | Promptee |
| Cedar Sanderson | The biologists were excited about the permafrost wolf mummy. Little did they know, just how far back legends of werewolves went… | nother Mike |
| Leigh Kimmel | Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or city must not be built upon it—or must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe. | Cedar Sanderson |
| nother Mike | He never expected that the cryptozoology diploma course would require applied fieldwork. With a cryptid of his choice. | Fiona Grey |
| Fiona Grey | The streetlight was blinking Morse code… | Leigh Kimmel |
And here are your spares. They’re like fuzzy puppies that want to bumble their way to follow you home, looking pleadingly at you with large, sad, anime eyes. You know you want to keep one.
| Spare | “Oh no. No. You’ve conjured a human!” |
| Spare | The final exam for the Vampirology Diploma included staking and beheading at least one vampire… Show your work. |
| Spare | The Ancient Egyptian Shamanism Course turned out to be a typo. It was actually a curse, which awoke the mummy in your back room… and made you its high priest… |
| Spare | The aliens turned out to be living electromagnetic pulses. The EMPs that fried our electronics did not facilitate their attempt to say hello, and they did not understand our response. |
| Spare | The old man’s beard was soft and curly Spanish moss. |
| Spare | A pocketful of voodoo and sugared magics |
Take a deep breath. We can do this! I’ll see you in the comments.
Header photo from Pixabay, Free-Photos.
More Odds Than Ends 
There are no such things as dragons, therefore that was just an airplane with REALLY odd camouflage..
LikeLike
And what happened then?
LikeLike
Dazzle camouflage does sometimes look like scales…hmm.
LikeLike
If you didn’t see them yet, over on Week 51, we have… (I know, we’re starting Week 52, but take a look back!)
A chit-chat about ordinary and extraordinary delivery…
A cracked pot with rhymes about an elf in the wreath…
Links to an exhausted teacher’s homecoming…
Links to a trip to wonderland…
A link to what happens when you keep on looking and looking…
Another twist on that elf in the wreath…
And a link to a bit about hunting.
Go, read, comment, enjoy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The streetlight was blinking Morse code…”
This reminds me of the movie “LA Story” with Steve Martin. The highway info sign starts writing messages for him.
LikeLike
There was some movie, or maybe serial from the 30′ or 40’s where the hero(s) was/were trapped in a room and there was a light hanging down. They managed to short (without blowing the fuse!) the cord so as to be able to send their SOS (and location..) and had the good fortune that ‘static’ was recognized for what it was. Yeah, Hollywood hokum. Still…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pretty sure it was also in a Hardy Boys book, with simple plug and unplug timing, IIRC…but I did pass a streetlight recently that inspired this one. No idea why it was clicking on and off so regularly, but I kept watching as we passed just to make sure it wasn’t crying out for help. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] prompt was “The final exam for the Vampirology Diploma included staking and beheading at least one […]
LikeLike
The prompt was “The final exam for the Vampirology Diploma included staking and beheading at least one vampire… Show your work.”
The comedians from 4 Winds have an answer.
https://undomesticatedfeline.wordpress.com/2020/12/26/odd-prompts-week-52/
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Week 52. A whole year’s worth of prompts. I think I missed two or three, but I’m still pretty impressed with myself. This is one of the […]
LikeLike
Used “The old man’s beard was soft and curly Spanish moss.”
http://ornerydragon.com/refuge/
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh! Sometimes we all need to find that clearing in the woods, and the guardian with a hug… very nice!
LikeLike
[…] went…” This wraps it up for 2020! Come on over to the Odd Prompts blog, More Odds Than Ends, and see the prompt responses. It’s been an amazing year over there, getting through all of […]
LikeLike
And continuing with my Wonderland story, in a scene snip. https://www.cedarwrites.com/2020/12/29/odd-prompts-wonderland-snip/
LikeLiked by 2 people
H, nice touch of wonder…
LikeLike
[…] This week, nother mike challenged me with, “He never expected that the cryptozoology diploma course would require applied fieldwork. With a cryptid of his choice.” My prompt went to Leigh Kimmel: “The streetlight was blinking Morse code…” […]
LikeLike
Read the syllabus carefully! Love it!
LikeLike
Not nearly as hilarious as Kat’s, but continuing the cryptid theme: https://fionagreywrites.com/a-better-future/
Also finally finished week six! It was just too close to home. https://fionagreywrites.com/engineers/
Now…*rubs hands together and glares*…I see you, week 48.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Not nearly as hilarious as Kat’s,” I’m not sure I agree. There are couple of good zingers in there. 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, but that skull cracked me up!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Would you believe me if I said that I’ve been waiting years to drop that line? In all the 4 Winds stories, this is the first time I’ve found a place to sneak it in.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Perfection! (Also, “vampire not included” was fantastic.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mine is now up at my LiveJournal, https://starshipcat.livejournal.com/873033.html. I had several versions of the idea, but only time to develop one into a brief scene that may be the beginning of a sequel to “City of Blinding Light.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, hoh! Blinking in the night, with Mr. Edison in the mix! Well done!
LikeLike
Defrosting A Werewolf?
Cedar Sanderson prompted…
The biologists were excited about the permafrost wolf mummy. Little did they know, just how far back legends of werewolves went…
Version one…
Gabrielle was excited to be part of the team working on the frozen wolf.
Gabrielle was excited to be part of a real archeological dig. Admittedly, digging through a frozen glacier wasn’t what she thought she would be doing, but still, they were finding interesting things, and the professionals were happy with her work.
Then they found the frozen wolf pup. Now the pros were really excited, muttering about how many centuries this wolf had been frozen, and what they might discover from the remnants. They had her taking pictures, close up, every step as they carefully, carefully freed the carcass from the icy layers that surrounded it.
One of the scientists looked at the others and muttered something about contagion. The head scientist just laughed, and said bacteria couldn’t have survived freezing for that long. The other scientist shook his head, and said a virus could. Then he wrapped his scarf tightly around his head, and kept on working.
That night, after dinner, Gabrielle carefully downloaded all of her pictures, and copied them to storage on the net. She found herself blinking, and more tired then usual. It had been a long day.
Her sleep was disturbed by strange dreams. She thought she was running across the fields, on four feet. When she woke up, and looked around, she laughed. Obviously, finding the wolf had gotten into her dreams, too.
When she got up the next day, no one seemed to be in a hurry to get going. The elder scientists groaned and griped, saying they must have done too much yesterday, they had muscle aches and pains.
By that evening, no one seemed interested in doing anything but going to sleep. Although the moon was starting to peek through the clouds, they all went to bed early.
Gabrielle knew she was dreaming, but she thought she got out of bed, and looked out of the tent, up at the moon. She raised her muzzle, and bayed at the shining sphere. Other howls joined her.
And then she ran. She ran so fast, and felt no surprise at her shining coat, and the wonderful smells she found as she ran.
Interlude…
Well, Drat. I’ve started this a couple of times, and somehow, it’s not really catching for me. I mean, sure, the barebones tale of an intern working on a dig being exposed and turning into a werewolf… it’s been told before, and of course, the character and their own distancing as they realize the change in their life is what makes it interesting, but… blah. I am tempted to try doing a comic strip, but I don’t really know how to do that, nor do I have the time. In fact, that’s part of the problem. This is a holiday week, which means I’m getting interrupted and have the tv blaring and… which doesn’t make settling down to write any easier. And when the story just doesn’t excite me… I guess it’s time to think about alternatives. So, what else could happen? Instead of the frozen wolf infecting the researchers, what if…
Aha! What if Gil’s monster hunting group gets word that the biologists are working with a frozen werewolf… and they know all too well that the virus that causes weres can be frozen and thawed? How do they handle that?
Sketch two?
Gil watched the meeting in the dining hall. Every seat was filled, and they were standing around the outside.
“Listen up! Someone dug up a frozen wolf in the tundra, and they shipped the thing to the university, where the biologists are planning to defrost it. The thing is, according to our records, that area has had werewolf outbreaks fairly often, and the virus that makes weres doesn’t die when frozen. So if they are defrosting a werewolf, there is a pretty good chance we could end up with an infestation of werewolves right down the road. Which would not be good. So, what we need to do is somehow get in and check the corpse before anyone gets a dose of the virus. Problem is, of course, that the university isn’t going to be happy letting someone else into their labs. Any ideas?”
Gil smiled and took a step forward, out of the kitchen door.
“Yeah? What did you want to say?”
“Just… I used to work the university grill, and they always had interns helping in the labs. I still know some people that work over there…”
The leader chuckled. “Huh. I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right, those guys do like their interns. And we could sneak a team in that way.”
He looked around, and picked out a team of four, all looking young, like college age. “You guys go get dressed for college interns. Jeans, t-shirts… you know the kind of informal look.”
Blah… better, but…
Oh! What if when they defrost him, he comes back to life! Changes back to human form, and grumbles about thinking he had finally found a way to die, but even freezing couldn’t forgive him his sin? Or something like that?
Blast, this is not working out! Maybe next time…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hmm, it may not be working out at the moment, but I like the bones of both sections. Enjoy the holiday week!
LikeLiked by 2 people