Daily Prompts

[Gay Degani]

I just realized how many of my stories came from random prompts, either from on-line or a class or a friend, so I'm going to start my own "daily prompt."  If you want to write using any of the prompts, that's great.  If you eventually publish the story, let me know.  That would be fun to find out.  If you guys want to get comments on ideas, joint EDFs own Writing Group above.

I'm doing this to infuse a little juice into my own writing so if you want to do so to, feel free.

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

red-headed person
Atlantic Ocean
yellow hi-lighter
Man v. man (or  woman)
Lost time is never found again. — Benjamin Franklin

[Shameless]

Oddly enough, I sold a story including all of those but the Atlantic Ocean and the hi-lighter.  It comes out in February.  Odder still, it's true. 

I guess I have to write something about hi-lighters and the Atlantic now...

[Gay Degani]

That is so funny and cool.  I did list "red-headed" because I put you and the Atlantic Ocean together.  Don't remember where "Dolphins at the Disco" was, but that story was edging into my mind.  Mentioned it as a favorite in an email to Sarah about taking risks and not worrying too much about the comments.

My goal is to set my egg timer on these: 30 minutes and see what happens.  Some of them may turn into stories, some may not.  It's an exercise to loosen me up and generate "starts."

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

Woman with bunions
high desert
i-pod
man v. society
Whoever despises himself still respects himself as one who despises. --Nietzsche

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

drug store junkie
small town
pendant
man v. self
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. --Benjamin Franklin

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

Paris Hilton's long lost brother
Tallahassee
condom
woman v. nature
A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is just as bad. --Bob Edwards

[kcball]

Long, lost Hilton?  Would that be James from Shangri La?

[M.Sherlock]

arent these prompts taken fromwhat you see around you.

 in which case.

condom?


 dear god.....mental image.

[Gay Degani]

I think that association happened in my head, not anywhere near my desk.  Linkage: Hilton, bed, rich ho???

[Shameless]

I'm doing a story with ALL of these today.  It's just too perfect a set-up not to.

[kcball]

I'm working on the one from yesterday; I'm a sucker for Ben Franklin quotes. 

[Gay Degani]

Ain't Ben the best???

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

Fluggy the dog
Australian Outback (continent or restaurant)
femur
dog v. ?

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. --Arthur C. Clarke

[Gay Degani]

I'm going to be busy over the next couple of days so I may miss a prompt or two.  But you're gonna be busy too, right? 

So here's today's.

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

A woman who wakes up to discover she has no feet
New York or any large faceless city
flower pot
woman v. ?

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. --Francis Bacon

[kcball]

Bacon, huh?

It is a little known fact that Bacon's given name was Friedrich.  He began to use Francis, as an adult, because he had grown tired of his friends referring to him as Fried Bacon.

K.C.

BTW, it is an even littler known fact that Bacon and I share a birth date -- January 22.

[M.Sherlock]

im definatly going to have tp try some of these out soon

[Hillarious]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

A boy with a broken heart.
Mt. Olympus
puzzle
man v. society


A fool must now and then be right by chance.--William Cowper

[Gay Degani]

Just so you guys don't get confused, I didn't swallow a get-young turkey potion.  I posted the last prompt on my daughter's computer not remembering to sign her out and me in.

[M.Sherlock]

hmmm i cant think of anything with todays prompts...i wan tt owrite but i cant think of anything

[Gay Degani]

Not all prompts work for all people, Michael.  Sometimes just opening up a newspaper will spark something.  I think ideas come when something out there touches us inside, something sometimes we don't even know we know something about.  Part of what works for me is not trying to think but rather setting an alarm for 20 minutes or a half hour and sitting down and making myself just do a free association in sentence form with the prompts and not worry if anything works or not.

For example, I'm going to just type about a london boy who plays the base who thinks the London Eye is watching him:  Five minutes on the timer.

The London Eye sh*t draft has been deleted for development.

Okay.  That's what I wrote in the time limit.  It not good.  It's not a story, not yet.  But actually I got something out of it.  It could be a story if I knew the character better.  If knew what he wants out of life, what he's afraid of, what would make him push himself beyond his limits.  But as of yet, I don't know much of that.  I only know right now that there is something about the London Eye that has made him paranoid.  What could it be?  Sooooo from there, I'd play around with it.  Ask some of the things in this paragraph and see if anything comes of it.  It may not result in anything viable, but remember it might, and it only took me five minutes to type.

My advice is when working with prompts, type first and let first thoughts come and don't worry about a final product.  Just go and see what happens.  You can turn into something better later.

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

A grandmother decides on murder
North  Dakota
paper plates
man v. crazed octogenarian

All the way to heaven is heaven. --Unknown

[M.Sherlock]

Thats awesome, raw fiction right there...i did actually get round to writing something anyway.


 also it might be worth noting for your future stories that english people dont often have basements, me and kevin discussed this too. Also ass is a silly word....use Arse.

but i loved that story...never gonna see that damn wheel the same way again

[Shameless]

You see, though M is completely afraid of The Eye, he is indeed in a band.  He is therefore gathering his harem (that's how you spell it!).  He has no place to keep his harem, however, as he has no basement.  This is because it is rare for an English person to have a basement.  I have decided to remedy the situation, however, by using The Eye to hypnotize all Londoners into digging basements.  This way, M will have a place to keep his harem, no matter where in the city he makes his digs.

[kcball]

Gay:

This is a great idea! I've got a real toe-hold on the 11/23 prompt, almost 800 words. The working title is Three-Minute Penalty. Here's the first two graphs.

You could see the sign, six blocks away, from the interstate exit ramp. How could you not? It pulsed with cold neon light, eye-catching red and yellow, and had to consume more power in a single day than Willa’s entire annual electric budget.

The sign was an ever-mindful beacon wherever her travels took her and the store below it called to her. Had Willa not been a Methodist, she would have spread a mat twice a day and bowed in prayer toward the town of Mercer, home to Elephantine Drugs.

I have the plot outlined, and when it's done, it should use all five elements of the prompt.

K.C.

[Gay Degani]

KC Those are couple a great paragraphs and where ever the story ends up taking you it sounds like a keep.  Love the title.

Michael, I was feeling a little nervous about writing about kid in london, but it was a prompt so I gave caution to the winds and jumped in.  If I were to develp that story (and I just might) I will send it along to you for all the correct terminology as well as residential geography.  That's the glory of a prompt.  There's no having to get it exactly right.  And that's the glory of having friends of all ages and from all locations:  instant research!!!!!  You can bet my bloody arse.

Kev, I want to know about that bloody harem Michael's supposed to have.  Who when why where.  This is strictly research for my story, of course. 

[M.Sherlock]

Cushions opium...clothes stay at the door.

ahem

 yeah prompts...thats where we were

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

an ecologist with mommy issues
Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
a cushion
man v. man

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants. --Arthur Schopenhauer

[M.Sherlock]

  An ecologist iwth mommy issues surrounded by cushions in his man on man harem atop hoover dam

 a man can do what he wants....


 BLIMEY

[Gay Degani]

Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to try and use them all.

Some Brit kid has a birthday
Piccadilly Square
A double decker bus and a polar bear
Man v. self

A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit. --Cecil B. De Mille