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Writing prompt 25

The doors slid opened. The short, sturdy woman walked in again, this time with a bundle of papers under her arm. She snapped her fingers and one of the guards brought her a wooden half-rickety chair. She shooed him away and placed the chair in front of the prisoner.

She studied him, brought a pack of cigarettes out of a pocket, took one out, tapped it on the stack of papers on her lap.

“Who are you?” the prisoner asked. “Why am I here?”

She was about to light her smoke when she paused and eyed him from over the flame. She took a long drag, blew it out and smiled at him. “Before we start, you should know you’ve already been here before, already had this conversation several times in the past, or in the future – depends on how you see it – and it didn’t go so well for either of us back then.” She shook the ash. “What story will you tell me this time?”

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt 24

Last time I posted a prompt I added a poll asking your opinion on these prompts. Thank you all for voting. By the way, the poll is still open and you can vote if you want to. The more answers, the better it will be. So, most of you asked for a few lines of prose rather than images, so here it is.

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Brightness painted the inside of her eyes in orange and red. She winced, turned her head, focused on the dry rubbing her hair made on the pillow. A small groan escaped her. Someone mimicked her from her left. She whipped her head towards the sound, regretted it. Her head was swimming, and as if that wasn’t enough, there was a little troll up there, a troll with a hammer enjoying itself with the insides of her head.

Another moan from her left. “Garry?” She tried getting up, tried moving her arm to lean on her elbow, but something pinned her down, straps around her wrists, something across her chest. She opened her eyes; she was strapped on a bed.

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Inspirational prompt 23

At the end of this post is a poll. I’d like to hear your opinion.

What do you think? A daredevil perhaps? A bet gone awfully wrong? Or perhaps a bet the stuntman is going to win and silence those who thought him/her crazy? Could it be the epitome of a professional juggler’s career where he was always bested by someone else? Could it be an illusion? Something someone else sees, perhaps a person who has always lived life in a very protected environment, snapped, and now sees things that aren’t there, things like that? Or what if this is a different version of Pennywise the Clown?

Now, the poll. What do you prefer the most, when it comes to inspirational prompts like this? A picture or a few lines of prose of one possible story to get you started? Perhaps a combination? I’d really like to know what you like.

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Inspirational prompt 22

So what do you think happened here? An accident? An argument that led to a fight? That’s one possibility. I like fantasy and sci-fi because I can “abuse” the what if question and go beyond the bounds of our real world. So, forget the curb of the pavement for a while and imagine him in the country. What if someone’s chasing him and the kid in the picture does what we used to watch in old western movies, the hero listening for vibrations through the ground? Why would someone chase him? Did he steal something? Something valuable? OK, but what if what’s valuable to him may be life-giving for those after him? What if he has travelled to a strange land, and the ground shakes under his feet? Ominous sounds or not? Maybe, if it’s a sound he hears, it’s a voice or a scream. Maybe the land is communicating with him, so he lies down and listens. What if he has overheard a secret, a word so powerful that whoever could utter it would control and shape the world around him? A word that is in the rainwater, and is the answer to everything everyone has ever wanted to know? Does he seek that knowledge for himself? To save his town, country, loved ones? To see through a task so difficult that entire armies have failed before him?

I’m sure there are other things you can come up with. Try 🙂

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 2 Comments

Inspiration prompt 20

Aside from the fact that it’s a really nice photo and the filters used make it even better, there’s a story behind it. At least I think there is one. And if there isn’t, well, I’m pretty sure we can invent one, yes? Isn’t that what we’re supposed we do? Create reality when there’s none?

Now, what do you think the story here is? Two elderly men talking about what? Their lives? Their past failures? disappointments perhaps? Let’s take it up a notch and go into the realms of fantasy, shall we? What if whatever story you had in mind, was told through the umbrella’s point of view? If you don’t like that, how about making the umbrella into a magical item, perhaps one that could control the weather, or something that could grant wishes? If you’re into more humourous stories, how about the umbrella being cursed and its bearer is always under a personal cloud pouring rain all the time, or perhaps the umbrella had abandonment issues and wanted to feel it is needed by its bearer. What would the dialogue be between the umbrella and the two men?

Lots of potential here. What do you think?