Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 3 Comments

Inspirational prompt 13

I like black and white images. I don’t know why, but they have a certain appeal to me. Somehow, they seem more authentic. Perhaps it’s because they allow me to recreate a story in my mind of a time I never knew, where things were different, and yet not so different from today. Bottom line is, my imagination gets to run wild. Maybe I’m a person who would have liked to live in the past. Maybe my mind is stuck in the past.

What if the guy sitting at the end of the bar was a mobster? Do you see the look on the employee’s face? What if the employee is looking at the door, at someone who just stepped in? Perhaps your POV character, perhaps a regular, or another mobster. The first guy has his back turned to the entrance. Do you smell a gunfight?

What if the supposedly mobster is in fact a shy guy, a good fellow, who just performed a good deed, perhaps prevented someone important from doing something bad, perhaps saved someone from a mob boss? What if he thought he found the only place where reporters wouldn’t find him and stopped to get a coffee? What if whoever stepped in, is a reporter and if he takes his picture, the gangsters will find him?

What else do you see?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 2 Comments

One year anniversary and Inspiration prompt 10

It’s been a year since I started this blog, and 150 of you have followed me and my weekly ramblings. Thank you all for the support and the advice you have offered!

For the past two years, when I decided to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keys), I feel like I’ve stepped through the threshold of another world. A nice world, not without difficulties and disappointments, but certainly with a lot of fun.

I think the following image relates to that. It reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could enter different realities or worlds by just opening doors and stepping through them?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt 8

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” I don’t know where the following image is from, but I think most of us will agree that it’s a strong one, and has a story to tell. Though I’m not a fan of war stories nor do I aspire to write any, the look on this man’s face says so much. From the loss of a fellow soldier/friend, to him carrying out a bad command.

If you don’t write or don’t like war-related stories, forget about the setting of the image, and focus on the face and how he holds his head. What does it tell you? Did he make a bad choice? What were the stakes? Think outside the usual life or death dilemma (and dehumanisation) many war stories have at their core (though one can’t argue it’s strong). Forget about the soot on his face. Think of him in an Armani suit and a silk tie, but with the exact same expression of desperation on his face. Perhaps he’s a businessman and he had to acquire and liquidate a business, because that’s what the CEO he worked for had asked him to do.

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt 7

It’s time for another prompt to help your creative side shine. The following image kind of stuck with me for some time and after searching the web for a while (I didn’t save it when I first saw it, DOH!), I managed to find it and pin it on Pinterest for everyone to see. Though I prefer fantasy settings (as any of you can see if you visit either my tumblr blog or my pinterest board), there are some images that “say” so many things when one looks at them. That, or they simply inspire.

What do you think? Do you see a setting somewhere there or an interesting character? How about writing a children’s story, this time from the cat’s POV? That would be fun, no?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt 6

Lets try something a bit different today. I understand that some people don’t get inspired by visual stimuli. Some find inspiration in sounds, others in previously written work, etc.

So today, I’m going to give you a written prompt. Ready?

Come nightfall, the opposite riverbank echoed with the moans of those they left behind.

Ok? Let’s see if this helps you get going. Let me know if it did 🙂