# WANTED: Writing Prompts!



## Mindfire (Aug 19, 2014)

Hey guys. I'm in a bit of a jam at the moment. About a month ago I was making more progress on my novel than I had in the previous six months combined. Then life threw a wrench in the works and I had to take care of a lot of stuff. Now that it's all more or less straightened out, I want to get back to writing. But sadly all that lovely momentum I had has completely evaporated. A friend suggested I work on some prompts and/or short stories to take a break from the heavy lifting and help build up steam, so that's what I'm doing. 

So this is an open request to everyone on the forums: please, please, please give me some prompts to work with. Anything from one sentence to a short paragraph. If I think the result is good enough I may post it in the showcase, but no promises. I'm pretty finicky about what I release publicly. However, I'll definitely send you the story inspired by your prompt if you're interested in reading and/or critiquing it. All suggestions will be accepted.

There are only three rules:

It has to be fantasy. However, what counts as fantasy is a very subjective thing so I'll try to be open-minded about what fits.



Nothing involving elements from established universes, historical figures, revisionist fairy tales, or real-world settings.
​

Please nothing involving super-common "standard fantasy" creatures (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc.) or any variants thereof. Except dragons. I will accept dragons.

Many thanks in advance to those who decide to help me out.


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## Jabrosky (Aug 19, 2014)

Hmm...why not try writing a short set in your novel's world? The setting you have described in your various posts here has always interested me.


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## thecoldembrace (Aug 19, 2014)

A bard tells a story of a lone survivor.

A childhood toy turns out to be secret artifact.

Five items in the vagabond's pocket.


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## Mindfire (Aug 19, 2014)

Jabrosky said:


> Hmm...why not try writing a short set in your novel's world? The setting you have described in your various posts here has always interested me.


I might do that. Actually, I'll probably use my world as a setting for these unless the prompt makes it impossible.


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## Mindfire (Aug 19, 2014)

thecoldembrace said:


> A bard tells a story of a lone survivor.
> 
> A childhood toy turns out to be secret artifact.
> 
> Five items in the vagabond's pocket.



These are... vaguer than I anticipated. But let's see if I can do something with them.


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## ThinkerX (Aug 19, 2014)

First, I would strongly suggest you review what you know of your worlds history and locations, and then write short stories set at the more interesting moments/places: a grunt's eye view of a key battle; the real reason High Priest Vane went on a rampage against the Flower Cult, or how a bold mariner opened up trade to a distant empire.  

Second, take a look at the 'Weekly Challenges' sub-forum in the 'Challenges' sub-forum.  Phil and I tried reviving this; maybe one or two will appeal to you.  You might also want to consider entering the current 'Iron Pen' Challenge.

That said, a prompt I have thought about for a while:  

A man on the point of drowning far from land spots a ship.  He swims to it, believing himself rescued.  Instead, the ship is a derelict, a ship on which something nasty happened...and he's not alone.  His challenge is to find provisions, find whatever(?) else is aboard the vessel, and see if he can't steer this craft towards land before it falls apart on him - literally.


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## A. E. Lowan (Aug 20, 2014)

I don't use prompts, but a friend tossed this page at me a while back and for some reason I bookmarked it.  Maybe you'll get some use out of it.

The Sarcastic Muse Writing Prompts


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## Philip Overby (Aug 20, 2014)

I'm actually planning to start doing weekly challenges and prompts on my blog (and like ThinkerX said about the Weekly Challenges section). A link is in my sig so if you check periodically, I'll be updating that with fantasy writing prompts and challenges.

In the meantime, here are some prompts we used for the Writing Prompt Blitz-o-Rama that just wrapped up a couple of days ago. A lot of people said they had the most productive weeks in a while after doing this challenge. So I'll share here even though so are not directly fantasy related.

I've done this challenge twice and used the same topics both times. However, I changed the actual prompts so they're different.

Writing Prompt Blitz-o-Rama I

Day 1-Dragon Prompt-Write a story in which a dragon is not a fearsome creature.
Day 2-Knight Prompt-Write a story in which a knight loses his or her sword at an unfortunate time.
Day 3-Battle Prompt-Write a story about a battle without showing any actual violence.
Day 4-Magic Prompt-Write a story in which a particular kind of magic is both helpful and harmful.
Day 5-Bloody Prompt-Write a story in which a bloody man or woman brings good news.
Day 6-Monster Prompt-Write a story from the POV of a monster.
Day 7-Gun Prompt-Write a story in which a character sees a gun for the first time. The gun must go off before the story is finished.
Day 8-Setting Prompt-Write a story in which the setting is actually a living, breathing thing.
Day 9-Assassin Prompt-Write a story in which an assassin (monster hunter, mercenary, etc.) kills the wrong target. Write it from the POV of a witness.
Day 10-Beauty Prompt-Write a story about a beautiful character without describing her.
Day 11-Bard Prompt-Write a story about someone writing a story (or composing a poem, song, etc.)
Day 12-Food Prompt-Write a story in which food plays a significant role.
Day 13-Dungeon Prompt-Write a story in which everything is in darkness.
Day 14-Random Prompt-Write a story in which a random encounter isn't so random after all.

Writing Prompt Blitz-o-Rama II

Day 1-Dragon Prompt-Write a story in which a dragon is the hero or heroine, but isn't perceived to be.
Day 2-Knight Prompt-Write a story in which a knight kills for the wrong reasons.
Day 3-Battle Prompt-Write a story about a battle in which no one's feet touch the ground.
Day 4-Magic Prompt-Write a story about the most horrible magic you can imagine.
Day 5-Bloody Prompt-Write a story in which a bloody room is a cause for celebration.
Day 6-Monster Prompt-Write a story in which a monster works amongst humans.
Day 7-Gun Prompt-Write a story with a gun that doesn't work, but is still used somehow.
Day 8-Setting Prompt-Write a story in which the setting is slowly being destroyed.
Day 9-Assassin Prompt-Write a story about an assassin's last job before retiring.
Day 10-Beauty Prompt-Write a story about lost beauty rediscovered.
Day 11-Bard Prompt-Write a story about the worst bard in existence.
Day 12-Food Prompt-Write a story with food that causes both life and death.
Day 13-Dungeon Prompt-Write a story in which the characters are lost with seemingly no way of escape.

For kind of weird prompts that may be helpful you can try Chaotic Shiny as well. Chaotic Shiny - Writing and RPG-Related Generators We had a challenge using that a while back as well.

And I also second what ThinkerX said about Iron Pen. It seems like there is one every couple of weeks so it might be worth checking the Challenges section to join in on one.

Hope some or any of this helps.


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## psychotick (Aug 21, 2014)

Hi,

Madigan was riding back to the fort when he heard the sound of a fly shrieking. At least that was the only thing he could descibe it as. He looked around, confused more than worried, but saw nothing. Then a pint sized jabberwocky no larger than his arm leapt for him and carried him to the ground.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Shreddies (Aug 22, 2014)

Philip Overby said:


> Day 1-Dragon Prompt-Write a story in which a dragon is not a fearsome creature.



This reminded me of a scene I came up with a while ago; An acrophobic dragon stuck at the top of a tower.  (Kind of like a cat stuck in a tree)


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## Asinya (Aug 24, 2014)

Day 1-Dragon Prompt-Write a story in which a dragon is the hero or heroine, but isn't perceived to be.

Reminds me of a really nice idea I had for a shortstory - I wrote it, but under time pressure, so it''s not very good. I'll revisit it once I'm done with my current project (whenever that will be - two months from now, by the look of things)


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## *LiLi* (Sep 10, 2014)

There's a box in front of you. What's in the box?


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## fantastic (Sep 11, 2014)

A warrior finds himself in a town with no people searching for an ancient library.


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## aliens (Sep 20, 2014)

A troop of outlaws stumble upon unexpected riches.


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## Hainted (Sep 21, 2014)

The smoke clears, and Paralia looked around. Dead platypuses(platypi?) as far as the eye could see, and she was covered in cookie dough. What had gone wrong with.....


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## Fyle (Sep 22, 2014)

* a criple

*a beautiful girl

*a pack of wolves

*a once a year event


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## stephenspower (Sep 24, 2014)

this is awesome: jobs that aren't done anymore. Write a story about someone doing one of the jobs in an sf/f environment.

Weird Jobs That No Longer Exist - Business Insider

I'm thinking of leech collector myself. Seems ideal for a zombie: send it into the swamp, have it wander around, reel it in, pick the leeches off its skin.


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## Alora pendrak (Nov 29, 2017)

A princess gets offended because a dragon refuses to carry her off, and how else is she going to land a heroic husband?


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## Night Gardener (Nov 29, 2017)

Mindfire  A kind-hearted farmer hears a noise outside his cabin as he prepares his breakfast. It's raining, which will surely delay his chores and work. He goes outside to see what it is. He sees a strange child, scarcely toddling, trying to open the gate to his small house-garden.  No one else is around. He goes to the main gate at the stone wall around his cabin: no footprints approached the house from the paths or the fields. No tracks of anykind. This child just appeared from thin air into his yard. What does he do next?


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 30, 2017)

^That sounds very intriguing.


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## Ban (Dec 1, 2017)

Holy moly this is a necromancing if I ever did see one.


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## Devor (Dec 1, 2017)

Banten said:


> Holy moly this is a necromancing if I ever did see one.



I believe it's the "Similar Threads" feature pulling up old threads that catch people's attention.  But we have no rules against necromancy, although sometimes it's important to note it because some people won't realize how old it is.


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