Writing Spark #19

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Here’s this week’s prompt!

Demon incursions into the human world are on the rise. When you try to send one back to hell, the demon breaks down and begs you not to. Bind it, banish it, but don’t send it back. There’s something in hell that they’re desperately trying to get away from.

Where will it take you? To hell, or far from it?

Writing Spark #18

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This week, a prompt based on a real medical condition:

You have a genetic condition that stops you from being able to sleep ever again once it kicks in. Your whole family line died from being awake too long. You never know which sleep will be your last before the long wake.

What would you do? How would you cope when you learned about this? What impact would this time bomb have on your life?

So many options, so little time.

Writing Spark #17

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This week, I give you:

Scientists are getting close to communicating with the past through time travel. You receive a package from your future self. 

What would you send yourself? To what end? What would you most like to tell your past self? How did you get hold of this technology? So many questions, so much bendy timeywimey stuff!

Writing Spark #16

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This week’s prompt is:

Killing someone gives you all the time they had left.

An interesting and brutal concept. What I love about this one is the implications that might have on a society, from punishment to child protection, destiny to immortality.

So many places you could go with this. Which one will you choose?

Writing Spark #15

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This week, our prompt is more specific and focussed:

One day we peeked in the window and saw the headmistress calmly sewing her arm back on.

It might be more guided than most of these sparks, but it still raises plenty of fun questions to ponder and answer. Like, how the headmistress came to be missing that arm, and why ‘we’ might be peeking in on her. Not to mention just how she can be so calm while performing that type of repair work.

So much packed into one small sentence. How will you unpack it?

Writing Spark #14

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Another deceptively simple prompt to get you going:

I’m only telling you this because you won’t be able to tell anyone else.

This works well as the first line to a piece, or simply as a jumping-off idea. It can be taken anywhere, but also runs the risk of being too broad. (I find some writing prompts are too broad to spark a specific idea, and wind up being frustrating.) It all depends on what you hook onto!

I like this one because you can come at it from so many different directions. Why can’t you tell anyone else? What’s so important about this secret? Is this the start of a villain’s monologue? The real origin of something wonderful, or something disastrous? Why are you there, to listen to this secret?

Writing Spark #13

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An oldie but a goodie:

You wake up covered in blood.

Grim and sticky, this one can take you in many directions. Whose blood is it? Do you know why and how you got red on you? What’s your first reaction to waking up this way: fear, anger, annoyance? Do you freak out or take it in your stride? And, interestingly, how long does it take you to notice?

Enjoy your bloody mess.

Writing Spark #12

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Here’s this week’s writing prompt:

Humans have discovered that once you reach the age of 130 years, you start to regenerate and get younger. You just have to make it to that age first.

I love prompts like this, with so much packed in there. You can focus on any one of them to tease out a story (or more than one!).

How did someone make it to 130 years old? What happened to that first person who started to regenerate? How many people reached that point before society – or science – started to believe what was happening? Is it public knowledge, or is it a secret being kept by a select few? How does someone handle growing younger again? What would they do with this second chance at life? Is there another kind of limit on their lifespan – how young will they become?

I find the psychology of the idea interesting, and its societal implications. Where will it take you?

Writing Spark #11

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In the spirit of the new year, resolutions, and making changes in our lives, here’s a spark to get you started:

You are so tired of burying your friends. It’s time to make a change.

Why are your friends suffering such fates? Why are you left to bury them? Is this change uplifting, hopeful, or more menacing than what has come before?

You decide. Have fun!

Writing Spark #10

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Here’s a spark of inspiration to round out the year:

It wasn’t my idea to destroy it, but it was my job to get it done.

What is ‘it’? Why must it be destroyed? How seriously does this person take their job, and why are they so willing to carry out such a task? Is it as terrible as it sounds, or is there something good in there somewhere?

The story is yours, so write it.