Writing Spark #9

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Here’s something a little different for you:

A Latin class chant through an old text, and accidentally summon a demon. Or did they?

I love the idea of an innocent activity like parroting words in a class turning into something quite unexpected. I also enjoy the flip on the end of this one. Which part is the lie? Accidentally? Summon? Demon? What’s really behind it all?

As you can probably tell, I love questions and teasing out the answers.

Writing Spark #8

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This week’s prompt is:

She added a charm to her bracelet for every life she took.

Who is she? How and why does she take lives? How does she choose which charms to add to the bracelet? Why does she keep a reminder of what she’s done?

I love the possibilities in this one. Go nuts and have fun!

Writing Spark #7

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This week’s writing prompt:

When the flood waters finally receded, only ruins remained and so many were dead. But what were the eggs found along the drowned streets?

Some hopefully rich imagery for you to play with there. What caused the flood? How far did it reach? And what about those eggs?

Have fun with it!

Writing Spark #6

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Here’s a shiny new writing prompt, just for you:

If no-one ever comes back from beyond the boundary, how do we know that they’re dead?

I love how stories and myths grow and swell and change. This prompt taps into that, bringing up questions about why we explain the unknown the way we do, and why we accept simple statements.

So what is this boundary? Why do people never come back? And why is death the explanation that everyone believes?

Writing Spark #5

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This week’s writing prompt is:

A friend asks you to pinch them, because they’re dreaming. You do, and they disappear.

Where will it take you? Who is dreaming? What is really real? What happens if you should pinch yourself?

So many questions. You should get to answering them!

Writing Spark #4

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This week’s spark is:

You come across the details of a brutal murder. The photos of the victim look exactly like you.

Who is the victim? How did they die? And, most curiously, why do they look like you?

Writing Spark #3

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Here’s your next writing spark:

You sold your soul to the devil some years ago. Today, he gives it back and says, “I need a favour.”

What story will you tell? What might prompt the devil to ask for help?

Writing Spark #2

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Here’s another spark for you:

You develop the ability to always know when someone is lying. You meet up with your best friend and realise that everything they tell you is a lie, including their name. 

What would you do with such an ability? What would you do with the knowledge it gave and the mysteries it reveals?

Writing Spark #1

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As part of my prep for the Pre-NaNoWriMo Planning Day, I put together a bunch of writing sparks. Some were scavenged from the depths of the internet, some were gleaned from previous lists I put together with co-MLs, others I made up myself (I won’t claim they’re all totally unique or belong to me).

It seems a shame to create these things and not share them widely. So! I shall be posting regular updates with writing sparks for a while – at least until I run out of my current list! It’s quite a long list, and at one per week, it’ll take a while to get to the end.

These are here for you to do with as you wish. See what ideas they inspire, what questions they raise. Perhaps they’ll fit into another project or perhaps they’ll start a new one.

You made two deals in exchange for your first born child. Both dealers come to collect at the same time.

Note: many prompts use ‘you’. Feel free to use whatever pronoun you wish in your story, from whatever point of view you like. The ‘you’ in the prompt is simply a character of your (the author’s) choosing.

Watch this space for more sparks!

(Cross-posted on my Inkspired blog.)

Mental Battlefields: Challenge #5

Start here before doing this challenge.

Let’s move ahead. That first shot rang out ten years ago. Long or short, that final battle is all done now. The war is over. Let’s let the blood dry, the dust settle, and the fallout spread through the warring parties.

The smoke has cleared now. Think about what the battlefield looks like now, a decade later. How changed is it? What markers of the battle remain, if any?

Think about how that battle ended. Not everyone in the whole world was killed: let’s allow at least some to survive. A battle is for nought if there are none to remember it, and perhaps someone might learn something from this one to make better choices in the future.

Who stood victorious, when all was said and done? What was the cost, to both sides? What happened to the defeated side? How far did the ripples reach?

We know that the victors write history. Theirs is the story told loudest and most often. How was this battle framed by that story? How do the official reports say it went down?

The tenth anniversary of the battle is a chance for a commemorative event. Perhaps it’s official, or perhaps some veterans simply take it on themselves to do something. Which side were they on? Are they commemorating a great victory or a crushing defeat? Remembering those who fell?

How do they remember the last battle? How different is their view of it compared to the pubic memory? Do they recognise the battlefield as it is now? What do they do at this event? Are there speeches, or silence? Are there flowers, or banners?

Go back to one of the characters you wrote about in a previous challenge and bring them along. Give us a familiar voice and let it speak their perspective on all of this.

Tell us how it all ended, and the beginnings that followed it.

Challenge #5: Retrospect

Finish up: Epilogue