daily-prompt – Page 105

[Prompt] May 5 – Flickr

Get A Graphic Prompt From Flickr

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pah! I say pictures need us to tell their stories.

Flickr’s “Explore” page is a great place to find arresting images that suggest a scene or a character or a story. Click around, refresh the page, until you find an image that stops you in your tracks. Look at it for five minutes. If, at the end of that time, it hasn’t suggested at least one story or character you could love, move on to another image.

But you can only do this three times. The third time, if you still don’t love the image…tough! You’re stuck with it. Write your story using that picture anyway.

Go!

[Daily Prompt] May 4 – Hero Worship

Your character meets one of his/her heros

What would it be like to meet your hero?

Write a story where you main character gets to investigate the answer to that question. This can be as realistic or as “Twilight Zone” as you like.

What if you met your hero?

Go!

[Prompt] May 3 – Wikipedia

Use Wikipedia’s Front Page To Spark A Story

Go to the front page of Wikipedia.

Quickly scan the “In The News” and “On This Day…” sections, or even the Featured Article. If something catches your eye, use it as the spark for today’s story.

For example, on the day I’m preparing this prompt I saw “In the News…Two Trains Collide”. That could be a spark for a story about two people on the trains and how they experienced the crash; the story of an investigator sifting through the wreckage – what’s his story?; someone waiting at a station for a passenger who never arrives; a thriller about sabotage.

In “On This Day…” it happened to be the anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant. That sparked these ideas for me: school children in a small northern European country who aren’t allowed out to play one afternoon after the explosion because of contamination fears; rescuers going into hell; a researcher walkign through the nature-reclaimed exclusion zone 20 years later; a local, being interviewed. What it did to her life; the power plant’s thoughts as the disaster unfolks; what if it had gone differently: worse?; a satirical story about a disaster at a solar or wind plant instead…

Grab a story spark from the front page of Wikipedia

Go!

[Prompt] May 2 – Memories

Write From Your Memory

Take an incident from your past – one shining afternoon; one horrible moment — and give it to a character (like or unlike you).

Play it out as it happened or as you wish it had happened. Take it from the beginning through the middle to the end. Make us see it. Make us care.

Relive a moment in time.

Go!

[Prompt] May 1 – Keep It Short

Here we go: May 1, the start of StoryADay May!

It’s always tempting to get excited on Day 1 and launch in to a really long, involved story. Or maybe your story-telling muscles are out of shape and you end up writing a long, rambling story because you don’t have a framework and the story runs away from you.

Either way, biting off more than you can chew on May 1 can be a bit discouraging. Especially when you wake on May 2, work the cramp out of your fingers and your brain…and realise you have to do it all again!

So today’s prompt is a simple one:

Write a story of not more than 1,200 words.

That gives you 100 words for intro, 100 words for summing-up (or for the twist) and 1000 words to play with in the middle. (Hint: something should have happened by the time you’re 400 words in, to make me want to keep reading.)

That’s it. Happy writing, and see you tomorrow!

[Write On Wednesday] – Leap

Today’s prompt is, rather appropriately, about the moment before something big.

It’s the breath before the scream; the crouch before the leap; the blink before the resolute stare; The moment with her hand on the door frame before she leaves for good.

The Prompt

LEAP!

Tips

• Make sure your story travels from start to end: don’t just write a scene, make someone or something change between the first word and the last.

The Rules:

1. You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).

2. You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.

3. Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.

4. Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Leap! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-leap

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is the deep breath before the plunge! #storyadayhttps://storyaday.org/wow-leap

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-leap

See my story – and write your own, today: Leap at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-leap