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!
Wrote a very short flash fiction (about 150 words?) about an Olmec colossal head, and what happens when you deny a woman her wants.
I had a first line – I am using the last line of the previous day’s story. It was “As I looked up at the night sky, a star fell….”
I found a picture of a monarch butterfly that was being tagged, and inspiration fluttered in to sit on my finger as I typed….
I am loving this! Thanks so much!
Oh! Great Prompt! The featured article involves a battle in WWII in the South Pacific and I have a story about the Japanese base that’s mentioned in the first paragraph (Rabaul). 🙂
I have an appointment and so need to run before I can get this finished but my mind can bubble while I’m driving and waiting.
Thanks so much for these prompts and for this site.
You’re more than welcome!
And I’m glad you’ve got your story started before you have to out and about, so you can mull it over.
I’d definitely going to have to use this prompt myself today. I’m pushed for time and that’s never good for inspiration.
Couldn’t find one for a long time, but after hitting ‘random article’ long enough – I stumbled over an album name that sparked inspiration in my mind! 🙂
Excellent, Alexis. I hope it was fruitful.