Writing into Writing: Story Ideas!
I believe, at some point, everyone has heard the complaint: “Oh, that would make a good story. I have too many ideas! I can never pick one!” Maybe you’ve even uttered it yourself! For those that suffer...
View ArticleA Pun Is Not A Premise
A pun is not a premise; it is a pun. A twist ending is not a premise. A punchline is not a premise unless your story is very, very short. Premise, for all the things it is not, is difficult to...
View ArticleA Week of Prompts
The Alpha application deadline is fast approaching, and that means at least a few people are panicking. Is the story good enough? I should write another– but I don’t have any ideas! Everything is...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 1: They Fight Crime!
This is not the original They Fight Crime!, but it’s still amazing. Spend a little while clicking through until you find a pair– or a solo hero, or a trio– that makes you want to write that story. You...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 2: Tell me this story.
A comet burned in the sky and snakes fell from the heavens the night of my birth. Problem is, there were another couple hundred thousand people born that night, too, and I think maybe the comet was for...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 3: Immortality
What happens when humans figure out immortality, but you can’t get younger and you can’t have kids afterward? No, really. A lot of immortality schemes involve eternal youth, but as Tithonus discovered,...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 4: The Lost City
Pick a lost or abandoned city. Set the story there, but maybe not in its last days. Atlantis, Port Royal, Pompeii, Machu Picchu, Helike, Camelot, El Dorado, Troy, Songo Mnara, Angkor, Great Zimbabwe,...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 6: Chuck Wendig
Chuck Wendig has flash prompts each week. Find one you like in the archives, or use this one. The story includes a botanical garden, fatherhood, and something talking that doesn’t normally talk. Online...
View ArticleWriting Prompt 7: The End Times
Here endeth the week of writing prompts. I hope you’ve gotten at least one idea from them. Leave a comment if you have a favorite exercise or prompt to inspire your next story. The last prompt: “No one...
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