Dragon Writing Prompts

Create a bestiary. Use each of the following words in the name of the beast or one sentence description of the beast.

amnesiac
bewitches
chamber
disguises
eerie
flickering
graffiti
hypnotized
invisible
journey
karma
laughing
moonbeam
nuzzle
outcast
pilfer
quake
rumble
saccharine
taunt
uneasy
valkyrie
whirl
explode
yammer
zigzag

Anu Garg of Wordsmith.org has been sending out a word a day for 14 years. In celebration this week all the words were not only 14 letters long but defined in 14 letters.

Use them in a story, a paragraph or even a single sentence. :-)

acritochromacy (uh-KRIT-o-kro-muh-see) noun — Color blindness.
tintinnabulate (tin-ti-NAB-yuh-layt) verb intr. — To ring; to tinkle.
tinctumutation (tinkt-myoo-TAY-shuhn) noun — Change of colour.
Brobdingnagian (brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn) adjective — Of gigantic size.
circumbendibus (sur-kuhm-BEN-duh-buhs) noun — Circumlocution.

Print out the following words in a largish font, cut them up, shuffle them around to create fantasy tabloid headlines like:

Acclaimed Ghoul Eats Mist Enshrouded Monastery
Toothless Pig Dumps Ugly Android

You may need to throw in some prepositions (in, through, on, etc.) to use the places and things. Feel free to add in your own words. There’s also a longer list at Dragon Writing Sticks.

Adjectives

acclaimed
annoying
barbarian
blasphemous
disturbed
enigmatic
foul
fractured
glowing
golden
grotesque
insectoid
mad
massive
mist enshrouded
morbid
oozing
quirky
sapphire
toothless
ugly

Creatures

android
assassin
baby
bunny
dragon
queen
cult hero
dragon hunter
fiend
fortuneteller
ghoul
mouse
musician
pig
priestess
soul
thief
vampire
warlord
witch
worm

Verbs

assaults
avenges
betrays
bewitches
blesses
burns
cheats
completes
corrupts
curses
deceives
destroys
deviates
disguises
dooms
dumps
eats
escapes (from)
exorcises
falls for
fears
hits
imprisons
jealous of
kidnaps
loses
mourns
quests for
rebels against
rejects
resists
rips off
rules
sacrifices
saves
seizes
separates
shoots
silences
smashes
strikes
sues
summons
surrenders
terrorizes
threatens
tortures
traps
tricks
weeps for
yields

Places

abyss
altar
bakery
bones
camera
castle
diary
dungeon
goblet
grave
heaven
island
key
monastery
paradise
ring
runes
space colony
tavern
volcano
well

Use the following “words” in sentences. See what the sound of them inspires. :-)

pimtpo
poortspo
terballs
tonopmac
seyekco
rellatte
rolepsia
etatsnok
ryon
aikaisil
punitif
tedneeg
eruvargr

Merry Christmas! Here’s something to do while you wait for everyone else to get up so you can open your presents :-)

What if the following were acronyms? What would they stand for? They can deal with Christmas or not, you decide.

NOEL
SANTA
SNOW
STAR
ANTICIPATION

And here’s a present for you Star Trek fans: New Star Trek episodes.

Considering everyone’s doing this for free just for love of Star Trek, they aren’t bad. (Try one of the newer ones to begin.) The special effects are quite good and George Takei gets to show off his sword skills in World Enough and Time :-)

Hope your day is a joyous one!

You know those trees with the handprint leaves you write something to be thankful for on? Your favorite Evil Dude (E.D.) has been inspired to create one. Of course he’ll use severed hands instead of construction paper and carve his message with a fresh craft knife rather than use crayon.

So, what’s he thankful for? Make a list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Cut up the following words and put them in a bowl. For NaNo writers, when you get stuck, pull out one of the words and use that in the next sentence you write. If they don’t make sense, edit them out later. :-) The point is to get your thoughts moving. (Though it’s really cool when a random word sparks a neat idea.)

If you’re not doing NaNo, include one random word in each sentence you write for the next 10 to 15 minutes.

ensorcled
bear hug
scandal
natural
flimsy
arresting tale
fuschia
volcano
superfluous
juniper
clone
absorb
emerald
weeping
tumble weed
brown sugar
thief
obscure
overprotective
serene
rivalry
tradition
black satin
lace
destroyed
caprice
emblazon
bash
dysfunctional
aflame
requiem
kookie
fried
awesome
unruly
apathetic
flit
hidden
damnation
frosted
holiday
nightsong
resistant
flying dagger
out cast
heirloom rose
crunch
ridiculous
entropy
improvise
babble
condemn
wimple
dead of night
plot
lucky
doomed
magenta jewel
spring frost
evil spirit
jabberwocky
seasoned
core
plunder
recognition
pride
ambitious
skeleton crew
glamorous
lifeless
oppression
religious
plead
humorous
superficial
gourmet
nobility
stargaze
sandy
mook
scorch
cream
machete
blackberry
wake
slumber
attitude
black ink
train station
era
abandoned
tower
grandiose
avoid
mercurial
manitcore
vestige
silver wing
guardian
dominant
disguise

For each set of 7 words, generate a sentence. To make it extra challenging, use them in order. (Feel free to change tenses and word forms.)

1. gallop crooked siren macabre fluttering shudder vintage
2. torment traveler deftly surprise poem hairy ticket
3. shy skull brash horror release rage journey
4. traitor tranquil raced deadly grumpy rhapsody jagged
5. temple reward tunnel foster sick tournament spotless
6. chocolate harrowing skunk jokes wander artist frightened
7. sequined insectoid shallow daunting pyramid book gorgeous
8. competition ooze foggy flames spiral stranger quickest
9. coward thief scared eyeball screech laugh strange
10. tease shiver ancient twitch squealed absorb liar
11. angel nasty fever visitor dependable modified curved
12. impenetrable fuzzy unusual outstanding microscopic talons typical
13. deep triumphant evaded wings flipped overgrown stripes
14. foolish slobbered idiot adroit acrobat cherish cheater
15. magnetic patrol hidden guess vanish shard crawled
16. teeming dancer thrill transform   mask thirst limber
17. deny dictator sweat swelling worried rust curdling
18. brave checkered sly fierce hobbled underneath fatal
19. beast distant altered ingenious ruined flammable mirror
20. certain clever guard accident screeched spiky slimy

Twenty real weird words. Use each in a sentence, making up your own meanings. (When you’re done, if you want to see the real meanings, click on Comments.)

erinaceous
lamprophony
depone
finnimbrun
floccinaucinihilipilification
inaniloquent
limerance
mesonoxian
mungo
nihilarian
nudiustertian
phenakism
pronk
pulveratricious
rastaquouere
scopperloit
selcouth
tyrotoxism
widdiful
zabernism

(Words from 20 Weird English Words.)

Describe each of the following with something you’d find in a kitchen. For example:

“His face looked as though someone had smushed it in with a cast iron skillet.”

You can use “like” phrases for each if you wish, but push the imagery, like:

“.. leaning on the table with fists like potato mashers, ready to mash in Donnel’s face.”

It can be a paragraph describing one person, or random phrases and sentences.

If you get stuck, try brainstorming a list of kitchen items.

hands
feet
eyes
hair
voice
clothing
fingers
feet
neck
butt
chest
scent
ears
legs
elbows
knees

“All the life’s wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.” — Anu Garg

Well I hope the lived/devil anagrams are lying but the Weekly World News keeps reminding us that Elvis does indeed live.

Anu Garg sends out A Word A Day newsletter through Wordsmith.org. He also has the Internet Anagram Server there.

The best anagrams come from phrases and names, like:

Sopranos ends = Snoops snared
Gas prices highest = These piggish cars
Claude Monet, Self Portrait = Coloured paints flatter me
William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon = He, of silken phrase, at a live drama. Bow.

(There are more at the Anagram Server above and, well, all over the internet!)

But here are some (mostly) one word anagrams. Use each pair in a sentence.

squeak - quakes
ashman - shaman
heroes - reshoe
froth - forth
lived - devil
listen - silent
funeral - real fun
regal - glare
heart - earth
cold - clod
kiss - skis
dog - god
wrong - grown
mashed - shamed
ganged - nagged
mating - taming
wolves - vowels
paging - gaping
thorn - north
Elvis - lives

Use the following nouns as verbs in sentences. To up the challenge, use them all in the same paragraph.

ninja
purple
paradise
bubble
soul
cavern
moss
dagger
sage
blood

(Hint, to turn them into verbs try adding -ed.)

Write your memoir in 6 words and submit it to Smith magazine for potential inclusion in a book to be published in 2008 by HarperCollins.

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words. The result was “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Since SMITH [magazine] celebrates the personal side of storytelling, our twist on this classic concept is the six-word memoir–the short, short true story of your life.

It could be the title of your autobiography, or maybe your epitaph. Shorter than haiku and meatier that a one-liner, it truly makes you take stock of who you are. Try it.

Here are some examples from the website:

Barrister, barista, what’s the diff, Mom?
– Abigail Moorhouse

“What? Lemony Snicket? Lemony Snicket? What?”
– Daniel Handler

“My spiritual path is 100 proof.”
– John House

“He wore dresses. This caused messes.”
– Josh Kilmer-Purcell

“Yes to every date, met mate.”
– Maria Dahvana Headley

“Shy Jersey kid, overcompensating ever since.”
– Ariel Kaminer

“Take a left turn, then fly.”
– Hillary Carlip

“Haunting dad, spotlight mom, retrieving marriage.”
– Nell Casey

“Big hair, big heart, big hurry.”
– Larry Smith

Eight thousand orgasms. Only one baby.
– Neal Pollack

I still make coffee for two.
– Zak Nelson

“On the seventh word, he rested.”
– Stephen J. Dubner

This is from an exercise in Unjournaling. Write 10 sentences that say no without using the word “no”. Or, come up with a scenario where one character must repeatedly say no — but doesn’t use the word no — to the other character.

Here’s the scenario Kat came up with that you may use if you wish: Tiger and Star, two cat people, are arguing. Tiger — who believes that Martians are real — wants to burn Star’s collection of Prince Fielder (1st Base, Milwaukee Brewers) baseball cards because the cards will bring the Martians to invade.

Write a conversation between Tiger, who is begging and trying to persuade, and Star, who is saying no. Have Star tell Tiger “No,” but without using the word “no” at least 10 times.

Adapted from Unjournaling: Daily writing exercises that are Not personal, Not introspective, Not boring! by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Miller Thurston. It has a lot of fun writing prompts that live up to the title :-)

Come up with a list of news releases or reports for April Fool’s Day that sound believable enough to be true. Some examples:

Personalized Dunlop Tires
Computer Virus Spreads to Human
Virgin Atlantic Buys Butterfly Advertising Space

There are more examples at April Fools R Us.

Write a paragraph that has something to do with each of the following words. Have the first sentence begin with the first letter, the second sentence begin with the second letter. But don’t use the word in the paragraph! Do as many as 10-15 minutes allows.

fireball
scream
amazon
mouse
velvet

Begin a sentence with the first word of the pair and end it with the last. If you need to change the type of word (change ferocious to ferocity or fierce or ferociously) feel free.

curious . . . . . ferocious
unappreciated . . sensitive
vapid . . . . . . crazy
somber. . . . . . concise
foggy . . . . . . egotistical
dangerous . . . . considerate
willowy . . . . . capricious
hilarious . . . . mystical
blithe. . . . . . reckless
allusive. . . . . divine
dizzy . . . . . . ornery

Inspired by the Start and Stop Game at Writing Fix.

Your favorite villain has made New Year’s Resolutions. Will he put more effort into his evil plans? Will he turn around and try to start anew?

Make a list. :-)

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.
.
.
.
.
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Write a sentence about vampires for each of the following words. Feel free to change the tenses or word forms. To make it even more challenging, give the sense that it’s cold or even Christmas.

• android
• bristly
• castle
• diddle
• empire
• ferret
• grovel
• hollow
• immortal
• jaded
• knock
• low tech
• master
• notorious
• owl
• patience
• quirky
• rakish
• secret garden
• torment
• ugly
• violinist
• whimper
• explorer
• yanked
• zest

Come up with titles for the following genre’s using the words winter or Christmas. (Or let the season otherwise inspire you :-)

• Adventure/Action
• Animal
• Autobiography
• Biography
• Children’s
• Detective fiction
• Fantasy
• General
• Historical
• Horror
• Humor
• Mystery
• Non-fiction
• Poetry
• Reference
• Romance
• Science fiction
• Suspense
• Western

In honor of the month where the goal is word count rather than greatness, write a really bad opening sentence for one or more of the following categories:

• General fiction
• Adventure
• Children’s literature
• Detective fiction
• Fantasy fiction
• Historical fiction
• Purple prose
• Romance
• Science fiction
• Vile puns
• Western

and if you wish:

• Salute to Breasts

I didn’t make that up! The categories are from the famous Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton who penned the infamous line that Snoopy was so fond of:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

–Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

The challenge of the contest is to come up with the worst opening line. There are examples from the 2006 winners and all the Grand prize winners back to 1983. If you’d like to submit your entry (they take submissions all year long for the final decision in April or June), check out the rules and guidelines for submission.

I used this list of words to drive the second scene in my NaNo novel this month. (I’m up to “incense” so far. I’ll post what I come up with at the end of the day.) (Yes, there are 2 s’s and no x.) Though not important, it’s weird that I don’t know where the list came from. It was tacked onto the bottom of a bunch of characters Kat and I came up with back in September. The mind is failing!

Use them in a story or write individual sentences for each.

abandon
beat
chocolate
demonic
examine
fix
garnet
habit
incense
jealousy
knife
liar
mew
necklace
ooze
pearl
quit
ransom
scavenger
smuggle
teacher
uneven
vicious/viscous (Pick one. I had written down viscious which is an amalgamation of the two ;-)
whitewash
year
zeal

Use each set of 4 words in a sentence.

• seasoned
  manatee
  expose
  doom
• seek
  self-mocking
  tittle
  artist
• tradition
  bless
  intended fear
  blind drive ahead
• wildflower wind
  gossamer
  quarrel
  arcana
• liar
  gluttony
  interstellar
  cannibal
• juniper
  gorgeous
  magnify
  canopy

Write 35 motives for why a character would want to murder another. Push it even if they start sounding wacky.

If you want, take the third-last item you wrote and use that as a writing prompt for 10-15 minute.

From the writing prompts at OnceWritten.com.

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Use the following in sentences or a paragraph or a story. They don’t need to be in the order given this time. (But of course you can if you want!)

1. spiked, beast, evaded, eager, unfriendly, fairy, fierce
2. liver, sly, twisted, wander, competition, laugh, giant
3. spare, horse, sick, bubbly, baboon, book, crockery
4. shapeshifter, modified, cavern, brain, typical, crafty, squealed
5. invent, stuffy, overgrown, talons, moldy, tournament, amazing

(The original photo is even cuter. You can click on it if you want to see. :-)

Create newspaper headlines using the words from the list. Try to use at least five of the words in each headline. (Feel free to add some words like “in”, “on”, “after”, “and” …)

If you want, print out the words, cut them up and draw from the pile until you come up with headlines you like. (You can reshuffle them after each headline.)

blind
accused
fights
dragon slayer
monastery
temple
charms
exiles
crumbling
crooked
baby
executioner
explodes
bizarre
blasphemous
340 pound
warrior
corrupt
sarcophogus
palace
proves
quests for
vampire
tomb
shames
rips off
destroys
fairy
curses
barbarian

Write a surreal “shopping list.”

Have on your list one of the first thing, two of he second thing, three of the third … If you want, have a theme running through it.

Let your imagination flow and list however many things 10-15 minutes will let you.

Here’s an example if you need a jump start. The prompt and example were created by cuddledumplin at Elite Skills.

• One guard dog too old and tired to bark.
• Two idealistic dancing robots who are short on skill but long on daring.
• Three cups of sweet soup made from pansies, honey, cinnamon, and cream.
• Four American tourists with faces more ironic than Wallace Stevens eating a vanilla cone at Versailles.
• Five nightsticks of carved jade in the shape of slender elephants with diamond eyes and golden trunks that are used to squish ants.

Try to get all the words on each line into a single sentence:

• cat empathic witness theater narrow excuse print revenge support
• goblin ethereal orphan strategist vale splendrous ritual wit reveal
• falcon cyborg bungling healer desert tumultuous tapestry charm threat entwine
• fiend winged physicist ghost guardhouse whispering battle-madness depravity
• creature angelic champion ally haven dusty report aggression assault

You only need two people for this game. The first person writes “What is _____” and fills in the blank with anything. Abstracts work well (love, anger, beauty, justice, equality, reason) but it can be any word. The first person folds the paper to hide what they’ve written. The second person writes a sentence in the form of a noun followed by a verb.

You can of course play this on your own by writing several of each on slips of paper and then drawing them randomly.

Here’s some examples to get you started:

What is reason?
A cloud eaten by the moon.

What is equality?
A hierarchy like any other.

What is loyalty?
A dog beaten with a stick.

What is love?
A parrot holding a beer.

What is a clock?
A bottle floating down the river.

What is life?
A popsicle melting in the summer.

What is a balloon?
A dream come true.

What is a smile?
A model in a magazine.

What is an individual?
A midsummer night’s dream.

What is fear?
An expedition like no other.

What is religion?
A sea flowing towards the sand.

What is love?
An apple that has fallen from a tree.

What is anger?
A thunderstorm with no lightning.

What is beauty?
A cup of medicine to make you sleep.

What is life?
Any job you’ve ever done.

What is eternity?
Something that never lasts.

What is knowledge?
A person who tries to fly.

From a game played by surrealists described at What is? on the Rhizome site.

For those Googling “gangster writing” would you mind telling me what it is — and any good links you find so I can link them here? Lots of people searching for it end up here and I’m very curious! :-)

Email: Joyce. Thanks!

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Use the following words in sentences:

• lizard alien champion gangster island foreign proof dreams hope help
• lady apprentice ruins over basket skull sin nestle
• falcon intelligent chef playwright barrier under trial tears anger assault

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Alternate the following sentences with sentences of your own to create a story!

(Feel free to rearrange some of the sentences and change the tense of the words, eg, send to sent or add a few words so they sound like sentences from a story. Right now they sound like newspaper headlines.)

• Actuaries send threatening letters to Macintosh users.
• The ladies dream that the auto mechanics would like to purchase physicists.
• Faculty advisors hope to be hired as game show hosts.
• Geologists own ballroom dancers.
• Compulsive gamblers really hate the con artists.
• Optometrists really hate the seismo-zombies.
• Do you believe that criminals do not trust milkmen?
• During the debate, Ann Richards maintained that the spirits possess the students.
• People torture McDonalds’ employees.
• Civil servants argue endlessly about the farmers!

The sentences came from Clifty WebWorks Scripts: Random Sentence Generator.

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More

Not Daddy. Dada. The Dada artists incorporated randomness into their art (fine art, poetry, literature, theater …) Artists would cut up random pictures and paste them randomly together. Poets would cut up random articles from the newspaper and randomly paste them together.