Dragon Writing Prompts

Is this unexpected?

Is this normal in your world?

Are other animals fighting or just the squirrels? Fighting over what?

“Listen, we’ve got a proposition for you.”

As always, let you imagination take you where it will. Don’t let it be hampered by 3 real monkeys staring at it. ;-) They could be aliens! Or products of a deteriorating mind. (Or so you think!) Or a sentient species in a fantasy world. Or …

Take it at face value.

Or add a fantasy twist. Only the two of them can understand each other? She’s a professional donkey whisperer? Boyfriend and girlfriend who’ve been cursed? Aliens who didn’t quite get their disguises right?

What conversation do you overhear around this event? Is the child the only one talking? Or are the bears contributing?

What are these guys thinking? Write a caption or a bit of dialogue.

• Someone is not who they’re pretending to be.
• One is a breeder of cockapoos.
• One of them hates someone in the group.
• The accountant pines to be a cabaret singer.
• There has been a betrayal.
• In one’s wallet is a picture of every cat they’ve ever owned.
• One has been known to photocopy their butt and leave it in the copy tray.
• Two are related but only one knows it. Though one of the others also knows.
• One has on edible underwear but not for the obvious reason.
• There is a love triangle and unrequited love but not the way you might think.
• In the suitcase of one are items from all but one of the others’ suitcases.

The photographer and the woman in the background to the left may or may not be part of the group.

She’s the best potioner in the city. So you’ve heard. Love potions. Revenge potions. Energizing potions. Baldness potions (giving or curing). Various curse potions.

You have a pedigreed female pet dog (or some other creature) you’d like to breed but she just rolls her eyes at any of the father prospects you’ve introduced her to. So you’ve come for a potion.

The potioner listens to your request, asks a few questions and then with a secret smile and a little laugh says, “I have just what you need.” She goes to her workroom in the back and returns in a bit with a bottle.

You take it home. What happens next?

This is the end of the story. Or is it the beginning?

That’s a full size Volkswagen beneath its hand. Was there anyone in it? Were the passengers victims of the troll or part of the plan to immobilize it. Have they been turned to stone too?

Who is on top of the troll? What are they up to?

Is the troll still alive?

How did this sign come to be?

What were the consequences?

Or maybe it’s usual for this culture? Why? What other kinds of signs do they have that we might think odd?

Who is he or she?

Is it a monkey? Have monkeys been pretending to less intelligence than they have? Why?

Or some other creature? An alien? Are there more? Why are they here?

Or just one of several intelligent species on a planet? What are the special skills and talents of this particular species? Is the society divided equally or are some species dominant in certain areas?

“Never knock on Death’s door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!” - Matt Frewer

Your character heard the advice and has rung and ran. Or maybe they missed it and has rung and is waiting. Or write from Death’s point of view.

What happens next?

For several more possible Death’s Door’s check out

Death’s Doors slideshow or
Death’s Doors (page full) (click on an image to enlarge)

You’ve won a week’s vacation at an old resort that’s been resurrected and refurbished. When you arrive you’re greeted by your hosts (pictured). Several other people have also won the vacation. You don’t know any of them but one person does look vaguely familiar.

Each of the other guests (as few or as many as you want) is associated with one or more of the following words. (You don’t need to use them all.)

falling star
zany
black velvet
winter solstice
formerly
serene
ruthless
mythological
vanquish
underworld
remorseful
smoky
inspire
whrling
sea of nectar
lotus blossom
sparrow
radical
winter grass
drum
flamingo

Who has more products imprinted with their image: Kiss or Hello Kitty?

I don’t think there’s a Hello Kitty coffin but there is a Hello Kitty wedding dress. And your character has found it and it’s perfect! Write about her. Who is she? Is she seriously in love with all things Hello Kitty or is it for kicks? What’s her groom like? Does he think it’s just as wonderful? What will the bridesmaids wear? Are they as enthusiastic?

Though you can see it from everywhere in the city, people won’t speak of it and it’s airbrushed from official photos. Set a story there.

(When you’re done, if you want to see the tale of the real building, click the picture.)

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(Click to enlarge) Use the picture for a 10-15 minute writing prompt.

A few questions to get you started:

• Why are they there?
• Do they know each other?
• How are they related to each other?
• Who put the couch and TV there?
• Did the couch and TV arrive at the same time?
• Why are they watching on TV what they can see with their eyes?

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I could tie this into writing in a number of ways — they all undoubtedly have stories behind their current appearance for one thing — but I’ll just let The Top 10 Physically Modified People inspire you.

Also check out the list of favorites on the right side like “11 phenomenal images of earth”, “interesting elevators”, “9 creative staircases”, “10 of the best natural phenomena”. The monthly archives take you to a page of summaries. Clicking on a title will take you to the pictures.

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(Click picture for a large image)

Write a news report for this. Newspaper. TV. Internet news. Tabloid. Just because it’s a real photo, don’t feel compelled to tie yourself to reality! :-)

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Here’s something Kat stumbled across and has anxiously been waiting for the owners to do something with the website. (She just loves anything to do with cute kitties!) It’s the Chinese website for Kitten Dream, a cast of characters who appear in comics (manhua) and animation and lots of merchandise.

There are several 7 page and 20 page comics written in Chinese. The challenge today is to write English words that would fit the story. (Not translating. Just coming up with your own words.) What’s interesting is how much you can get of the story just from the pictures. Note: the panels read right to left, but the pages for “7 page” stories are arranged left to right — just to confuse you more! :-)

Here’s the cast of characters (in English) if you want to use their names or get some hints about their personalities.

The “7 page” comics (though apparently they’re only 4 pages long??) load quickly and the whole (very simple) story appears all on one screen.

The 20 page comics take a while to load (even with high speed internet) with one page per screen but the stories are a bit more complex. (Though we’re not talking Shakespeare here ;-) You’ll be able to pick up what’s going on by looking at the pictures!)

(Some of the site has been translated into English but not the comics yet. The English link is in the upper right corner.)

Explain what led up to this. Or what happened next.

(Click for a larger view.)

(No cats were harmed in the making of the picture! Just their pixels in Photoshop.)

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One person’s trash, as they say, is another’s treasure. To some people a house full of stuff is a mess but to another it’s loaded with treasures yet to be (re)discovered. Guy warthogs think girl warthogs look beautiful and vice versa :-) No matter how ugly something is *to us* it’s beautiful to someone else.

Write about something most people think is ugly and describe it from the point of view of someone who thinks it’s beautiful: they’ve caught their first sight of it and they’re enraptured.

An overflowing trash can to a homeless person.

A packed to the gills junk shop to a collector.

A wrecked alien space craft to an extraterrestrial enthusiast.

Crumbling inventory pages from a lost civilization to an archaeologist.

If you need a picture, here are a couple: a baby hyena (original or copy) and blue turkey (original or copy).

Inspired by (the now defunct) About: Teen Writing.

Type in a sentence or a bit of poetry into the prompt box and click Go.

Use the images it returns as a writing prompt. Some sentences work better than others so play around with it a bit. (There are some sentence on the page that people tried — though the images you’ll get will be different than what they got. I didn’t see any non-PG-13 photos come up but there as a statue. It was art! but no guarantee that there’s a filter on what it returns.)

No need to tie your initial sentence into the story, just as many of the images as you can.

(You can also do a similar thing with Flickr by typing in a word or three into the search box at Flickr Search.)

Write a description of this object for an eBay listing. (Click on it for a larger image.) Tell what it is and what it does, the condition of it, any problems you’ve had with it, warnings you think might be useful before someone purchases it. (The size isn’t obvious from the picture so you may assume it’s any size you want.)

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HELLO, I’M ANGEL, HERE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO CAT TOWN. CAT TOWN IS A TOWN WHERE EVERYBODY IS A CAT AND THERE ARE MANY HILARIOUS ADVENTURES.

I’M EL GUAPO, THE HERO OF MANY CAT TOWN TALES. AND YOU, TOO, CAN ADD TO THE MERRIMENT BY WRITING YOUR OWN EPISODE (PREFERABLY IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY WE TALK IN CAT TOWN.)

MAYOR SAILOR SUIT CAT. YOU MUST CHECK OUT THE RESIDENTS OF CAT TOWN SO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE WRITING ABOUT.

I’M LITTLE REDHAIRED CAT WHO IS IN LOVE WITH EL GUAPO. I’M QUITE CERTAIN EPISODE 1 WILL GET YOU INSPIRED. AND SEVERAL EPISODES WILL GET YOU EVEN MORE INSPIRED. SOON YOU WILL WRITE AND TALK LIKE WE DO IN CAT TOWN!

This will take about 2 minutes to load if you have dial up so click here to get it started loading in a new window.

This is the 11 page comic I did for the Imagination Tribe story book project. I’ve removed all the spoken words. You can fill in the word bubbles with your own words.

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You see this shooting across the sky at twilight. (Click to open a larger view in a new window.)

Some questions to think about if you need a jump start:

What is it?
What has caused it?
What will happen?

Or who is it?
Where are they going and why?
Are they chasing something or being chased?
Are they off to the rescue or off to some big event?

(The original is at Nacreous Clouds - Southern Norway, along with other cool nacreous cloud pictures.)

It’s the harvest moon and she’s agreed to pose for a portrait. Who is she?

(Click the image to open a larger one in a new window from Amy Brown’s website. Or here if she’s moved her pictures again and the link doesn’t work.)

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Create your own superhero at Superhero game at Scifi.com and then write about them: a typical adventure, an origin story, the final showdown …

(Hint: I went through the whole process choosing items in black and white. It’s lots easier to see the choices if you color them first! ;-)

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Click the picture for a larger version in a new window.

• Who is she? (Assuming you don’t know! Or can come up with an alternate version of who she might be.)
• What is her relation to the creature behind her?
• Who and what is the creature?
• What is its goal?

Take it from there.

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Click for a larger image.

What is this?
What’s going to happen?
Where is it?
Why are you here?

Go from there.

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Write a conversation between them as they’re off to wherever they’re going.

Things to think about if you’re stuck:

Who are these guys?
Where are they headed?
What is their goal?
What is their purpose?
Are they unique in their world?
Were they created? By who?
Did they come from somewhere else? Where and what is it like there? Why did they come?

Here’s some questions you might ask yourself if you need some prompting. There are no right answers! There are only answers that you can take interesting places and answers that don’t intrigue you.

• Is this a statue or a being?
• If a statue, is it of a human?
• If not human, then what?
• Who is he or she?
• Why does he/she have two hats? (Are they hats or something else?)
• If it’s a statue, why was it erected?
• Who erected it?
• How long ago?
• How tall is it?
• What is it made of?
• Where is it?
• Why are you/your character there?
• Did you stumble on it by chance?
• Did you come deliberately? Why?
• How did you know it was here?
• Was your journey long?
• Did you need a guide?