Dragon Writing Prompts

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?

She says “Well, well, I knew you’d be back eventually.”

Some things to think about:

• Who is she?
• Have you met her before?
• If not, has she mistaken you for someone else?
• What does she have?
• An object? Information? Something else?
• How much does she want for it?
• Does she take you to it or give it to you?
• Are you in danger?
• From whom?

You (or your character) find yourself in a world you’ve never seen before. (It can be a fantasy world, a future world, somewhere on Earth …)

This is the first thing you see. (Click the picture for a larger one in a new window.)

What is it?
Is it alive?
Is it a sculpture?
Why is it here?
Where are you?

Go from there.

You have (or your character has) just received an envelope or package with this symbol on it.

Write about what happens next.

You can use some (or all or none) of the following questions to help think about it.

• Did you expect this to arrive?
• Were you there when it was delivered?
• How was it delivered? Who delivered it? Or what delivered it?
• What does the envelope look like?
• What shape is it?
• Is it new or is it old?
• What color is it?
• What does it feel like?
• Is it made of paper?
• Is it thick or thin? Flat or lumpy?
• Does it have a scent?
• Are there other markings on it?
• Fingerprints? Stains? Watermarks?
• Is there writing? Can you read it?
• How is it sealed?
• What’s inside?
• Is there a letter or letters inside? (If so, answer similar questions to the ones about the envelope.)
• Can you read the language?
• What is the handwriting like? Spikey? Round? Fancy? Hurried? Inexpert?
• What color is the ink?
• Is it ink or might it be something else?
• Does the letter have other symbols on it?
• If there’s a letter can you tell who it’s from?
• What information is in it?
• What do they want you to do?

Write a news item, caption or dialog for a picture.

Choose your own or use the ones below. (Click on an image to go to a larger view in a new window.)