Writing Prompts

Panic’s Station

2009-05-09T01:16:23Z

Panic has a problem. Every time she’s in a public space she feels compelled to touch everyone and everything that comes within her path (i.e. within say a metre or two of her personal space). Describe a 3-minute period during a visit to a train station from Panic’s viewpoint.

The 360° Turn of Events

2009-04-22T12:34:22Z

Action time – get off your backside and walk outside. The first thing that catches your attention is your new protagonist. Turn your body 360 degrees...what do you see first? This is your new setting. Write a brief plot summary for your new friends. Ok, so a story about a used orange juice carton that lives in the staff car park isn’t your usual writing fodder – but let’s see just how believable you can make this short blurb.

Blowing Bubbles

2009-04-11T00:01:42Z

You are five years old again…It’s a spring afternoon and the flowers on the cherry-apple tree in the backyard are blossoming the air with their scent. You still believe in fairies, like your parents and you still have heroes that can’t be defeated. What do you do with your day? Anything is possible…

Commandments that Talk

2009-04-01T07:41:51Z

Write a piece of dialogue following these 10 commandments:

1.   Use three characters
2.   Have at least one argument
3.   There is a trumpet
4.   And a acrid smell
5.   An inanimate object interrupts the conversation at some point
6.   One person is deaf
7.   The setting is somewhere in Egypt
8.   You cannot use the word and
9.   A confession is made
10.   Nobody has a name

Rite Passage

2009-03-27T03:20:09Z

It’s the year tomorrow (yep, that’s not now, but anytime in the future) and your youngest child is about to embark on a ‘rite of passage’. You are frightened, but you mustn’t show your true feelings lest you be discovered…

Where are you?
What’s happening to your child?
Who or what are you scared of?

Do Pescatorians eat Mermaids too?

2009-03-23T08:10:16Z

Discuss this image. Take your fishtail wherever it may lead...

A Cut Above

2009-03-13T11:11:00Z

“The hairdresser worked the thin handles of the scissors at break-neck speed, hair flying about her”...no one would have guessed what she last used her trusty tool on.

Write about the history of these mysterious scissors.

Human Magneto

2009-03-09T02:42:31Z

Imagine if you were a human magnet – anyone you walk past is instantly attracted to you and becomes ‘stuck’ to you. You go for a walk in a dark alley one night – what sort of people do you collect? What about if you were strolling through a French provincial town instead? Are these people any different? Imagine if the two groups met – write about this meeting!

Talking Tears

2009-03-05T11:24:03Z

“Every time it’s like this I hear them… Telling me their woes, pleading for my help. It’s not fair – why me? Why can’t anyone else hear the crying rain?”

Who is talking and to whom? Can they really hear the rain or is this a metaphor? OR
Become the voice of the falling tears… What are they saying? Why are they so sad?

Paint it Black

2009-03-05T04:59:52Z

The colour black is given new status as a human being – Write a dossier on Black’s personality; include age, gender, appearance, personality traits, favourite pastimes, greatest fears, significant others(?). Is Black the sort of person you’d have as a friend?