Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

Writing prompt

Tuesday prompt: #34 2012

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This prompt requires you apply your imagination to something that already exits.  I have one example that will be looked at two different ways.  Recently a tree branch fell from one of the large city trees planted on the other side of our sidewalk.  From one angle it looked to me like a big spider and from another angle it reminded me of the flying predators (Ikran) from the movie Avatar.

Avatar Ikran

Big, ugly spider

So find an object that could be viewed as something else and write about it wandering the neighborhood, city, countryside or where ever. 

Tuesday prompt: #33 2012

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Today you’ll practice settings. Choose two opposing settings, such as a beach and mountainous area.  Think of a specific place and don’t pick the obvious time of year. Winter on the Atlantic Seaboard leaves the beach looking far different than summer.  The waves on a particularly chilly day can actually become frozen mid-crest coming in to shore. It looks like an ice sculpture all along the beach edge thawing out as the ocean keeps rolling in, but the frozen crust of a frigid crest remains in place.  The sand crunches like broken glass, and the salt air stings your face.  As for mountains, the Cuyamaca Mountains in California are far different from the Blue Mountains of western Oregon which have a tint of blue gray vagueness and a sense of just being dropped in place without warning or preamble of foothills.  Pick a specific setting, detail it out and then switch to the other.  Flex your descriptive muscles as you change between your chosen dramatic scenes.

Tuesday prompt: #32 2012

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Design something that does not exist.  Here are some items to choose from.

  • a creature
  • a tool that can be used for painting
  • material for use as road surface
  • compact nutrient replacement food or drink
  • a better mouse trap (or moose trap)
  • transportation
  • a political faction
  • pet
  • truth serum/detector
  • medical treatment

Once you have selected what you are going to create, describe it being used as a routine item or concern in a character’s life.

Tuesday prompt: #30 2012

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Today you will describe something in detail.  Pick something on your desk or think back on a favorite toy, your first car, the dinner your ordered at a favorite restaurant or the worst pizza you had at a bowling alley in some hokey town you passed through late one night.  Get deep into describing it.  Work it over and over, removing, adding, choosing precise wording.  Don’t stop until you have covered everything.  Then determine the focus and cut to the most profound of your imagery.

Tuesday prompt: #29 2012

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For this writing prompt, make up a holiday. 

  1. Example:  Happy Hoop Skirt Day.  
  2. Now decide how it would be celebrated.  Clearly every girl would be wearing hoops under their skirts, and perhaps a few fellows would as well.  Maybe there is a special drink with tiny rings floating in it that rise and fall.  And there are ring toss challenge games all around town with a winner named at the end of the day.
  3. Now that you have all that figured out, add a few characters and write how the holiday went for them.