wordwhacker

Mondays. This was a halfway decent one at least. Got more things done than I expected. And now to get a prompt done!

I'm going to try to make the story as small as possible. Miniscule in scope. It's easy to go big and epic with these cards - how does it do for tiny dramas of regular life?

DAY EIGHTEEN PROMPT:

A humble writer wants to save the world with/from a book - but it will make a hypocrite of them.

I'll probably go "save the world WITH a book" here - I can see this being a bit of a meditation about what it means to write. Maybe they used to write with wild abandon, but over the years they've learned more and honed their craft and... gotten stuck in a rut. Maybe it felt like success at first. Maybe they've been known to say things like "fanfiction isn't real writing" and other malarkey. But this idea for a story has been eating at them. It won't leave them alone. It's everything they had decided they didn't want. Overblown fantasy about saving the world. But it's the first thing that's made them get up out of bed and work on an outline in YEARS. So it's a story about... deciding that it's okay to be a hypocrite. Or that you can avoid being a hypocrite if you admit you were wrong and change your mind.

Simple and fun. And now, relaxation before bed.

Over the hump now! Doing an earlier prompt today so I'm not stuck doing one when I'm dead tired again. Bit of sun out today, so I will probably spend some time outdoors if I can.

All righty, prompty time.

DAY SIXTEEN PROMPT:

A misunderstood collector wants to save the world from an ethereal contagion, but it will mean risking the thing the most precious to them.

I'm glad the "etherial" card came up because it helped make the "contagion" card a little less... directly related to current events. *sweatdrop emoji*

What comes to mind for this one is a bit of a reclusive collector, not a young person, seen as an odd but mostly harmless outcast in society. In their youth they used to travel around, going on adventures and finding oddities; now they mostly stay closer to home, though travellers seeking to peddle interesting wares are directed to them to see if they can make a deal. One of their prized posessions - really more of a friend - is a gryphon they found turned to stone by a basilisk; they reanimated it and it's been their loyal friend ever since. Together they do a little subsistance farming (and a little hunting when necessary) and with that and a judicious use of coin they acquired back in the day, they live a quiet life.

The contagion's effects aren't noticed right away - it appears to make people fall asleep. The collector is safe for the moment, since he lives further away, but who knows how long it will take for it to spread across the land? He recently made a deal for an object that may have been cursed, so he feels responsible for what happened. But to fix it... that would require for him to go on an adventure. And he knows he won't be able to convince his gryphon friend not to come. He thinks that's why he's hesitant, but really, he's scared for his own safety. That's the thing that is the most precious to him.


... It's interesting how people start having pronouns in the middle of these. Anyway, that's the prompt!

Bit of a restrained-feeling day, but much better than the start of the week. Yesterday's day off work did wonders. Today was laundry day, and I'm patting myself on the back for actually folding and putting things away instead of letting stuff sit on the couch in a heap for half the week. Ate good food, did my dishes, went on three small walks; took care of myself. Sometimes maintenance feels like a lot, but it's nice to feel like I can keep up with it.

Anyway, PROMPT TIME. Let's do another cirle of fate to change things up, eh?

DAY FOURTEEN PROMPT:

A painter waints to gain freedom with/from a demon, but the innocent will suffer.
A demon wants to restore a memory of/with a painter, but it will cost them the world they know.

This one took a little while to fall into place; the details are still a little murky, but I think it might be fun to explore in a kind of high-concept way, maybe almost modernist. A painter entered into a deal with a demon, for talent, fame, success. Maybe they believed it was to keep the demon occupied, and if he breaks the deal, not only will he lose his soul but the people closest to him will suffer. But the demon knows the truth; the painter summoned him, and he has the power to banish him. The Demon, happy to be out of hell for as long as he can, slowly clouded the painter's mind, taking away the full knowledge of how the demon came to be with him, essentially gaslighting him into believing that he's trapped. But the unthinkable happened: the demon, having spent more time on Earth than many of his kind, started to develop... feelings. Empathy. Pity. Guilt. Maybe even... l... love?! And so he wants to let the painter remember the truth, so he can be free of the demon, but then he will get cast back into hell.

Melodramatic as shit, but it's fun!

Tough day at work today - prompting me to use some banked time to take tomorrow off. (Mostly. I'm logging on for a meeting in the morning, and getting that hour to use on Friday instead.)

Prompt pulling is later than I should have done... but I had a nice evening doing mostly relaxing things, so I'm not too concerned. Quick one.

DAY TWELVE PROMPT:

A teacher wants to stop being haunted by a divine pen, but they will have to unlearn something they were taught.

This prompt brings me joy. Kind of a classic set of story beats - a teacher is frustrated with some part of their job, or their life; at first the haunted pen is just another straw on the camel's back. "First I gave up on my novel, now this?!" but once they start listening to its advice, they start to unravel that knot and face the thing that is blocking them. Maybe they were feeling jealous of the youth and creativity of their students and didn't realize it, judging them for not conforming to their expectations when they should be celebrating their originality and championing their creativity. They were taught that it had to be one way; not only did it crush them, it's crushing their students now. And it's time to let the ink flow.

Fun! Yay! Bed now.

Into the double digits!

Going to keep it short today - I want to have a couple of hours before bed of NOTHIN' what needs doin'.

DAY TEN PROMPT:

A brilliant amateur wants to find hope in/for a collapsing restaurant - but they will have to stop living a lie.

Leaving a comfortable life to take a chance on something you believe in. Maybe it's living authentically as much as it is about rising to the challenge of rebuilding and running a restaurant. I think the decision to go for it was something their partner wouldn't have supported/doesn't support; taking this step might have been an intentional test, which after some deliberation/attempting to regain control, it becomes apparent that the partner has failed and they split up. Maybe the whole thing started as a bit of a joke - ha ha, I could sink my savings into this old coffee shop and build my own coffee shop AU of my life. But they secretly really meant it. Sort of an act of semi-conscious self sabotage.

All right, last couple of chores and then relaxation station until bedtime.

Better day today than yesterday - busy evening and tomorrow planned so far, so pulling a prompt quick and dirty style, with no redraws/rotations allowed (rotation allowed on the Aspect card only.)

DAY EIGHT PROMPT:

A therapist wants to win a bet for/with a charmed invention, but it will mean taking on a debt they cannot pay.

I'm always surprised how reasonable the prompts are, even if I don't do any rotation. I'm imagining a bit of a magical realism thing here; a physical therapist who is working on an assistive device of some kind as an entry into a potential grant. They need this to win; they need those start-up funds. Maybe they need it enough to enter into a magical bargain to make sure the judges will look on it favourably. But now they're indebted to the person who placed the charm... magic vs mechanical thinking! Different worlds collide!

Anyway that's it for today. Time to rub some lotion on my hands - THANKS, WINTER.

Almost a week in! Glad to have something to take my mind off of the world in general tonight. Like my first prompt, I'm pulling this one during Sarah Rhea Werner's creative livestream - check it out at 8pm EST Wednesdays or Fridays if you fancy surrounding yourself in supportive creative types working on all sorts of things.

DAY 6 PROMPT:

An obsessive roommate wants to commit a crime with/involving a fallen hospital - but the blame will fall on their closest friend.

The aspect cards helped this one take some shape, which I like. Roommate hijynx is fun! I'm imagining this taking place on the site of the old General Hospital back in my home town, which was imploded some years ago in epic fashion. After it was abandoned it became a place for gutsy folks to do graffiti. Our MC can't get it out of their head that they want to make their mark on it; roommate is talked into it. They look up to the MC; they're a little younger, impressionable. MC doesn't really realize how close they've become; how many of their other friendships have slipped away from them over the years. So when roommate is the one that gets caught, they have to fight their selfish nature and stick their neck out. Be a good role model and a good friend.

Because of the time period, a nineties vibe would be fun. Weird to think of the 90's as being a "period piece" but that's where we are, I suppose.

Okay, enough prompt creating. Snack time.

First work day of the new year (not counting the holiday, which was a different beast.) This whole week will probably be busy, and I may do a little overtime in the next couple of days. But it's time for ten minutes of prompt making!

I'm trying a different style this time, something called a "Circle of Fate."

DAY FOUR PROMPT:

A (wounded) Idol wants to win (over) a shape-shifter, but they will have to confront prejudice.
A (bitter) shape-shifter wants to deliver justice (to) an idol, but it will make a hypocrite of them.

I altered the deliver justice card slightly - it was (for/with) and I was like... no, we want to be making our Idol directly experience some justice I think.

This feels like a "monster hunter needs to come crawling to his former prey for help" situation, which could be fun. An idol in the sense that he's idolized for what he does - but he'll need to confront his assumptions and realize that his one-time foe is more complex than he wanted to imagine. And as for the shape-shifter... it would be very satisfying to make the idol pay, but if he's approached the shape-shifter in good faith, wouldn't that just make them into the monsters people believe them to be?

I like how the story circle helps create a tug of war between their wants. Very neat.

It has been... SEVERAL hot minutes since I updated here, huh?

Long story short: big creative block. New year starting. Fun challenge time!

Just before the holidays I got my copy of The Story Engine deck, which is used to generate story prompts. I'm going to start the year off with a month of creative outlining and prompt building to remind myself how to come up with stories. I've never felt like a big "ideas" person, which has made creating hard when I'm working by myself. So this should be fun!

THE CHALLENGE:

Every day, I will spend 5 minutes doing a prompt card spread, and then at least 5 minutes brainstorming or starting an outline.

That's 10 minutes of creating every day. A very achievable goal, but I do want to make sure I do it EVERY DAY.

Come February I'll assess and consider if I want to do another challenge, something that focuses more on fleshing things out.

So, without further ado:

( DAY ONE PROMPT (which I actually did yesterday, I swear) )

Okay, that was fun. Now for today's prompt!

( DAY TWO PROMPT )

Two days, two prompts - so far these are both story seeds that I'd be happy following up on. I'm sure there will be a few throughout the month that lose their shine after a while, but so far I'm looking forward to doing more!

I've finally done it. Thirty straight weeks of writing a short story (or significant slice thereof) every week for thirty weeks. Last year when I tried this I got to twenty weeks before I had a brain fart and tanked. I took a break for a while after that. But this spring I started feeling pretty down on myself for not writing enough and decided that I needed to do this thing and see it through to the end.

I am REALLY glad I did, because now I have a body of work to edit and build on. But man, I am relieved that I'm through with it before the Christmas season (aka: Dinner Theatre MADNESS). Not to mention that I need to get my arse in gear and apply for grad schools, finish a few one-act plays, and complete my Sketchbook Project (*cough*which I haven't even started yet*cough*) - all by mid-January.

And I should probably plan my trip to Europe, too. Y'know, the one I'm planning to take in the late spring? Yeah. I'll get right on that.

ANYWAY, with the end of NaNoWriMo just around the corner (and one more short story to go to finish that off - I have no regrets about being a rebel), and with this thirty week challenge behind me, I am feeling pretty damn accomplished. I am allowing myself a whole five minutes to feel accomplished before the brainstorming/researching/gnashing of teeth begins again.