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Photo Credit: M. M. Kastanek
(If you're new to my style of writing prompts, head over to this blog post for more information. Feel free to use just the picture, just the prompt, just the words, or a combination of any of the three write your paragraph! Don't forget to comment with your practice!) Prompt: My eyes scanned the pockmarks in the cliff face... Words: momentum, squawk, trigger, glamorous, wheel, crusted My Paragraph: My eyes scanned the pockmarks in the cliff face for a flash of red: the telltale sign of a vripsto bird. I motioned to the driver to cut the power to the hydroWheel. We bobbed over tiny crests of waves, the momentum still propelling us toward the cliffs. I gripped my launcher and blinked several times to moisten my eyes. I could feel the salt crusting around my lashes. Willing myself to stay focused, I shifted my weight and leaned on the railing of the boat. A spark of red flitted between vines of green. I raised my launcher, resting my elbow on my knee and slowly squeezed the trigger. Squawk. Plop. More flashes of red crept out of their holes in the cliff face. Squawk. Plop. Squawk. Plop. Though not a glamorous way to make a living, I had just secured myself seventeen isos, a weeks worth of labors even after I paid the owner of the hydroWheel. I couldn't help but feel pride. Three vripsto birds in one outing. I whispered silent thanks to whatever forces lingered in the sky, imagining the weight of those bronze isos coins in my palm, and smiled. Today was the day I would buy Gieta back from Sister Zainya. Not even the Barons could stop me today. Don't forget to share your practice in the comments! I'll give feedback to each paragraph posted! Photo Credit: M. M. Kastanek
(If you're new to my style of writing prompts, head over to this blog post for more information. Feel free to use just the picture, just the prompt, just the words, or a combination of any of the three write your paragraph! Don't forget to comment with your practice!) Prompt: The footsteps ended. As if no one was meant to travel beyond this point.... Words: fingers, crystallize, vanilla, eluded, mirror, isolated My Paragraph: The footsteps ended. As if no one was meant to travel beyond this point. Ibarth knelt, allowing his fingers to drag across the ripples and the rivets. The morning wind had not yet buried evidence of his quarry's passing. But the tracks ended here. Ibarth squinted his eyes, searching the shadows of the desert hills. How could the beast have passed this way without leaving prints? He scratched his beard, hands still stained with the scent of vanilla from the oils of her skin. But he couldn't focus on that now. Not while the beast eluded him. The frost crystals of night evaporated on the desert bushes as the sun grappled its way into the sky. He scanned the hills and valleys again. Nothing. Isolation. No movement of bird or beast or bug. Then he saw it, a flicker of light like a mirror catching the sun to the west. Ibarth suppressed a grin. You're far from your home, aren't you, Chimera? Don't forget to share your practice and feedback in the comments! Let's grow as writers together through practice and critique! Finished with this prompt? Try this one next.
Photo Credit: M. M. Kastanek
If you're new to my style of writing prompts, head over to this blog post for more information. Feel free to use just the picture, just the prompt, just the words, or a combination of any of the three write your paragraph! Don't forget to comment with your practice! Prompt: Funny, how in the middle of chaos and destruction, a tree, a hedge, grass. Life. ... Words: crystallized, bone, exonerate, imp, migration, inch My Paragraph: (I chose to use just the prompt and picture) Funny, how in the middle of chaos and destruction, a tree, a hedge, grass. Life. I turn my eyes away. I don't deserve it - don't deserve to breathe in the fresh smell of new growth, to feel the slippery petals of the butterblossoms, to look upon the gnarled roots of the ogretrees. Not after what I've done. My hand tightens on the rocky half-wall separating me from this small paradise. I want to leave, to continue my conquest, but my eyes are held by the presence of life among the death that waits for me. Don't forget to share your practice and feedback in the comments! Let's grow as writers together through practice and critique! Done with prompt #3? Head here for prompt #4. Photo Credit: M. M. Kastanek
If you're new to my style of writing prompts, head over to this blog post for more information. Feel free to use just the picture, just the prompt, just the words, or a combination of any of the three write your paragraph! Don't forget to comment with your practice! Prompt: Years of yearning had brought him to this... Words: belligerent, growth, ripples, inspired, cup, clenched (don't forget - you may use any tense or meaning of a word! i.e. grow, growing, growth, grew) My Paragraph: (I chose to use all three inspirations this time - the picture, the prompt, and the words). Years of yearning had brought him to this. Oiye couldn't help but smile as he stood on the west side of the Ara River, the mausoleum of Nithia in his sights. He watched the river's ripples which cascaded outward, urging him toward his destination. All he had to do was cross the Ara, the belligerent, cursed, Ara that inspired tales of death and destruction. Oiye clenched his hands, determination growing. He had not wasted all of those years as cup bearer to the tribal leaders of the Nomidalats to be stopped now by this river. Don't forget to share your practice and feedback in the comments! Let's grow as writers together through practice and critique! Done with Prompt #2? Head here for Prompt #3. Photo Credit: M. M. Kastanek 2019 Hello fellow world-builders!
Here's your first writing prompt. Feel free to use the picture, the prompt text, and/or the words to include as inspiration for your practice. Don't forget to comment with your practice paragraph! Prompt - Standing here, at what felt like both the end of her life and the beginning... Words - terracotta, creeping, bristle, justice, preliminary, edge My paragraph (I chose to only go off the prompt and the picture, not the additional words) - Standing here, at what felt like both the end of her life and the beginning, Oraina clutched the frayed tome to her chest and whispered to the wind, "Sister Kitsune and Brother Chimera guide me." She gazed over the expanse before her. The folds of hills that crested into jagged mountain peaks filled her with both a sense of loneliness and a sense of destiny. She had made it this far, through the wilds of Ablaida and the desert of Prym. But a thought toyed in the back of her mind, would it be enough? Don't forget to share your practice and feedback in the comments! Let's grow as writers together through practice and critique! Greetings fellow word-builders.
My hope through these blog posts is to encourage you to unleash the insane amount of creativity you have built up inside of you. So often, our worlds are pushed into boxes, our ideas hewn down to fragments of the originals, just so they fit a mold. It is my hope that on this journey, we will explore together all of our ideas, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. I will be posting weekly writing prompts with the following format: 1. Picture (all owned and copywritten by me) - I often find that images spark a story for me long before I know what that story is. Sometimes flipping through pictures or scrolling through travel blogs, I pause, and my breath leaves me as a flood of ideas barrel through my mind. One picture is sometimes all it takes (which I attribute to my love of comic books and graphic novels). 2. A prompt topic or first sentence - Sometimes my vision needs to be focused. I often have too many ideas, too many images, and too many storylines running through my brain. When I have a topic or first sentence, I am easier able to cut out the ideas that don't fit and focus on the one (or two!) that does. 3. Words to include - After I've stared at the screen for what seems like hours, sometimes the best thing for me to do is write down 5-7 words that I must include in my writing. It gives me a sort of road map for where my story should go. Feel free to use any form of these words (aka: jump, jumping, jumped, jumper) even if it changes the meaning of the word. That shows your outside-the-box thinking and I love it! 4. My first paragraph - I'll jot down the first paragraph of what I came up with for the writing prompt and I hope you'll add your first paragraph in the comments! Then, let's help one another! I've found my writing becomes better when I help and critique others. I begin to notice things in my own writing that I then correct before sending it out for editing. However, we all have to be nice gnomes in the sandbox and give constructive criticism. BONUS: If you leave your paragraph, I'll be sure to comment on it. My philosophy is always to give one thing I like and one thing I think can be improved. I hope to build here a community of writers and readers that share a passion for the fantastical and unusual. Too many blogs are focused on general fiction writers. I was sick of reading blogs with writing prompts like "Jane answers the phone, ignoring the texts she's sure are from her ex-boyfriend, Jim." UGH! The real world is hard enough to live in without having to write about it! So if you're like me and the high school/college "write about yourself" and "write about a memory" prompts just weren't for you, welcome. You're among friends. I'm excited you're journeying with me. M. M. Kastanek PS: Start here with the first writing prompt. |
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