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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Prompts

The Prompt Team Prompts 10/29/21

One of the things I loved about GA when I first discovered the site was reading the weekly prompts and the stories authors wrote in response to those prompts.  There was camaraderie associated with those blogs, and lots of fun and support from other authors and readers, especially for new authors. I was inspired to start writing, and during the first couple of years after I became a member, I wrote many responses to Wayne’s prompts.  My first completed serial was inspired by a short prompt story
Valkyrie

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The Prompt Team Prompts 1/7/22

Did anyone make a resolution to write more in the New Year?  Experimenting with some prompts is the perfect place to start!  I've selected both a creative and a technical prompt for our first prompts of 2022.  Don't forget to post links to your responses in the threads in the Writer's Club.   PT Prompt #11 - Creative  First line:  "Jump!  They're coming!"    PT Prompt #12 - Technical  Write a short story in second person.  Talk to your reader.  
Valkyrie

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The Plot Genie! - Pulp Fiction Prompts #153 and #154

I've been enjoying some especially bad pulp fiction books, gay features with racy, but certainly not graphic, stories like: 'To Want a Boy', 'Summer in Sodom', and 'Queer Pen.'  These are the pulp fiction books ordinary gay men would buy for stories about other gay men.  Most had a kind of morality tale embedded within the story where despite the main character's best efforts, he couldn't resist his urges.  Or, conversely, blameless, innocent men were lured to their destruction by vice and weakn
Cole Matthews

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The Bad Man - Fleshing Out a Villain

I've always approached prompts as more than just stimuli for new stories.  I've seen them as practice, play, more like working out the kinks without worrying about perfection.  Prompts can help us build setting, time, place, mood, and characters.  But, prompts can also help us fine-tune and flesh out things as well.  Sometimes we build a character and they are too perfect, or too evil.  As a result, the reader begins to lose that all important "suspension of disbelief" so inherent in good s
Cole Matthews

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Technically Unplugged

I spent last weekend out in the country with my BFF for her family reunion.  It’s been an annual tradition for us for over ten years now, and I look forward to it every year.  It’s an absolutely idyllic setting, surrounded by farmland and mountains sporting all kinds of greenery.  There’s no wi-fi, and cell phone signals are spotty, at best.  We sleep in a tent on a hill next to the main house and talk most of the night over a campfire, underneath a clear sky filled with stars never seen in subu
Valkyrie

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Talk to the animals...

Recently our cat Boo had an infection.  It was difficult, both emotionally and mentally, dealing with his illness and his suffering.  He is part of our familiy, there when we get home, when we wake up, and go to bed.  He's Randy's most constant companion as he works at home.  But animals can't tell us what's wrong.  They communicate pain, discomfort, and other physical experiences the best they can, but how much do we really know?   That made me select the following two prompts.   #135
Cole Matthews

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Take a Hike!

That’s what I’m going to do soon-ish. What about you? Do you like to become one with nature, bug repellent at the ready? Or are you more the beach-dwelling, sightseeing type?   #149 Your MC is ready to leave for their annual time-out. There is this spot by the lake perfect to put up a tent. No electronics, just favorite junk food indulgence, nature, and Henri. Who’s Henri? #150 Your MC is on the phone packing for a weekend trip, trying to tell a friend what they’re do
Aditus

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Staff Prompts #9 & #10

So here we are again on a Friday, and not much to do in my little world  Maybe, just maybe, I'll see if I'm inspired by one of these prompts  Who knows   Oh, did anyone notice that mess that I posted last week  Guess I shouldn't be too reliant on copy and paste.   Prompt #9 - Creative scene by @wildone You run into school knowing you are late, again. You quickly stop at your locker and ditch your jacket and grab some books. As usual the halls are quiet during classes. You das
wildone

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Staff Prompts #7 & #8

Well this week was gone in a flash! Speaking of flash, are you feeling motivated to write a prompt in a flash? Well we actually got a response to one of the prompts last week, so make sure you pop over to this topic and see what anonymous penguin crafted a story   Since we have got a few great prompts from Cia, why not a couple of more this week?   Prompt #5 - Use the following words in a story brought to you by @Cia dodge help deep bodyguard strawberry wind   Promp
wildone

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Staff Prompts #5 & #6

Good Friday to you all  So, any plans over the weekend? Mine will be more or less that same as what I've done since March . Well, I might have one thing I'm doing that I haven't done in years . Stay tuned! So for Staff Prompt Friday, it is an all Cia week  I'm on holidays     Prompt #5 - First Line brought to you by @Cia He'd never forgotten those teenage years.   Prompt #6 - Creative What If brought to you by @Cia There's an old tree I fell asleep under. I dre
wildone

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Staff Prompts #3 & #4

So that was a great Ask An Author from @Carlos Hazday! So, for this weeks Staff Prompts, why not reach out to someone, anyone, and ask them if you can do one of the prompts as a team? Could be interesting . May be even the start of something special 💓 Prompt #3 - Creative brought to you by @Cia Creative Dialogue: "What's in that bag and why are you hiding it there?" My already racing heart tried to leap out of my throat. I tried to say something, anything, but gibberish fell past
wildone

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Staff Prompts #13 & #14

Happy New Year!! Hope you have a Happy HOPEFUL New Year Well I think after the past year of 2020, we are all really not in the mood for making New Years Resolutions, are we?  Well just in case you have, and one of those happen to be to do more writing, they you have come to the right place. Especially for the first day of the New Year  So, let's start the year off with a couple of great prompts from the ever lovely, Cia   Prompt #13 - First line by @Cia He found something tha
wildone

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Staff Prompts #11 & #12

Hi-de hi-de hi-de-hi (Hi-de hi-de hi-de-hi) Hey-de hey-de hey-de hey (Hey-de hey-de hey-de hey) He-de he-de he-de he (He-de he-de he-de he) Hi-de hi-de hi-de-hi (Hi-de hi-de hi-de-hi) Nothing like a little Cab Calloway to kick off our weekend programing . Yes, it is Friday, the day we all used to look forward to  Well if you have nothing planned this weekend, why not for the heck of it, sit down with a pen and paper and crank out a story!! I'm sure you can find someone here tha
wildone

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Staff Prompts #1 & #2

Well, it is Halloween and I think we need to say the last rites for Guest Prompts 😢  But as one ideas dies, another springs forth, it is the circle of life  Today, is the first day of the Staff Prompts!!!! If you are a staff member and have any prompt ideas, sent them to @Renee Stevens and @wildone    Actually, if you want to suggest a guest prompt, you can submit too. We haven't shoveled in the dirt yet on the Guest prompts, yet   So with a bit of a Halloween theme, h
wildone

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St. Patrick's Day Prompts 3/11/22

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner.  Settle in with a pint (or three) of Guinness, put on some green, and get to writing!  We could end up with some pretty interesting prompt responses, and you don’t have to be Irish to participate, since everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.    PT Prompt #29 - creative Write a short story from the POV of a leprechaun. PT Prompt #30 – creative It’s midnight on St. Patrick’s Day, and you’re on your way home after a night of dri
Valkyrie

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Special Newsletter Prompt Game: Gay Pride Headline!

Today, we're doing something a little different! This is the newest newsletter prompt writing game. So, play along with some other authors, have fun with any headline that catches your eye, and get a link to your story featured in the site newsletter!    HEADLINE PROMPT GAME Happy Gay Pride Month, everyone! How are you celebrating? Does your city do a parade? Special event weeke
Cia

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Spacy Prompt

So, why the heck did I give you these random prompts? I helped my nephew to draw all kinds of alien species, that’s why. And because there has always to be a second prompt, I used the next sentence someone said to me as a first line. Val thought I have to explain my randomness. Prompt #89 The newest spaceship is ready to leave the space yard when the main engineer gets a last-minute order: He has to modify the captain’s chair. Due to the new captain’s species, he wouldn’t be able to us
Aditus

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Site Tip: Reviewing For The Blog!

So, you may have noticed that we are asking the members of GA to do reviews on stories that they have enjoyed. You may have even thought, “Oh, I should do a review on…” but there is still something that holds you back from doing a review to be featured on the blog. You might even think that the story you just read might not be one we are looking for. Well, forget that worry! We want all stories!!! Hosted, Promising, Author, Poet, New Authors, Old Authors, even the old anthologies! Or perhaps you
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Shakespeare's Revenge, or How I Lost My Fear of Poetry or Lost My Head

Prompt 39 April 23rd is Shakespeare's birthday.  Since April is Poetry Month and I'm absolutely horrible at writing poetry, I'm at a disadvantage, to say the least.  However, I'm always game to try something new, so I challenge our faithful readers and writers to a duel, you know, Tudor style. In honor of the Bard of Avon's birthday, let's do sonnets.  I found an explanation, which I still don't really understand, but I think I get the gist of it.   A sonnet is a 14 line poem.  It
Cole Matthews

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Second Chance Prompts #509 & #511

To help you finish off your week right (or should that be write? ) it's time for a couple of prompts. Once again, we're featuring a couple of prompts that for one reason or another, didn't receive any prompt responses. I've included links to each topic as well so you can post your prompt responses (or links to them) in the forums. Have fun!!     Prompt 509 – Creative Tag – The Tire Your were called away for a business trip to the middle of nowhere. On the way home you blew a tire. When yo
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Second Chance Prompts #502 & #507

Brrrr... Anyone want some snow? I have plenty of it that I can give! First snowstorm of the year dropped at least 10 inches on us. Who else has gotten the white fluffy stuff? Anyway, now that the talk of weather is out of the way, it's time for the weekly prompts. Once again, we're taking a look back at two prompts which, for whatever reason, got overlooked. Don't forget to share your prompt responses in the threads. To make it easier, I've linked to both of the threads.   Prompt 502 – Word Li
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Second Chance Prompts #495 & #499

Hey Y'all! Well, I know that someone chose to use one of the last second chance prompts, but there is no link in the thread so that I can feature it. This week I'm once again just going to focus on two of the lonely prompts that nobody used (or at least shared). If you decide to tackle one of these prompts, make sure you share it in the thread.   Prompt 495 - Creative Mostly you wanted to stay home, but you won a vacation. Where was the trip to and how was it? Prompt 499 - Creative You going
Renee Stevens

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Second Chance Prompts #485 & #491

Hey Y'all! Well, the last set of second chance prompts didn't seem to inspire anyone, so we're going to try again. Instead of doing four second chance prompts, this week I'm just going to focus on two. If you decide to tackle one of these prompts, make sure you share it in the thread. Prompt #485 - Creative It was a late night and you were driving home from work. You go to stop at the light, but your brakes fail, and slip through uncommon traffic and crash into the woods. What happened to you
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Second Chance Prompts #475, #477, #479, & #483

Occasionally I like to take a look in the prompt forum and see what prompts are lonely without any responses. Most of these are creative prompts. I re-feature these prompts and give them a second chance to be noticed. For the next couple of months, every other week is going to feature second chance prompts. The other weeks will give new prompts for you to take a stab at. Here's this week's second chance prompts, don't forget to share your links in the appropriate thread!!!! (I'll even link them
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Scary Tales and Creepy Stories

At the heart of every scary story is a nugget of truth.  We use fiction and storytelling to process emotions including fear, terror, and that lingering emotion called anxiety.  As writers, we need to use life experiences to flesh out our creations.  Fright isn't just about dark nights and ghosts.  It's about what's unknown and about what we know only too well.  Let's practice that channeling of our most negative emotions.   #139 - You are a camp counselor.  Make up a story that will scare t
Cole Matthews

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