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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

Item Prompts

Last week, I looked in the basement for a pot for my new palm tree. You wouldn't believe how much crap I found there. Time for the next yard sale, but I digress.   PT#205 Tell the story of the forgotten rocking chair pushed into the corner of a basement and covered in dusty cobwebs.   PT#206 Three friends clear out the basement of an old house. One opens a rotting kitchen cabinet and finds a moldy box with a set of gleaming, pristine chef knives.  When he picks up t
Aditus

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It's Resolution Time!

New Year's Resolutions - love them or hate them?  Some people thrive on resolutions and use them to make changes in their lives, at least for January   Others scoff at the idea and remain their fabulous selves without some arbitrary date telling them it's time to effect positive change.  Since New Year's is right around the corner, let's explore some resolutions!    PT Prompt #191: You've always been steadfastly against making any resolutions come January first and have trea
Valkyrie

Valkyrie in Prompts

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Intermezzo Prompts December 10, 2021

Santas are all around you, wherever you look. Maybe you need a break to become inspired? PT#5 Write a short story or vignette using at least five words from @myr’s word of the day list.   Or you can’t get enough of beards, bellies, and bells and you want to throw yourself head-first into the hustle and bustle. PT#6 Christmas - Your Secret Santa gave you a pink jockstrap. What happens next?
Aditus

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Horrible Prompts

Let’s squeeze some prompts in before the anthology takes over the blog. It’s the time for creaking doors, flickering lights, and whispered words in the dark. Don’t forget everything orange. PT #171 How about we play with tropes: wide open mawing jaws, saliva drips, and then set a sweet counterpoint? PT #172 Write about a most unlikely person who hates orange and everything it implies.   Please include the prompt number either in your story/chapter description
Aditus

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Home Prompts

These prompt ideas were inspired by a discussion on the site. Would people read stories that take place in a foreign country? How difficult is it to write these kinds of stories and still find readers on an international site like GA? Does an American want to read a story about characters falling in love in Denmark? On the other hand, what do we have to do to write a story taking place away from home, like space or for example, China, India, Africa, or wherever your muse takes you? Let’s t
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Hiding

PT #83 It’s a matter of common knowledge among friends and family that the protagonist of your story despises a certain person. Ironically, this very person dies in a freak accident at their house. As no one would believe this, they have to hide the body. Help them.   PT#84 In order to avoid the pesky marriage-soon-trigger, Ash doesn’t date, officially. Find the most outrageous excuses to tell the family or — just tell them a truth of your choice, preferably all nicely boxed
Aditus

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Happy Prompt-Day!

I hope everyone in the US who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful day yesterday and has enough leftovers to make more yummy things like turkey soup.  I know I will have stuffed myself into oblivion (no comments on that one, Steve  ), but there's always room for more, right?  We have another holiday of sorts today... Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, that's Happy Birthday in German, to our resident wolf, @Aditus! In honor of Addy's birthday, I've decided to feature a couple of birthday-ish prompts. 
Valkyrie

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Happy Prompt-aversary!

While it feels like just yesterday when I approached Aditus and Cole Matthews about working together to continue offering GA prompts on a weekly basis, it’s actually been one year!  To celebrate our one-year anniversary, we thought we’d pay homage to GA’s late prompt guru, Comicfan, by choosing our favorite prompts created by Wayne.    Aditus: Comicfan’s prompt #213 made me put my toe in the water and write a very short story. I got so many encouraging comments that I dared to wr
Valkyrie

Valkyrie in Prompts

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Happy Holidays?

The holidays aren't always the picture of perfection depicted in Hallmark movies or on holiday cards.  In fact, it's pretty safe to say that the opposite tends to be more true to reality for most people.  We all have that relative with opposite views who loves to start in at the dinner table, or a busybody who's all up in everyone's business and then proceeds to pass judgment on it.  Then there's making sure the food is perfect, the table is set, and the house is clean.  Planning for the holiday
Valkyrie

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Happy Fairy Tale Day...

Who doesn't love a fairy tale?  They are the stuff of childhood, memories of the distant past, lessons for the present, and fodder for the future.   This coming weekend is Tell a Fairy Tale Day.  So, I proposed we tell each other some fairy tales, based on the tropes and ideals of the genre.  Hopefully these prompts will get you conjuring up your own scenarios of a child eating someone else's porridge or a lonely orphan girl who meets her prince, only to flee at midnight.   #25 - Story
Cole Matthews

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Guest Prompts 1 and 2

It's Friday, Friday Gonna get down on Friday Oh, sorry about that  We are here today for the inaugural posting of our Weekly Prompts, but with a twist! For the next while it will be you the readers, authors and poets out there to make the prompt selections.   Prompt 1 - First Line    Brought to you by @Carlos Hazday "Ouch! That hurt, dingbat."   Prompt 2 - Technical    Brought to you by @Valkyrie Write a short story (at least 500 words) in first person
wildone

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Guest Prompts #9 & #10

Hiya all, if you see me here now, that means it is finally Friday! Whew, we made it through another work week. That is if you don't work on weekends. If that is the case, let me raise a soda to you! Prompt #9 - Creative   Brought to you by @aditus Someone comes home and finds a black and white photo they never saw before on their coffee table. Two laughing men wearing birthday hats. The upper left corner of the photo is singed. On the back it reads: Steve and Mike 1954. Expla
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Guest Prompts #7 & #8

RAWR!!! I"m back with some new prompts Did you miss me?  Thanks to Renee for doing the past couple of weeks for me whilst I was away. First off, I need some more prompts  Help me out, don't leave a guy hanging here. There has been some great ones, but we need some more!!   Prompt #7 - Technical    Brought to you by @aditus Write a conversation between three people, starting with: "I've got conditions." Ending with: "We don't know that" (500 words)  
wildone

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Guest Prompts #5 & #6

Happy Friday, y'all. Don't know how you all plan to spend your weekend, but if you plan on writing, maybe today's prompts can be a source of inspiration. Let's take a look at who gave us a couple of guest prompts for this week.   Prompt 5 - Creative    Brought to you by @Carlos Hazday Love in the Time of a Pandemic Relationships are hard and outside influences often make them even more difficult. Tell us about how a relationship flourishes or falters when the characters are f
Renee Stevens

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Guest Prompts #3 & #4

Happy Friday, y'all. Don't know how you all plan to spend your weekend, but if you plan on writing, maybe today's prompts can be a source of inspiration. Let's take a look at who gave us a couple of guest prompts for this week.   Prompt 3 - Creative    Brought to you by @aditus The elevator takes ages. When the doors finally open, a woman wearing a pink pant suit twirls a glittery stick in her right hand that looks suspiciously like a wand and smirks.
Renee Stevens

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Guest Prompts #14 & #15

What is that??? Why is there Guest Prompts again?? Well thanks to an upstanding gentleman (@Tom ) and a schmuck (@wildone)  So lets see what is up for grabs this week! Still looking for some more     Prompt #14 - Creative   Brought to you by @Tom 6 men, one habitation unit, ten matter converters (only one assembled). Setting: First days of the first colony on the moon Suggested Complication: Two female androids programed strictly for child care, and 10,000
wildone

wildone in Prompts

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Guest Prompts #11, #12 & #13

So, I was really, really hoping that some new prompts would have rolled in. But alas, not to be .  @aditus has been a real trooper providing us with some great prompt ideas. So to close out the guest prompts, unless some arrive before next Friday, here is the final Guest Prompts. All from aditus      Prompt #11 - Creative   Brought to you by @aditus Write an instruction manual with a twist. (At least 500 words.) For example: How to put on a sweater with the lef
wildone

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Guest Prompt By Thirdly

This Friday I present a guest prompt by @Thirdly I know, I know lazy. Prompt #189 Holiday Hazard: The protagonist drank too much spiked eggnog while staying with his family over the holidays. His younger cousins somehow manage to convince him to go with them to a Winter-themed amusement park even though he has a hangover. There at the amusement park, he finds someone he manages to get along with more than anyone else he'd ever come across. They end up holding hands even while riding ro
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Good-bye and Welcome Prompts December 30, 2022

PT#101 You moved a bookcase to make room for the New Year's Eve party and an old atlas falls down. Inside you find a yellowed New Year's resolutions list. Try to answer the wh-questions who, when, and what and create a story. PT#102 You get an email from yourself on New Year’s Eve warning you about a mistake you’ve made in the past year. What did you write to yourself? Happy New Year! Your Prompt Team  
Aditus

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Going to the Fair!

We love fairs.  State fairs, county fairs, Renaissance Fairs, little neighborhood fetes, and any other get-togethers that feature foods on a stick, or a turkey bone, deep-fried, that make you a little queasy when you sit on swirling, spinning, acrobatic carnival rides and offer something fleeting and fun.  Fairs offer face painting, the biggest pig, high stepping marching bands, and blinding lights mixed with colors and music that overwhelm.  All these are things that provide a backdrop for an s
Cole Matthews

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Going for a Joyride

What did you think when you read the headline? Did you remember the song from the nineties? Or the film from 2022? Or even a cool trip and you can’t wait to tell us all about it? Insert *eyebrow waggle* here. Anyway, here are this week’s prompts:   PT #137 Your protagonist spots an irresistible offer to rent their dream vehicle for a weekend and invites a special person for a joyride. Even though I want to know everything, what kind of vehicle, who has been invited, where they go t
Aditus

Aditus in Prompts

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Gimme a Cake!

Around here we’re picking berries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, and currants, which means, cakes, pies, jams, preserves. Okay, I’ll stop here. What are your favorite cakes? Which cake is typical for your country? PT #59 The protagonist of your story finds a beautiful cake on their doorstep, without a card or any hint who gave it to them. Help them to unravel the secret.   PT #60 Describe any cake and make your readers want to eat it. If yo
Aditus

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Genres and Tags Prompts

I browsed the various genres and tags the other day and thought how about we go on a writing adventure, step out of our comfort zone, and try new things? PT #119 Your protagonist orders their favorite hot beverage at the coffee shop, stirs it with a strangely formed spoon, and suddenly the place is devoid of any customers. The door opens, and in comes a person wearing black clothes and a Venetian mask. Write the first lines of their conversation, or more? PT #120 Write a letter either as
Aditus

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Forgotten Treasures

Have you ever started digging through an old box and found something you had forgotten about?  Is there a scrap of paper with a name of an old lover, and it makes you sigh?  The memories start flooding back into you as you rifle through ticket stubs and T-shirts at the bottom of your closet.  Things are so good at prompting our personal histories, and so let these prompts give your characters some thoughts about events from their past.  Let the remembrances flow!!!! Prompt #181 - After Than
Cole Matthews

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Fire and Ice - January Prompts

Whether it's a warm, crackling fire while a blizzard blows snow against windows, or the cold clink of ice in a drink on a sunny, hot, sandy beach, the opposite sensations of fire and ice, hot and cold, are paired like no others.  The toasty heat of a radiator or the supple coziness under a comforter are more delicious with the bite of cold and vice versa.  So, for the prompts this week, we are going to explore opposites that complement each other.     #105 - Two college freshman are as
Cole Matthews

Cole Matthews in Prompts

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