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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

Prompt 878 and Prompt 879

Well, we have made it to the end of April. May brings mother's day and lots of flowers. Today also brings new prompts. Prompt 878 - Creative Tag - List of Words Use  the following words in a story : a card, a single rose, a baby bottle, a soft blanket, and a kitten. Prompt 879 - Creative Tag - Unexpected Your mother always said things happen in threes, but you never expected such different things to happen. First was a job offer from a company you had never heard of
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Prompts

Prompt 796 and Prompt 797

Wow! Welcome to November. Is it me or is the year just flying by? Well, it is now Friday, November the first. That means it is time for some new prompts. Prompt 796 - Creative Tag - The Heckler You were doing your job and having a good day until he showed up. This man had a nasty comment about everything you did, the way you looked, and how you spoke. At first, you were ready to cry and just hide. However, something inside you decided it was time to give this joker his just desser
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Prompt 842 and Prompt 843

Well, we are half way through May. The world is coming out of lockdown and praying for no second wave. To help you to focus on something besides Covid 19 here are the prompts. Prompt 842 - Creative Tag - First Line "Pardon me, but damn it got cold in here." Prompt 843 Tag - List of Words Use the following words in a story - a bloody shirt, a broken door, a school bag, a new book, and a calico cat. Enjoy your week. Remember to read, write, comment, and like. Sta
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Father Christmas, Krampus, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, and Kris Kringle

There is a rich tradition in the West of creating Christmas and Yuletide tales.  Both sacred and secular versions of stories populate the airwaves and Internet with versions of light in the darkness, good defeating evil, epiphanies about faith, and even simple tales of happily ever after.  While we love to challenge conventions in these prompts.  Sometimes it is fun to go with the flow.  For these prompts, I'd like to challenge writers to create some wonderful stories of love winning, light conq
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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Do You Want to Know a Secret?

Psst… I have a secret…. Few things grab our attention more than knowing a good (or not so good) secret. Secrets add suspense and tension to stories, and are great ways to sprinkle in conflict.  I know something you don’t know…  How many of you heard this from your siblings as kid?     Secrets can be benign or life-shattering.  They are mysterious, dramatic, and powerful. Secrets shape our lives and can be a great tool for character development.  Revealing a secret
Valkyrie

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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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Let's Go Exploring

Let's do a bit of a flip-flop with today's prompts and push ourselves out of our comfort zones.  In honor of our upcoming Poetry Anthology, I thought it would be fun to feature a couple of prompts that can be used for either poetry or stories.  If you are a poet, then try writing a paragraph, short story, or vignette.  If you are a non-poet, then give writing a short poem or two a try.  The anthology theme is Exploration, so let's explore writing styles that may not be in our wheelhouse.  You ne
Valkyrie

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Pumping Iron, Running a Marathon, and Prompts

Prompts are about creativity, trying new things, and exploring your talents.  They are meant to stimulate storytelling, make you stretch and hone your craft, and practice things you aren't comfortable doing.  For example, I don't like writing dialogue.  I always feel like it's somehow stilted or unnatural.  My tendency then would be to avoid dialogue using it sparingly if at all.  However, using your words is like exercising a muscle.  It will only get better with use.  So here are a couple
Cole Matthews

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Prompts

Prompt 858 and Prompt 859

Hello and welcome to another Friday. We are so close to Valentine's Day so they are coloring this week's prompts. Get ready and see what they are offering. Prompt 858 - Creative Tag - First Line "Why do I have to dress up?" Prompt 859 - Creative Tag - Roses It had been a bad storm and you were up all night. Dragging yourself out to go to work and you find a multicolored rose on your doorstep. When you get to work you find another on your desk. As your day goes on yo
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Prompt 848 and Prompt 849

Greetings. Sorry if I am not a familiar face, but I had to take some time away from the site. However, I am back to tease and cajole you into possibly writing a prompt for us. Welcome to the prompts of 2021. Prompt 848 - Creative Tag - First Line "That was the last thing I ever expected to see." Prompt 849 - Creative Tag - New Man When you left work on Friday, your best friend told you he planned to start a weight loss program so he would be a new man by the end of
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Valentine's Day - It's not just a corporate conspiracy!

St. Valentine's Day is drawing near.  While many people don't enjoy the holiday, others revel in the blooming of new love, the sprouting of true love, and the enduring promise of "ever after."  I happen to love the celebration. When I was a teen, I never knew what the poets meant when they'd write about the earth moving and the heavens exploding.  I never really understood how a kiss was that special.  For me it was just a kiss, kinda fun, but not really that big of a deal.  [Mind you,
Cole Matthews

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Prompt 798 and Prompt 799

The year just keeps flying. I'm already looking ahead to Thanksgiving, mainly because I work in retail. So the prompts reflect that. Prompt 798 - Creative Tag - First Line "So are we inviting friends or making it a family holiday?" Prompt 799 - Creative Tag - List of Words Use the following words in a story - a fat turkey, a long table, a parade, a winter coat, and an apple pie. So while no one did last week's prompts we did have someone do prompt 786. Take a l
comicfan

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October is Coming Out!!!

In October in the United States, we celebrate National Coming Out Day.  But that really doesn't do it justice.  Coming out isn't a day or a week or a month.  Coming out is a process for most of us.  It's intensely personal, incredibly liberating, and extremely terrifying for most people.  Let's practice our writing skills with some characters who are coming out of the closet, are remembering their emergence, or even contemplating doing it.   #81 - First Line - "How could you have outed me l
Cole Matthews

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Pride Flowers

June is halfway over and summer is just around the corner, although with the high temperatures lately it feels like summer is in full swing!  Pride month celebrations are still going strong.  I've been seeing lots of pictures in my FB feed of friends celebrating Pride all over the country.  For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to get some flowers, something I don't tend to keep in the house since I am death to plants  The grocery store I shop at had a display of Pride-themed bouquets, s
Valkyrie

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Wayne's Prompts #3

So last week we had a look back at @Valkyrie's, @Mikiesboy's, original prompt replies! Then we actually had a brand new one from @Mawgrim  Make sure you check them out!! Now for this week, we will look to Valkyrie for a one suggestion and another in case you want to try something else. First is 310 and the second is 311. See, I can count       Prompt 310 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – tent, a running river, a wolf, a lighter, and a bow
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Last Minute Prompts

I am the Queen of Procrastination.  I tend to work best under pressure; sometimes I need a deadline in order to get anything accomplished.  Sometimes I leave things to the last minute because I have no choice.  I have so much on my plate, I need to prioritize what needs to be done first.  Kind of like a triage of my schedule.  I do this at work all the time, since I am the only person currently in my department (not from lack of trying to get more help, but that's a completely different topic).
Valkyrie

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Let's Get to Work!

I think most working people are well-acquainted with the "meeting that should have been an email".  I had to attend a two-hour training today that was more interesting than others I've attended, but was still time I could have used to catch up on my endless backlog of paperwork.  So this week's prompts have a "working" theme.  Now get to work and start writing!    PT Prompt #151 You are in the "meeting to end all meetings".  It's lasting for hours, and it's information that
Valkyrie

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Origin Stories - The Possibilities are Endless

Character development is not an easy, or formulaic, task.  Many of us read and write stories that are character-driven.  We fall in love with a character we create, or read, and follow their life and events as they unfold.  This means a writer can create the character's habits, quirks, strengths, weaknesses, and reactions through the use of narrative.  However, there are times when a writer needs a back story for a character, a motivation, a sort of history that helped form the character's perso
Cole Matthews

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December Festivities, and not just the flashy ones!

December offers such a wealth of subject matter on which we can write.  There are the parties with friends.  Gatherings with relatives.  The symbols and holidays are liberally sprinkled throughout the month. I wanted to explore some different paths this year beyond Christmas. Prompt #93 - Winter Solstice - You are invited to a bonfire on December 20th in the middle of a clearing in the woods.  The snow blankets in a thick layer on the grass and coats the tree limbs.  There are tents with fe
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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Oops! Prompts

I may or may not have remembered that the prompt blog is resuming this week...   So let's embrace the oops in our lives and see what writing treasures come from them.  A special thanks to my BFF's daughter for supplying #179, although thankfully this did not happen on our trip last weekend.    And another thank you to our own LBO for inspiring #180.   PT Prompt #179 You're on a trip with two of your friends and arrive at the hotel late at night.  You're exhausted and the only thing you
Valkyrie

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Magical Prompts

Magic is in the air! PT#95 Sam got a magical advent calendar from gran Lulu. So far, the chocolate and marzipan were delicious but magical? What does the calendar’s magic do to Sam? PT#96 Looking for the box with Christmas decorations in the attic, your protagonist pushes cardboard boxes around. Suddenly something strange drops on the floor. After a closer examination, it turns out to be a mechanical arm. After playing around with it for a while it suddenly attaches itself to them,
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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
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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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