"A tenth part is her share: nine parts Oceanus winds round the earth and the broad back of the sea with his silver eddies, and falls into the brine, while that one part issues forth from the cliff, a great bane to the gods.”― Hesiod, Theogony It wasn't that he was all that powerful, really. He wasn't …
Tag: Writing Exercise
Prompt: The Demon and the Goody-Two-Shoes
“I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong.”― Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange Cecilia was a goody-two-shoes. Her whole life she did what she was told and what she felt was write. If you dropped your pencil, she would pick it up for you. If the dishes were dirty, she would wash …
Prompt: Sneaking into Church
“Something was badly amiss with the spiritual life of the planet...Too many demons inside people claiming to believe in God.”― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses Carrie hadn't gone to church since she was a kid, but recently, whenever her parents came home on Sunday mornings, they acted really weird. Like eyes-blank, sit-on-the-couch-doing-nothing-for-hours, weird. Once, she had even …
Prompt: Wishing Death
“Long before you knew what death was you were wishing it on someone else.”― Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man Being just a kid, Charlie never thought that wishing someone dead would do the trick, but after getting grounded for the hundredth time, Charlie couldn't help but wish. He woke up the next morning to his parents lying …
Prompt: What is a Poem?
“A poet's work . . . to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep.”― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses A poem is the ultimate portrayal of human emotion. A poem is the most concise, compact organization of thought. What is a poem …
Prompt: The Last Nymph
“But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”― Madeline Miller, Circe The last of her kind, Syd was a forest nymph who lived a life of solitude. The plants and animals kept her company most …
Prompt: Messy Witch
“Yes, you are nosy. You're a dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, appallingly clean old woman. Control yourself. You're victimizing us all.”― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle How does a witch clean up her messes? Describe a magical being tidying up after a day of potion making (or magic making, spell casting, whatever). What kind of ingredients did …
Prompt: Your OC and a Time Machine
“That's the thing about human life--there is no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.”― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon If your OC had a time machine, how would they use it? Imagine a scenario where your character meets a time traveler. The …
Prompt: The Puzzle Maker
“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.”― Frank Herbert, Dune Germaine makes sense of their universe by designing puzzles. Outside their window, there are monsters and cults, sorcerers and chaos; but inside their little house, there is order …
Prompt: Duct Tape
“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”― Andy Weir, The Martian What can you fix with duct tape? Make a list of all the things you would attempt to fix with duct tape. It can make sense, like a cardboard box, or it …
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