WR101 Daily Prompt Series – 30 Days of September

Welcome to a new round of daily prompts for September here at Writing Room 101. I thoroughly enjoyed Winter’s version of August Montgomery last month, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who hopes we see more adventures featuring August and Madison.

As I mentioned at the beginning of August, I’m running things in a similar way to June this month, for a special series – 30 Days of September.

If you have any requests or suggestions for October, please let me know, otherwise the prompts will return to normal once the September series has run its course.

So, here is a collection of prompts for each day of the month. Be sure to add your contribution to the link up tool at the end of this post. Don’t forget to include the date of the prompt and link back to the 30 Days of September here at WR101.

1 September 2014

We all have characters we know like the back of our hands; how they look, behave, feel, smell. If you’ve taken part in writing exercises in which you had to put that knowledge to the test, it can be both fun and educational.

Prompt: Write a letter to a person of your choice, from the point of view of one of your characters.

2 September 2014

You receive a message on Facebook from an old friend, someone who supposedly died in a tragic accident five years ago. You investigate, suspecting a ‘catfish’ but the more you explore, the more the mystery grows.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

3 September 2014

Sometimes snappy dialogue can make even the most mundane subject sound interesting. We can light up the scene with a heated exchange, a passionate discussion or a sarcastic battle of wills.

Prompt: Write a dialogue only exchange about colour samples (or watching paint dry!).

4 September 2014

You open your eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. You have no idea where you are, or how you got there.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

5 September 2014

The following sentence must be the first line of your piece.

Prompt: ‘I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole’.

6 September 2014

Your friends like to play practical jokes, and things have a tendency to get out of hand. The latest involves a case full of bricks, a blow up doll and a police car – what could possibly go wrong?

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

7 September 2014

The following sentence should be the last line of your piece.

Prompt: If only that was the end of it.

8 September 2014

You have the terrible misfortune of being cursed by a pixie. The only way you can avoid the fairy death squad is by giving up something your treasure.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

9 September 2014

 

Prompt: Write a story based on the image.

10 September 2014

There are a variety of writing exercises which utilise the A to Z challenge; dialogue, poetry form, short story. Choose a cast of characters and have them turn it into a game, with their own specific rules.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

11 September 2014

The following sentence should be the first line of your piece.

Prompt: ‘It would never be enough.’

12 September 2014

You are attacked by a werebeast (animal of your choice), and know it is only a matter of time before you go through the change. Someone offers you a cure, but it means you are bound to them forever. Would you give up your life to remain human?

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

13 September 2014

You discover a potion that will allow you to trade places with someone else for twenty-four hours.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

14 June 2014

You’re on holiday and discover a virtual reality game in a local arcade. Curiosity gets the better of you and you decide to give it a try. Something goes wrong and you get stuck in the game.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

15 June 2014

You are called to the scene of a crime and inadvertently stand on a pressure plate – a bomb set to wipe out all the evidence. There is a timer set to the bomb – you have thirteen minutes to disarm it. The bomb squad cannot make it in time.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

16 September 2014

You have been able to see your Guardian Angel since you were a child, but for some reason the ability vanishes on your 30^th birthday.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

17 September 2014

The following sentence should be the last line of your piece.

Prompt: ‘It really was as simple as that.’

18 September 2014

You fall asleep on the bus on your way home. It’s dark when you wake up, but you can see enough to determine you’re in some kind of bus depot among a row of similar buses. You walk to find the driver and realise you’re alone. When you try the door, it’s locked. That’s when you hear the noise.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

19 September 2014

You get drunk at your friend’s wedding and in your inebriated wisdom change your speech.

Prompt: Write the speech, based on the above information.

20 September 2014

The following sentence must be used as the first line of your piece:

Prompt: ‘I didn’t plan to kill him, it isn’t as though I woke up this morning and thought ‘this is the day he’s going to die.’

21 September 2014

Prompt: Write a story based on the image.

22 September 2014

You find a dead body in your car. The door is locked and there is no sign of forced entry. How will you explain it to the police?

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

23 September 2014

You receive an envelope containing a thousand pounds in cash. There is a note inside with the message ‘for services rendered.’

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

24 September 2014

Your inbox is inundated with video messages from a string on potential ‘matches’ after a friend puts up a fake profile on a dating website. It’s funny until you witness something in one of the videos that puts your life in danger.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

25 September 2014

The following sentence must be used as the first line of your piece.

Prompt: ‘A bolt of lightning shot across the sky, illuminating the stranger on my porch.’

26 September 2014

After joining a coven, you try a simple binding spell as part of your initiation and somehow summon a God – an extremely powerful God you have no way to control.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

27 September 2014

You are looking through an old photo album when you notice that your image has faded in over fifty percent of the snaps.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

28 September 2014

The following sentence starter must be used as the last line of your piece:

Prompt: ‘I’ll never forget it, not for as long as I live.’

29 September 2014

You are buried up to your neck in sand, amused by the ‘beach-body’ your friends have created, when something grasps you around the waist and starts to pull you under.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

30 September 2014

Prompt: Write a story based on the image.

---

To respond to any of the prompts, write a post and add it to the link-up below.

Feel free to use the 30 Days of June badge for your post.

Happy Writing!

The Journey Begins

For the next thirty-one days the daily prompts will be centred around the character August Montgomery. If you need a reminder of this month’s special series, or to add your contribution, click here.

Today marks the first of August’s adventures, and as it’s a Friday the genre is optional.

Have fun 🙂

Shades of August – Part of the WR101 Daily Prompt Series

August and September will be structured a little differently in terms of the daily prompts.

For the month of August I invite you to write a multitude of adventures based on a character – August Montgomery. Depending on the day, that might be a tale of mystery, a story to thrill, or a journey that scares the living daylights out of us! To participate, follow the allocated genre and lead August into an adventure of your choice.  Don’t forget to add your story to the link-up button, so others can share in the journey and add to it.

For reference, you daily offering should incorporate the following genres:

Monday – Mystery and Suspense

Tuesday – Thriller

Wednesday – Comedy

Thursday – Horror

Friday – A catch all (the choice is yours)

Saturday – Romance

Sunday – Science Fiction

Below you will find a basic character description:

Name: August Montgomery

Nickname: Gus (you are free to choose another)

Age: 28

Hair colour: Auburn (brown)

Eye colour: Green

Height: 5ft 11″

Occupation: Freelance (whatever he chooses at the time)

Shades of August begins Friday and as this is a general fiction day, you have poetic license.

The upcoming 30 Days of September is related to the series from June. More details will follow later in the month.

Have fun and thanks in advance for your contribution.

[WR101 Prompt Series] Weird and Whacky Wednesdays' – Prompt #9

The theme for this week is all about the song and requires you to  write a short story based on a song title. You don’t have to base it on the lyrics. As long as it’s linked to the appropriate genre, and includes an interpretation of the song, you’re good to go!

The song title for Wednesday is:

A Horse With No Name (America).

 

30 Days of Summer – A Roundup: Cast your vote

Firstly, thanks to those who contributed to the 30 Days of June prompt – Mark Morris should get recognition for the number of stories he crafted; each were unique and entertaining.

 

 

 

A Room with a View

A message to Past

Dinner for Seven

I’m Clairvoyant, but I can’t see the future

Journeys End

Stuck in an elevator with a stranger

Mid Summer Musings

Where will you go to my lady

Ribbons and Bows

There goes the neighbourhood

I hope you enjoyed the feature. In July the daily prompts are back, starting with a final sentence based theme.

Thanks for reading

Mel

There goes the neighbourhood – 30 Days of June Prompt

I really enjoyed the characters Mark created for today’s prompt, especially the dark and mysterious Mina. Click here to read another great tale – There goes the neighbourhood.

Blood Lust – 30 Days of June Prompt

It was a bitch of a night; cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey. I wasn’t in the best of moods before I left the precinct and now, what little patience I had, plummeted with my body temperature.

“What crawled up your ass?” Conrad said, kicking a mound of snow with his boot.

I thought up a dozen insults in my head, but since my lungs hurt from the cold I settled on showing him the finger.

“You know, I have a ready solution to thaw out that frosty exterior,” he persisted; clearly he had a death wish.

“Dream on, bug boy,” I said, because he hated the nickname. He was an arachnid-demon, so it was about as insulting as I could get.

“What’s the alternative? If you don’t feed soon, you’ll be even more unbearable than you are right now.”

I wiggled my brows at him because, well that always managed to piss him off too.

“I’m not going to fight you, Mer. We have a job to do.”

He was right, of course. We’d been sent out on a bag and tag a body, or tag and bag – whatever. The job was the same.

“How long have they been out here?” I asked, glaring into the blinding white of our surroundings.

“Not out here,” Conrad said, pointing to the warehouse on our left. “Poor sap’s in there.”

“Human?” I asked, trying to ignore the kick of excitement in my blood. It was all kinds of sick that a corpse could stir what nothing else had in weeks.

“Yeah. You sure you don’t want to use and abuse me before we head inside?”

My hand connected with Conrad’s jaw before he’d finished the sentence.

His head snapped back, but not before I’d seen the glint of red in his eyes.

Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

He lunged at me, his vertebrae popping like, well popcorn, as he fought to control the shift.

“Easy, tiger,” I warned and flipped him so he was on his back.

“Why do you always have to poke the bear,” he spat, finally getting himself under control.

I laughed, relaxing a fraction when he stood and gave me a hand up. “Again with the wishful thinking.”

“The omnivores have nothing on me,” he said and turned towards the building.

Since I’d discovered my partner was wound almost as tightly as I was, I figured we might as well get to it.

My eyes wandered to the warehouse; a sorry looking structure, with broken windows and too many make-overs to cover the ugly truth.

I followed Conrad across the snow covered street and into the mouth of the beast.

It seemed colder inside, or perhaps that was the icy fingers running up my spine. I felt a shudder rise and clamped down on it.

We didn’t have to go looking for the human; he lay at a crooked angle in the middle of the room. He’d been attractive in life and death was having a hard time diminishing his beauty.

I moved forward for a closer look and regretted it immediately. He hadn’t been dead long enough for the smell of his innocence to completely drain away.

It was our job to ensure that innocence wasn’t tainted by the vermin who would take his body apart like a pack of hungry wolves. But it was getting harder to remember what my job was.

As I stood beside the rotting corpse, it suddenly occurred to me that I shouldn’t be there.

Ribbons and Bows by Mark Morris – 30 Days of June Prompt

Mark has done it again; taken a prompt and run with it to create a unique story which is full of his usual descriptive flair.

Check out Ribbon and Bows.

If you’d like a reminder of the prompt – here it is:

28 June 2014

The following sentence starter must be used as the last line of your piece:

Prompt: ‘As I stood beside the rotting corpse, it suddenly occurred to me that I shouldn’t be there.’

There’s still a few days left to get in on the action!

Here are the final two prompts:

29 June 2014

There’s something very strange about your new neighbour, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Then people start dying in unusual circumstances and the result of the investigation leads next door.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

30 June 2014

You’ve suffered with migraines your whole life, but after a particularly brutal attack, which leaves you in bed for three days, it becomes clear there are long lasting effects. Especially since everyone you meet now speaks a language you don’t understand.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

Journey's End by Mark Morris [30 Days of June] WR101 Prompt Series

Check out Journey’s End. This is another exciting tale by Mark Morris, posted in response to the prompt for the 8 June 2013.

As always here is a reminder of the prompt, and a peek at what’s to come.

8 June 2014

The following sentence starter must be used as the first line of your piece:

Prompt: ‘The plane dropped from the sky; a flaming ball of metal, out of control.’

9 June 2014

Pistyll Waterfall:

Llanrhaeadr, Wales

Prompt: Write a story based on the image.

10 June 2014

You answer the door to a stranger on your doorstep who turns out to be your sister.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

Thanks

Mel

I'm a clairvoyant – but I can't see any future in it! by Mark Morris

Even the title is clever! Mark’s contribution to today’s prompt (30 Days of June) is a delight. Click here, to read it.

As a reminder, here is the prompt, and a taster for tomorrow, in case you want to join the party!

6 June 2014

You are at a party and, as a joke, you introduce yourself as a clairvoyant. You field questions from other guests, plucking information from your head, which is surprisingly accurate. What starts off as a little fun, turns into a deadly game.

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.

7 June 2014

You’ve been waiting all night for an important phone call. The telephone finally rings – who’s at the other end of the line?

Prompt: Write a story based on the above theme.