PROMPT TWENTY-SIX – SKEWED VIEW
 
            This prompt is based on writing a story from a radically different point of view, like that of an insect, or an alien, or even a stuffed animal. Andy Griffith started his comedic career this way when he did “What it was, was football.” The subject matter can be a common, every-day item like a family vacation.
 
            Here are five unique POVs.
 
            Wilson from Castaway
            Moby Dick from Moby Dick   
            The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland
            The portrait in The Picture of Dorian Gray
            The brooms in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
 
            Based on the broom in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice I generated this pitch.
 
Stick Men - Broom marvels when he is brought to life. Before he was nothing but a tool in someone else’s hands, but now he can act on his own and he has purpose. The water has to be moved and he is just the one to do it.
            Then the world goes crazy when the creator attacks him. Or perhaps it isn’t the world that has gone insane – maybe it’s just the creator. A lowly broom may have no chance against the mighty sorcerer, but that isn’t going to prevent him from fulfilling his prime directive. And anything that gets in his way will pay the price.
 
 
            As part of a challenge set by my critique group I used this method to write Red Christmas. It’s a short story about what would happen if Santa was a communist. My wife hated the story and made me write “normal” Christmas stories every year after that for the family celebration.
 
         That's it folks. All twenty-six of my writing prompts. I have seen some amazing story ideas created using these as a starting point for the imagination. Hope it helps.

            PROMPT TWENTY-FIVE – FAIRY BAD
 
            When I was introduced to this prompt fairy-tales were used to generate ideas for new stories, but this works with any kind of story or even news items. Take your favorite fairytale/story and develop a plot from the villain’s point of view. Make the villain the good guy in your story. And you don’t have to keep the setting. Feel free to turn the big bad wolf into insurance salesman in New York City.
 
            Here are five villains.
           
            Marie Antoinette
            Chronos
Nurse Ratched
Nixon
            Cruella De Vil
 
            Based on the Nurse Ratched I generated this pitch.
 
Crazy Like a Fox – With a family to feed Rachel is forced to take a job at the State Mental Hospital. She has just about adjusted to the rigorous demands of the new job when the Justice Department commits a man accused of murder. As the weeks pass by, Rachel uncovers a plot by the criminal to recruit the rest of the inmates into his own private army and declare war on the city. But no one believes her. The criminal vows to target her family first when the inmates escape. Now she has to find a way to stop the criminal mastermind and his crazy army before the killing starts. 
 

            PROMPT TWENTY-FOUR – TOUGH LUCK
 
            This prompt gets personal. Drawing from your own life experiences, take the most difficult decision you ever had to make and then write a fictional story based on that choice. Obviously, this lends itself to serious pieces of fiction, but it could be turned into comedy with a poignant message.
 
            Based on a tough experience in my life I generated this pitch.
 
Separated - John and his son have been a team since the day that Johnny was born. Life blind-sides him when his ex-wife appears one day with a court order giving her temporary custody of Johnny. The one constant in John’s life has been his son’s love and without it he wonders how he can survive the daily grind. Knowing that if he creates a scene it will only cause more trouble for Johnny, he says goodbye. In the days to come he will not only have to find a way to return Johnny home, but also adapt to life without him.
 

        PROMPT TWENTY-THREE – SPORTING CHANCE
 
            This prompt has limited use. The idea is to take two sports and combine then to create a brand new sport. It works well for fantasy and science-fiction when you want to develop a society different from our own. Place the sport you created at the center of the story and develop the society which would play it.
            Keep in mind that sports movies are about more than just the sport. They provide a setting for the people who play and manage the sport, the people watching the sport, and the sponsors. That gives plenty of plot possibilities to explore. 
 
            Here are five sports match-ups.
 
            Football and soccer
            Baseball and dodgeball
            Bowling and track
            Basketball and volleyball
            Swimming and boxing
 
            Based on football and soccer I generated this pitch.
 
Ball - Touted as the ultimate team sport they just call it Ball. Some think of it as a mangled version of volleyball, soccer, and dodge ball. Allen just considers it awesome. He is on the fast track to becoming the first Ball player drafted out of high-school. The big teams are wooing him to sign when he is contacted by a government rep to play for the National team. But when he signs with the Nationals he finds out that it isn’t a game at all. The government is using the sport to influence the minds of the country’s citizens. Now Allen has to choose between playing along and becoming the greatest Ball player of all time or destroying the very game he loves.
 

            PROMPT TWENTY-TWO – FICTIONAL INTERVIEW
 
            Good stories spring forth from strong characters. Select a fictional character or a historic figure and interview him/her. Ask them tough questions. Get to know them. At some point a plot will develop from the questions and the answers in the interview.
 
            Here are five interesting people to interview.
 
            Judas Iscariot
            King Tut
            Mata Hari
            Joan of Arc     
            Vincent van Gogh
           
            Based on an interview with Judas Iscariot I generated this pitch.
 
Haunted Streets – Contrary to what the world believes Judas Iscariot is not dead—he is cursed. The immortal has wandered in search of emotional refuge. Angels taunt him. Devils follow him. Then he stumbles across the only human older than himself and a chance to redeem his mistake.  

            PROMPT TWENTYONE – IF I WERE KING
 
            This is similar to the “What If” prompt but pulls its inspiration from your vision of a perfect world. Of course, we all know there is no such thing as a perfect world and as soon as you created one you’d have to turn right around and tear it down. This still generates scenarios and settings different from reality.
 
            Here are five statements about “If I were king”
 
            If I were king ice cream would be the national treat
            If I were king there would be no career politicians
            If I were king conservatives, liberals, and independents would live separately
            If I were king everyone would have to spend 2 years in government service
            If I were king there would be a limit to the number of times a movie is remade
 
            Based on conservatives, liberals, and independents living separately I generated the following pitch.
 
Romeo Westside – When Romeo is dared by his friends to sneak into the neighboring town and pluck a couple of the mayor’s prized roses he never expected to run into the most beautiful girl in the world. Not only is she a conservative, but she’s the mayor’s daughter too. The two of them work against the system to discover if love can overcome politics.

            PROMPT TWENTY – TOKENS
 
            This prompt encourages a strong reliance on symbolism. Pick an item and make it the centerpiece of the story. Decide what it represents; freedom, rebellion, love. I don’t mean that you should have a story where the people are questing for a magic amulet. Take a look at Lord of the Flies. The conch shell holds metaphorical significance throughout the story.
            Even if readers don’t catch on to exactly what an item represents I find that by using this sort of prompt I can add an extra layer of depth to the story.
 
            Here are five random items.
 
            Backpack
            Pair of glasses
            Sports car
            Thermos
            A painted plate
 
            Based on a backpack I generated this pitch.
 
World A-Whirl - When Jack’s parents start fighting over what to do with him, he decides it’s time to take off and see the world. He fills his trusty back-pack, convinces a friend of a friend to forge a fake ID for him, and then hops on a passenger ship for points unknown.
            The unfettered life agrees with Jack’s disposition – until he finds that a strange laptop has been stashed in his pack. Before he can boot it up and find out who it belongs to a trio of gun-wielding, sunglass wearing goons come after him. And just getting the laptop isn’t enough, they want him dead.
            Jack jumps ship when it docks in South America and heads for the American Embassy there, but is intercepted by hot looking chick that invites him to have a drink with her. After a flirtatious good-bye, Jack discovers that his backpack is gone, along with his fake ID. If he wants to get back home alive, he’ll have to get both of them back and deliver the computer to someone who can get him out of this jam.
 
(Just as a note: my initial concept was to use the backpack as the centerpiece for the story. Once I decide what it represents, I can develop several scenes around that theme. However, the fake ID and the laptop also can be used to enrich the depth of the story.)

            PROMPT NINETEEN – CELEBRATION
 
            With this prompt the author creates an unusual holiday. It can be something you are already passionate about, like camping, talking on the phone, or collecting cereal box tops. If all else fails you can take a random noun or verb and turn that into a holiday. Then use that holiday as the setting for your story.
 
            Here are five made up holidays.
 
            Parking Ticket Day
            Take a Swim Day
            Back to School Celebration
            Borrow Something Day
            Eat a Bug Week
 
            Based on Back to School Celebration I generated this pitch.
 
Back-to-School Pool - After a long summer of swimming, biking, and fighting with her younger brother, Brenda is ready to head back to school. That is, until she notices the adults acting strangely. They seem a little too happy about getting the kids out of the house and rounded up in one place.
            With the help of her best friend and her annoying little brother they uncover the conspiracy of all conspiracies – a betting pool where the parents place wagers on how the children will perform during the upcoming year and throw a party for the event.
 
 
            Based on Swim Day I generated this pitch.
 
Swim Day - No one considered what would happen to the inmates of Harbor Island Correctional Facility if the world stopped functioning as it always had. Now, ten years after the cataclysm, the survivors are desperate to find a way off the island. The first day of every month is Swim Day. The lucky winner of the Swim Day lottery gets a day to live as a cell block celebrity and then is cast into the waters and forced to attempt a trip to the mainland. If any have made the trip they haven’t come back to help the others.
            Stitch is drawn to make the swim. He’d been counting down until the day of his execution when everything went bad. Dying during the swim doesn’t bother him, but leaving behind the only person who ever treated him humanely does. He must do more than just survive the watery ordeal, he has to find a way to return and save his brother, the prison guard.

            PROMPT EIGHTEEN – PH-PH-PHRASES
 
            This may be the simples writing prompt in concept, but can be tricky to execute. All you do is take an old saying and find a way to turn that into a story, poem, or pitch.
 
            Here are five sayings.
 
            A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
            Don’t buy other people’s problems
            Look before you leap
            Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
            Happiness is a state of mind
 
            Based on “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” I generated this pitch.
 
Trade-Day Hunt (Middle-Grade) - Trina loved the market on Trade-day. Today was no exception. Molly Burton had on her trade table the perfect doll. The only problem was that Trina didn’t have enough money. Calling upon the age-old tradition of barter, Trina agrees to locate two hard to find collectibles in trade for the doll. Very quickly, she finds out that the rest of the traders have deals of their own they need help with and soon she is in over her head with tricky requests. All of this for a doll – the perfect doll.
 
 
            Based on “don’t buy other people’s problems” I generated this pitch.
 
Space Junk - Roy Spunkmeyer wanted to be a space merchant since he was old enough to observe the stars in the sky. When an old friend of the family announces that he is ready to retire Roy jumps at the chance to buy the “slightly used” ship that Bill had been using over the last sixty years. Only after Roy spends the last of his savings, exhausted all sources of credit available to him, and convinced his parents to take out a mortgage on their home does he find out he has not only bought Bill’s business, but all of the problems that go with it. How will he, and the crusty old alien that comes with the ship, solve a cargo full of problems that were forty years in the making and do it in less than a month?
 

            PROMPT SEVENTEEN – HEROIC REBIRTH
 
            This is basically the Fantasy/Reality Collision prompt. The difference is where the Fantasy/Reality Collision is a fish out of water scenario the Heroic Rebirth is intended to bring the character’s personality into a new set of challenges.
            Choose someone you greatly admire (historic figures work best) and then place them into a vastly different setting. Figure out how their unique talents, skills, and personality traits would be put to prevail. Emphasize the strong characteristics of the person you’ve selected.
 
            Here are five historic figures for the prompt.
 
            Mother Teresa
            Groucho Marx
            George Patton
            Joan of Arc
            John Wayne
 
            Based on Mother Teresa I generated this pitch.
 
Aliens Have Mothers Too - Becky graduated at the top of her class in Xeno studies. With the recent advances in warping technology the whole universe is open for exploration. She can hardly believe it when the governing board for Interstellar Research and Exploration assigns her to the most vital interspecies negotiation the Earth has ever participated. Until she finds out that she will be playing translator and nurse-maid to a talkative old woman without even a rudimentary education in alien affairs. What can Mamma Maude, as she insists on being called, bring to the table of interstellar diplomacy that will convince the rest of the universe to accept Earth into their community of civilized sentients.