BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Welcome!

Prompt Romp is your one-stop to writing bliss. Stuck for ideas? I have them. Take what you like; credit when necessary. Feedback is awesome and comments are lovely.

Like my blog? Become a follower!

Interested in trading links? Drop me an email at PrettySiren@gmail.com with "link request" in the subject line. (Writing or fandom websites only, please.)

Monday, June 29, 2009

Andrew's Guest Blog!

Andrew from Musings and Mullings is here with us today as a guest blogger. Make sure you check out his awesome blog, which is home to wonderful insights and original fiction.

Andrew writes:

When I first found Prompt Romp I knew right from the start that Carrie had a good thing going here. Before I start getting too carried away; let me just say thank you, Carrie, for allowing me to share my thoughts on your blog.

Writing prompts are a really great way to kick-start a tired or, uncreative brain. For a few years now I’ve had a really great paperweight of a book called The Writer’s Block by Jason Rekulak, sitting on my writing desk. It is a collection of 786 different writing prompts whose sole purpose is to provide a fragment of an idea to an author. Some of the ideas are a lot better than others in the book, but the point I am trying to make is I’ve turned to it on a few occasions.


Now, naturally, if I’m hard at work on my novel or another one of my own projects my brain is already churning out ideas and material and I have no need for prompts, but I’m sure we’ve all had those moments where we sit down to write and just don’t feel like the ideas are coming. I’ve had countless times where I’m forcing myself to write and nothing is turning out in a satisfying manner. It is moments like that when I set aside my project and turn to prompts.

Monday, June 22nd was one such day. I had spent all morning working on my novel and had gotten quite a bit done, but I hit a snag and just felt exhausted with the project. I wasn’t ready to quit writing for the day, but I had reached a point where I could not go on. While I was doing my daily blogging I saw Carrie had updated her blog and when I went over to check it out I read one of her prompts “write a sentence including the phrase: ‘I can’t take the stench anymore.’”

I didn’t know why and I didn’t know how, but for some reason I liked that. Personally, I’ve noticed that with prompts, some move you and some don’t, but this particular one certainly did move me. I immediately opened a word document and put the sentence in. As I was typing it I was already asking myself who was saying it and why.

I’d like to share what I wrote based on that prompt now, and below, I’ll go a little deeper into my thought process throughout the exercise.

"I can't take the stench anymore." Dawson said as she waved the disk frantically in front of her accomplice’s face.


Trin looked nonplused. "What the hell, Daw? What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?" He looked at her for a minute, his thick blonde eyebrows knitted together as his forehead crinkled. "More importantly," he was practically screaming at her now, "what are you going to tell them?"


Dawson Gills shrugged her delicate shoulders and brushed her matted red hair away from her bright green eyes and leaned forward towards her partner in crime, Trinity Logan. She batted her long lashes and smiled sweetly; she had a pretty, slender face and it was a disarming look to most, but Trin had seen it far too many times before. He took a step back.


She used that particular tone of voice she always got when he was dangerously on the verge of pissing her off. "I'm going to tell them the truth. I'll give them the disk and get the hell outta here, that's what I'll do."


"Dammit Trin, we need that disk! There's a lot more on the line here than just our jobs ya know!" He made a grab for the disc and she spun around gracefully, miraculously keeping her footing and managing to keep it out of his reach. He fell off-balanced into one of the rooms many piles of refuse.


She scowled as she felt the heels of her own thigh-highs slip on the slime that coated the entire room, but she held her ground.



“Well we can’t stay here to rot with the rest of this trash.” She called over her shoulder as she began to beat frantically on the solid metallic door. “Hey,” she called to whatever was on the other side, “hey, let us out of here! I have what you wanted!”


Dawson had been too busy drumming upon the door with her fists to notice when Trin pulled himself out of the trash and rushed at her.


He ran at her half falling, his feet unable to find traction on the disgusting, grimy floor. They collided and his arms caught around her waist. Her feet shot straight out from under her. Her arms flew wide, and the two toppled down together rolling in a jumble of arms and legs in the muck.


They both turned to see the disc flying through the air and sink as it disappeared into the thickest pile of some particularly rotten looking substance on the other side of the room.


“Great. Just frikken great.” She said shoving him off of her. She stood up, not wanting to think about the nastiness she could feel dripping down her hair and soaking into her dress. She was sweating profusely and that alone was bad enough. It was stifling hot under the burning red lights of the room. “Nice job, you prick.” She said, giving him a sharp jab to his doughy stomach with her toe.


Trin shrugged it off and came up spitting. His face was covered in slime. Dawson looked at him in disgust and turned away retching.


“Oh, please!” He groaned. “You went through a lot worse than this that time we were on Delta-7.”


“Shut up!” She hissed, spinning around like a viper her charade quickly forgotten. “Either way we can’t stay here. Look at that,” she said pointing to something rotten in the room with them. “That used to be alive! Another few hours and we’ll look just like it! Now we’re stuck here thanks to you, Mr. Tackle-Happy!” She took a careful kick at his shin, not wanting to risk another slip to the floor. He dodged and she frowned.


Just then the door popped open behind them with a loud clunk. She pulled at the top of her dress revealing more cleavage and spun around smiling and batting her lashes. “Hiya, you--”


She fell silent as she came face to face with the most hideous, rotund and lumpy creature she had ever seen. It was barely humanoid; its gray appendages stuck out of its body like lards of fat. It stood unmoving. The lines that she guessed could only be the folds of the creatures lips were pressed into an impassive straight line. Only its beady, little red eyes kept blinking beneath the clumps of gray fat.


After an awkward silence, Dawson Gills, never one to be kept off guard for long, regained her composure. “Well, hello.” She said, clearing her throat mildly. “I guess you came to let us out of this,” she fumbled slightly, searching for the word, “this… room.”


“Compost.” The thing grunted and turned on its stubby legs faster than Dawson could have guessed possible. The door stayed open behind it.


She glanced back at Trinity who shrugged his broad shoulders and the two stepped out of the door.

So I had “I can’t take the stench anymore” written and I was asking myself, who said it. I answered the question quickly for myself because I didn’t want to interrupt any from the creation's flow. So who said it?--a cool chick, I answered as I continued to write.

Next was the obvious why is she cool? I had to show that, and I tried to do so by jumping right into her head. I decided very quickly that I wanted to portray someone tough, and headstrong and tried to demonstrate that in how she spoke and how she behaved. Already the back of my subconscious was starting to figure out more about who she was and where she came from, but for the purpose of the prompt, I ignored most of it and I kept going along with that very first thought; "I can't take the stench anymore."

I had to explain the source of the stench, and I already had a visual of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker bickering inside a trash compactor way back in “A New Hope” so I tried to write a similar situation.

I used the disk as a hook and intentionally left it open, wanting the readers to wonder what was so important about the disc and how they ended up in that room. By the time I had finished writing this single scene I had already answered a lot of the questions for myself, even if I didn’t reveal everything in that short scene.

Thanks to Carrie’s prompt I have what I feel is a really interesting idea for a short story and two rather well-fleshed out characters to work with in the future. This is just one small example of my own personal experience using prompts.

The point is prompts are nothing to feel limited by. Enjoy them and let your imagination run wild when you use them. Remember, the purpose of the exercise is to get your brain working in a direction you weren’t ever considering before. The key is to have fun and, who knows, you may find yourself like me and really impressed with the results.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Talented Tongue

Specific Prompt:

Your main character wakes up from a coma, not knowing who they are, only to find they are king/queen of a country. How do they deal with this? Do they foolishly spend all of their money? Or are they freaked out? Perhaps a combination?

Fanfic Prompt:

Spock/Uhura fic. Uhura has a talented tongue. That's your prompt. Talented tongue. Make it smutty, cracky, or just plain fluffy. I don't care.

(And if you write it, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE link me.)

Write a story including the phrase:

"It hate the heat."

Use this song for inspiration:

"Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin

One word prompts:

Delicate
Peace
Forage
Sacrifice
Trend
Pickle
Last

Friday, June 26, 2009

Waterloo

Specific Prompt:

Your main character is a time traveler. They go to the Battle of Waterloo; the Butterfly effect occurs and they travel back to the present. What events change? What has happened to their reality after changing the past?

Fanfic Prompt:

Write a Heroes fic about the Company Man himself, HRG. Set it back when Claude was his "one of them". Other specs: must be at least 2,000 words. Must have something to do with Claire and Kaito Nakamura.

Write a story including the phrase:

"This is just a disclaimer."

Use this song for inspiration:

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonnie Tyler

One word prompts:

Fiction
Endanger
Create
Laugh
Force
Agitate
Breathe

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Is there life on Mars?

Specific Prompt:

Say there was life on Mars. Say there was intelligent life there at some point. When did they live? What was their culture like? And what lead to their destruction?

Fanfic Prompt:

#1

Prompt Romp's second Sylaire prompt. Write a PWP. Sylar has gained Claire's trust by shapeshifting into someone she knows and gets into her bedroom. Who is it?

#2

Write a Battlestar Galactica story where the fleet is celebrating Matronalia. What does the holiday mean to each of the characters? Dig deep. Make it a character study.

Write a story including the phrase:

His breath was like ice.

Use this song for inspiration:

"Life on Mars" by David Bowie

One Word Prompts:

Channel
Jail
Lick
Wanderlust
Heat
Cologne

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Let a Chrous Girl Sing Me a Song

Specific Prompt:

You go to a book store and see a book that offends you. What is the book? Why is it offensive? And what comical thing do you do in protest of said book? (Catch: the book can't be real. Make up a title and a premise.)

Fanfic Prompt:

Write a Star Trek TNG fic. Data has discovered a new life form, but he is weary of revealing its existence to the rest of the crew for a specific reason. What's the reason?

Write a story including the phrase:

If I jumped, I knew I wouldn't have made it.

Use this song for inspiration:

"St. James Infirmary Blues" - Traditonal


One of my all-time favorite songs (and my great-grandma's), because it's timeless.

(Note: Because it's traditional, countless versions exist. Two specific versions speak to me, but go with whatever speaks to you. Research it.)

One word prompts:

Forbidden
Express
Delete
Engage
Lackluster
Fever

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Linger Punch

Specific Prompt:

Your protagonist wakes up to find a gun in his hand. S/he's shot someone, but has no memory of doing it. What happens? Do they get captured? Tell us the story.

Fanfic Prompt:

Write a Spock and Uhura Star Trek fic. Spock is missing and Uhura has to find him. The catch? Don't make it purely romantic. Add some general elements to the fic to make it readable for any audience.

Write a story including the phrase:

"I never said that!"

Use this song for inspiration:

"Hells Bells" by ACDC

One word prompts:

Wet
Eager
Punch
Indefinite
Static
Crush
Linger

Monday, June 22, 2009

Sticky

Specific Prompt of the Day:

Write a story about life's most severe afflictions having a positive effect on your character. Be creative. Be even more creative and write it set in an unexpected place. Be even more creative than that and set it on a different planet. But yes, whatever you do: be creative.

Fanfic Prompt:

Okay, so there's TONS of stories set in the BSG-verse. But write a fic using the characters from the new prequel Caprica. Get creative. It can be any genre -- whatever.

*Edit: Okay, so I originally wrote next "don't include the Adamas" because they're not part of the Caprica story. Well, I watched Caprica tonight. And now I'm saying: Definitely include the Adamas!

Write a story including the phrase:

"I can't take the stench anymore."

Use this song for inspiraton:

"Young Love" by the Mystery Jets ft. Laura Marling

One word prompts:

Sticky
Plump
Aching
Tension
Eloquent

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Prompt Romp News: Guest Blogging

As you may have noticed, I've been featuring Rebecca Emrich as a guest blogger this week. I would like to start featuring a guest blogger each month, as a way to promote a sort of community here at Prompt Romp. Furthermore, if you're a new blogger and you're stuck on a way to get noticed, this is a great opportunity.

I'm not a big fan of rules, so we shall just call this a guideline: Your guest post must be somehow related to my blog.

You can:

1. Write prompts, like Rebecca did.

2. Write an article about how prompting has helped you.

3. Write an article about how prompting helps writers in general.

4. Write about fiction writing. That's a very broad topic, I know. But if you do that and you don't write about prompts, make sure you're writing about something that's a niche topic on your blog. That way a link to your blog can be used as a writing resource for Prompt Romp readers.

Interested in guest blogging? Drop a comment or email me at: prettysiren@gmail.com

NOTES ABOUT EMAILING ME

Please. If you email me, keep your email on topic. Don't pimp your blog to me in a email unless it's about writing and you're proposing to write a guest blog here. Also, no forwarding. Seriously. Don't forward things to me. I don't want to read about unicorns granting wishes.

On a lighter note...

I'm more than happy to guest blog on your site in return, if that's what you want. Just let me know in advance what topic you want me to blog about.

With all of that said, have a wonderful Sunday and check back tomorrow for more prompts!

Rebecca's Log: Day 3

Rebecca Emrich is back for the third and final day of her promptathon. Be sure to check out her her blog - Living a Life of Writing.

As always, if you'd like to share what you've written in response to the prompts on this blog, feel free to drop a link in comments.

Rebecca writes:

1. Your favorite author emails you and wants an interview, after saying yes, what are your five interview questions and why?

2. Your favorite author meets you, and you want to give them a book, what book will that be and why?

3. Connect these three things: authors, writing and animals.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Question?

Rebecca's Log: Day 2

Today is our second day with Rebecca Emrich's (@ Living a Life of Writing) promptathon.

Rebecca writes:


1. Dracula comes to visit. What happens?

2. Where would you go in Transylvania?

3. Connect these three things: Romance, Dracula, and Santa.

Stay tuned for part three of Rebecca's promptathon!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Guest Blogger!! Yay!

This week at Prompt Romp, we have a very special treat. Rebecca Emrich at Living a Life of Writing is going to be our guest blogger, delighting us with her imaginative prompts all week!

From Rebecca:

1. Your favorite historical character has come to life. They sit down in period costume and ask for an interview what kinds of questions would you ask them?

2. You walk back in time to your favorite history period. What is the first thing you would need to do?

3. Connect these three things: French Revolution, Queen Victoria, and the Beatles.


Check back in two days time for the next issue of Rebecca's epic promptathon.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Luck

Specific Prompt:

Today's specific prompt is to take your most boring original character and turn them more interesting. Make them the exact opposite of who they are. Also, throw a scary clown into the story. See how that goes. Think of it as an exercise in character manipulation.

Fanfic Prompt:

Write a Heroes fic about the Company founders when they were young.

Write a Story Including the Phrase:

The sores were protruding from his skin like thorns on a rose.

Use this Song for Inspiration:

"Fernando" by Abba

One Word Prompts:

Theatre
Disgrace
Abhor
Sensitivity
Luck

Monday, June 1, 2009

Cracktastic

Specific Prompt:

Pick a mythical creature. This is your new pet. What kind of chaos ensues? To clarify, you live your current life. How would these mythical creatures fit into your world? How does your unicorn get along with Fido? What kind of destruction does your manticore cause? Tell us about it.

Fanfic Prompt:

I'm still in Star Trek mode (well, technically I have been my whole twenty years of life, but yeah). Write a Spock/Uhura crack!fic. Spock is obligated to meet Uhura's parents. How does this meeting go? How does he feel about this? Why is she even making him do this? Be creative, be cracky...but please, keep Spock logical. Spock can be logical even when he's cracktastic.

Write a story including the phrase:

Their hands were pale and dead.

Use this song for inspiration:

"Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

One Word Prompts:

Lazy
Inefficient
Drooping
Tedious
Carnival
Chocolate