1. This is where things change– these next few words control their future. Only it’s not about saving the world anymore, only how badly they’ll destroy it.

2. “Do you know what time it is?” He grinned over the counter, hands conspicuously behind his back.

“I swear, if you have what I think you have–”

“Da-da-da Banana Time!” He unloaded the bag of groceries with a flourish of unrepentant glee. Only Darren could sneak ice cream sundaes into the house without fearing mom’s wrath. Being the baby of the family has its benefits… plus the rest of us get ice cream, so we can’t complain.

3. Cats are well known for being able to see spirits. Mittens was fine with that, it was the part about spirits being able to see her that the kitten found unnerving.

4. There are levels to pain and she worked her way down through each one, unraveling as she went.

5. It was easier to live in forests than the wide open plains. After a decade shipboard they’d grown used to enclosed areas and the unending horizons unnerved them. Yolan took it hardest, always pushing himself to go a little further from the shade, furious when the sense of impending danger finally sent him scurrying back.

These story prompts are released into the wild per Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, so sayth their author Martha McMahon Bechtel.

Technotari Tags: Writing Prompts

Five more story starters from the bin… hopefully they will inspire someone else’s Muses!

1. There was a very important distinction between ‘not being a quitter’ and the definition of insanity (i.e.: ‘doing the same thing and expecting different results’), but at the moment he couldn’t quite pin down the difference.

2. The sun was only a dim glow through the clouds, a half-hearted echo of the searing desert sun she was used to.

3. It always snowed on Mondays.

4. “Life isn’t about change, it’s about avoiding change, and the sooner you realize that, the happier you’ll be.”

5. The clans of the near side of the mountains didn’t grow hair as they aged, they lost it. Children grew with a protective covering of fur, safe from the biting colds of the Frozen mountains. Only as they aged, skin turning leathery and toughed to the elements, did the protective coverings finally fall away…

These story prompts are released into the wild per Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, so sayth their author Martha McMahon Bechtel.

Technotari Tags: Writing Prompts