1. “We’ll go on grand adventures!” the shimmering Plot Bunny promised. “We’ll save the world and bring a thousand years of peace! We’ll kill the evil dragons and rescue princesses! We’ll solve ancient riddles and find buried treasure! It will be such fun!”

The Writer was not impressed.

2. The worst part about being told that you’re the only one who can complete a task that will most likely kill you, is realizing that the person telling you this is a) still an insufferable jackass and b) right.

3. Cooking stew has a certain calm to it, which might be why it was served eight times out of ten when the army was on the march. The scent of the cookfires permeated the camps all day, and it never tasted the same twice since they cooks relied on the hunting and gathering parties for supplies.

4. She could never tell if anyone really believed he was coming back, or if they had simply fallen into the habit of of belief– expecting without questioning that one day they’d open the door as they did every day at noon and this time he’d be on the other side, waiting to come home.

5. This would normally be where the story ends, if this were a story; the world has been saved, the prince has found his bride, and there’s nothing left to do. Only this isn’t a story and the loose ends that are left belong to people that aren’t the prince, or the dragon, or the little goose girl.

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

1. He would save the world or die trying– even if the world was already lost.

2. Of all the things I could remember from that day, it’s the scent of crushed grass that burns brightest in my memories.

3. Some days are meant for bowls of warm soup, nestling in a cocoon of blankets, and pouring what’s left of your flu-strangled brain into a good book.

4. Lie to everyone but yourself, it’s those lies that make everything else real…

5. Sleep is the heartbeats between nightmares.

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

1. When you spent most of your time bouncing between dimensions, it helps to be self-employed; portals to other realities in the midst of traditional workplaces tend to produce more police reports than paychecks.

2. There are some things that can’t be undone, not with all the time and money in the world. As she looked over the shattered pieces, she realized this might be one of them.

3. In school tests started with a class bell and ended with a ‘pencils down’, outside of school things weren’t so well defined…

4. “I swear, if you start one more sentence with ‘but we’re never going to use this in real life’ I’ll–”
“But we aren’t!” the student whined, “That’s what the computers are for!”
“And if the computers break?”
“Then the computer guy will fix them!”
“And if there’s no computer guy there?”
“Then, seriously, this class is the LAST thing I’m going to be thinking of!”

5. “Are you ready for this?” He held her banner at the ready, but she could see the worry in his eyes. For the first time since she known him, the concern seemed genuine. She’d saved the world, and now it was time to pay the price.

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

1. It’s odd how life is rarely about those big important choices, but hinges on the small stupid choices you didn’t even realize were choices until it was too late.

2. History 131 was much more interesting when your teacher was an Immortal.

3. Watch enough movies and you think fantasy worlds are full of horse-equivalents and pseudo-dragons, when in fact the most common recognizable critters are rats.

4. “Think of it as practice for saving the world!”

5. Sometimes I think life is defined by the distance between what you want and what you need.

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

“If you stop to think about it, we’re never going to get this done.”

Lorcan gave Neda a measured look, “And that’s a bad thing?” But he kept coiling the rope, counting out the knots in his head. “There might be another way.”

“We don’t have time,” Neda had gotten to fifty before him and was already lashing the rope to her pack. “If Bethany and the others think of something, they’ll take care of it. But for now,” she tugged on the straps to test the hold, “we’re the only chance they have of escaping the stormfront.”

“But we’ll be dead.”

Neda stopped, turning to give him her full attention. Lorcan didn’t look up from his counting, but he tensed in anticipation of the blow, eyes carefully averted. He hadn’t meant to say it, but the closer they got to the eye of the storm the looser his hold became.

There was a long silence and Lorcan cursed his lack of control. Neda wasn’t as bad as her father or her father’s father, but the Vocina temper bred true; thirty generations of dilution had done little to calm that fury. When she finally spoke, he braced himself against the expected pain.

“I rescind your oath.” Formal words, spoken in a language he’s assumed long dead, and he stumbled backwards in shock, feeling the collar crack. “I unbind your service.” The magic rose around them, cutting storm winds into a whirling vortex. “I release you, do as you will.”

And with that, six hundred years of servitude ended.

These snippits are copyright Martha McMahon Bechtel and may not be reproduced or distributed without express permission. All rights reserved.

Technotari Tags: Fiction, Fantasy