A year of writing prompts: 25 November

How to use these prompts

Is this person making a call, or answering one?
What is the call about?
What happens as a result of it?

Prompts

1. "I have always had a bad memory, as far back as I can remember." Lewis Thomas
2. It's Evacuation Day. Your character is being evacuated. From where, to where and why is up to you. Tell their story.
3. Today is the feast day of Saint Catherine who, among other things, is the patron saint of people who work with wheels. Write a story about wheels.
4. Women who'd reached the age of 25 or over and were still unmarried on St Catherine's Day were said to be under the saint's protection and would make a beautiful hat to celebrate along with their single friends. If they married, they were required to leave the group. Your characters are a group of single friends who have a riotous night out every Saint Catherine's Day. Until one of them announces she will not be attending this year because she is engaged.
5. Your character got a tattoo while they were drunk. They have no idea now why they did it or what the tattoo means.

Character Names

Catherine, Katarina, Kate, Caitlin, Katrina, Trina, Karen, Cathy, Jamal, Kitty, Alan, Carina, Erasmus

Character Traits

• Not particularly ambitious or active.
• Tend to be prosperous in general, and content with their family life.
• Love reading.
• Their birth or early life may have been a difficult one, leaving them with a deep seated phobia of some kind, claustrophobia, perhaps.
• Generally have a patient, unruffled manner, but do not yield easily to others and can become violent if forced.
• Can be quite rigid and inflexible, despising progress and change.
• Sociable and enjoy the company of people, but they will have a line beyond which their privacy is sacrosanct.
• Love the land, and plants.
• Enjoy all manner of entertainment from shopping to TV and film to culture and pageantry.
• Quietly get on with their lives, content to live in the margins, gain respect in later years.
• Tend to be superstitious.
• Possible careers are agriculture, cattle breeding in particular, medicine and business.
• May fear commitment.
• Love food and are at risk of becoming overweight.

Possible Themes

Retaliation.

Awakened desire.

Flirtation.

Emotion within stirred from without.

Objects

Cupid; oxen and goats; an idle woman; large ship with a raven perched on the highest mast; rats with ruby eyes.