A year of writing prompts: 10 July

How to use these prompts

Some people enjoying a day at the seaside.
What it their relationship to each other?
What happens next?

Prompts

1. "There is a great deal to be said for being dead." Edmund Clerihew
2. In Chile, today is the Day of the Librarian. Write a story in which the protagonist is a librarian.
3. It's Lady Godiva Day. She's the one who rode naked around Coventry after her husband said he would waive an unpopular tax if she did so. Write about someone who issues a challenge to someone else, not believing for a second they would actually do it - and then they do.
4. Today's the day the teddy bears had their picnic.
5. On the birthday of Nicola Tesla, write a story about a brilliant but eccentric scientist.

Character Names

Olivia, Arthur, Arturo, Walter, Wanda, Vanda, Amelia, Philip

Character Traits

• Charmingly eccentric; live in a dream world. May have an obsession with madness or monstrosity.
• Pleasure seekers who enjoy gambling. They may enjoy a lavish lifestyle which is beyond their means and suffer financial losses.
• Will take and possess anything they can. In early life they value friends mainly for the extent they can contribute to their success. Will travel in search of material success.
• Women may either be promiscuous or ascetics.
• Original and inventive imaginations.
• Generous and helpful to others but can be self-centred, too.
• Interested in discovering their destiny and will consult oracles or explore invisible forces.
• Easily manipulated by their parents. Highly susceptible to guilt, shame and self-doubt. May become a martyr for others and could be co-dependent.
• Can be perceptive and reflective with high spiritual ideals, or can be reckless, cowardly and weak.
• Danger from poisons, gas and chemicals. Possible use of narcotics.
• May be affected by theft, embezzlement, rape, corruption of minors or murder.

Possible Themes

Divination.

Nurturing.

Attention to detail.

Repetitive cycles.

Responsibility.

Objects

A hen with chicks; dice; a tiger; Mother Goose; glasses with thick lenses and heavy rims.