Prompted to Write

After years of dreaming about it, you’ve finally saved up enough money to travel to Oktoberfest in Germany.  You can hardly sleep at night when you arrive at your hotel, because your mind is swimming with thoughts of pretzels, beer, and dancing.

The next day, you’re up bright and early and ready to soak up some local culture.  When you arrive at the square where people are drinking and dancing, however, you notice that something is off.  You feel unsettled.

What is the problem?  What’s off?  Give us 100+ words in the comments below, or blog your story response and let us know where we can read it.

photo credit: jbcurio

How might things have been different if Quasimodo had been “discovered” and brought over to Hollywood or Las Vegas?  Would he celebrate his hunchback on the stage?  Would he see chiropractors and surgeons and use braces and ergonomic backpacks to keep his spine correctly aligned?  Would he forget all about Esmeralda?

Or would he stay bitter on the inside, remembering his past?  Give us 100 words in the comments, or blog about it and let us know where we can read it on your site.

photo credit: Wootang01

You’re a freelance personal trainer.  You live in Manhattan, and the majority of your clients are wealthy young women who are married to doctors, lawyers, and bankers.  They’re the types who are terrified of growing old and losing their husbands to younger women.

Today, you’re off to visit a new client.  When you arrive, you realize that she is completely different from your usual clients.  Instead of young and perky, you see an elderly woman with a big smile.  What made her seek out your services?  What is she like?  How do you handle it?

Give us as much or as little as you want in response to this writing prompt.  Feel free to leave your comments below, or to post your story to a blog and let us know where to find it.

photo credit: kalidoskopika

You’re at your local bowling alley one evening when you spot a man with a funny t-shirt that makes you smile.  Suddenly, you realize that you want to talk to this person – that you need to know what he’s like.  What did the t-shirt say?  Why were you at the bowling alley in the first place?  What happens next?

Give us 100 words or more in response to the writing prompt – you can leave yours in the comments, or post it on your own blog/site and let us know where to find it!

photo credit: r-z

All your life, you’ve dreamt of working in high finance.  You watched movies like Boiler Room and Wall Street, you read the Wall Street Journal, and you longed for the day that you could leave your small town for the big city life.

Now, you find yourself enmeshed in a financial modeling training course, and you’re getting real world experience.  Unfortunately, you’re getting a growing sense of unease about whether you’re ready for this life.  What’s your problem?  What are you feeling?  What are your coworkers like?

Give us 100 words in the comments, or post your story on your blog and let us know where to find it.

photo credit: epicharmus

She was your typical upper middle class suburban princess…blonde hair, blue eyes, and all around, a sea of things that were either pink or shiny.  Who is she?  Is she as happy as she seems to her friends?  Is there a darker secret lurking beneath?  Do her desires match up with her outward personality?

Give us 100 words in the comments, or post your reply on your blog and send us a link so we can all check it out

photo credit: BineBluete

The year is 1978.  The scene?  A packed disco on a hot summer night.  Music is pounding, bodies are close together and sweaty, and everyone seems to be having the time of their life…on the surface.  Something bad is going on, though.  Sinister looking men spread around the exits…a worried looking man at the bar…and then the music comes to a sudden stop.

What is happening?  Does the crowd have any idea?  Who is your character among the chaos?

Give us 100 words in the comments, or blog about it and let us know where to find it

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

A 46-year-old woman has recently gotten divorced and she decides to take a solo vacation to Mexico.  She’s terrified at the thought of drug lords and human traffickers and all the other unsavory things she’s heard on TV.  In fact, she’s allowed TV to keep her from traveling throughout her entire life.

How did she come to the decision to make the trip?  What happens on the trip?  What does she do on the trip?

Pick a direction and give us 100 words or more in the comments.  If you prefer, blog about it and let us know where we can all take a look

photo credit: Wonderlane

Everyone is in a daze.  There has been a terrible accident, and all around the city, people are climbing out of rubble to view the destruction.  Somewhere in the city, a person climbs out of an old building – a building that was in a sad state of disrepair even before the tragedy – and the sun shines in hopefully through gaps in the ceiling.

Who is this person?  Why was he or she in this building?  What happened to the city?  Give us 100 words in the comments, or blog your reply and let us know where to find it

photo credit: country_boy_shane

He was part man, part robot.  She was completely in love.  How did he get past her initial objections to his unusual features?  What does he see in her, given all the human imperfections she possesses?  What kind of mundane details are different in a relationship like theirs?

Give us 100 words about their futuristic love story – either in the comments below or on your own blog.  And of course, don’t forget to let us know where we can read it if you decide to reply.

photo credit: simonlesleyphoto