Category: Prompts

What makes your fictional characters unique?  What makes one person different from others?

Write about someone from real life or write about a fictional character who embodies a unique quality.

You can use the following list to describe a special characteristic or trait that sets a person apart from others.

Charisma: charm or personal magnetism (from the Greek word meaning “favor”)
Chutzpah: admirable or excessive self-confidence; this word and ginger are the only ones on this list that have both positive and negative connotations (from Hebrew by way of Yiddish; several other spellings are used, but this one is the most common)
Élan: enthusiasm
Esprit: vivacious wit (French, from the Latin term spiritus, “spirit”)
Flair: style, or talent or tendency
Ginger: spirit, or temper
Gumption: initiative
Gusto: enthusiasm (the Italian word for “taste,” from the Latin term gustus)
Je ne sais quoi: a quality not easily described or expressed (a French phrase that means literally “I know not what”)
Knack: intuitive capacity or knowledge (originally meant “trick”; perhaps from the onomatopoeic word akin to knock)
Mettle: vigor, stamina (from an alternate spelling of metal)
Moxie: energy, enthusiasm, courage (from the brand name of a soft drink; early on, such beverages were often touted, long before the advent of energy drinks, as providing pep)
Panache: flamboyance; originally, a decorative plume of feathers on a helmet
Pizzazz: glamour, vitality (unknown etymology)
Spunk: courage, pluck
Verve: vivacity, energy, enthusiasm

Adapted from Daily Word, 2012

Prompt 298  on The Write Spot Blog suggests that you write about a difficult time.

Thinking about a difficult time:

Take the role of counselor . . . If you could step out of the box that contains The Difficult Event and look at it from the point of view of a counselor:

What would you advise this person, or these persons, to do?

Then:

Take the side of one of the persons involved. Write from his/her point of view.

And then:

Write about the situation from another person’s point of view.

For a good read about an interesting point of view: Fire Angels by Elizabeth Kern.

Write about a place . . .  a favorite place . . . either real or imagined, currently in your life or from your past.  A geographic place or an emotional place.

Now, think about an uncomfortable place, a place or situation that makes you squirm and dread.

Write about a favorite place or an uncomfortable place.

Here are some sentence starts. You don’t have to use every suggestion . . . just pick the ones that jump out at you.

Describe the place . . .

A physical description. It is made of . . .
The stone came from . . .
The marble came from . . .

What did the workers think while they built this place?

When I first saw this place, I thought. . .

As I approach this place, I . . .

My first time inside this place . . .
I wonder what these walls would say if they could talk . . .

I will never forget . . .

My emotions about this place . . .

Now go down a layer . . . My real thoughts about this place . . .

The bewitching hour is near. All Hallows Eve approaches. Are you ready, my dear? Are you sure, my pretty?

If it happens in the dark and no one sees it, did it happen?

What goes on down those dark, narrow, alleys?

What happens after dark here and there and everywhere?

Are you the keeper of deep, dark secrets? Did you ask for that position? Can you give it up? Do you want to give it up?

Write about the dark. . . dark times, dark streets, dark thoughts. Don’t leave us in the dark. Enlighten us.

Writing Prompt:  Write about your darkest moment, or a murky hour, or a gloomy day or a dreary night.

Dark. Murky. What odd words. Dark. Murky. Is it the “k” sound that makes them spooky?

What is it about these words that convey doom and gloom?

What if you could spin the wheel, turn the dial, press a button and turn that dark day into a bright day? Would you do it? Would you trade your weary days for cheery days?

Write about a lesson learned, an epiphany realized, a notable reconnaissance gained from what looked a worst nightmare.