Writing Prompt #233: A Splendorous Invitation

Write an invitation to something normal and make it very strange, or write an invitation to something strange and act like it's normal.

Writing Prompt #232: Made to End

Your character treasures something, even knowing it's going to end.

A friendship? A time out of prison? ...a cookie?

Everything ends. What's worth goodbye?

Writing Prompt #231: From the Blue

Someone meets your protagonist at an unexpected time.

Writing Prompt #230: Wrong and Wonderful

A character is happy to be proved wrong.

Have I done this one already? So much of my life right now is being deliciously, wonderfully, beautifully wrong.

Writing Prompt #229: Partial Recall

Some names slip my mind because I was caught up in the person and forgot to remember.

Some names take multiple tries because remembering then seemed easy, so I didn't put in the effort.

Some names stick in my mind from the first moment, without me ever trying, as if my brain knew the person was going to be important, even before I realized how precious the name could be.

And every once in a very great while there is a name that my mind flat refuses to vomit up just because I've wanted to forget meeting the person since I met them.

Write a scene in which someone remembers a name they shouldn't remember, or doesn't remember a name that they should.

Writing Prompt #228: Lecture

I receive lectures a lot, from a wide range of people. I generally take it as a badge of honor, because I figure it means they think I'm valuable enough to lecture. But I had a weird experience today.

A friend brought up a problem and began to lecture. Not recommend or discuss, but lecture. It was heavy. It was uncomfortable. And I had this choice on how to receive it. (You always have a choice.) And in the midst of this very uncomfortable, strange conversation that I hadn't expected, I realized that this was a step of intimacy in our friendship. I realized that the way we responded to each other in this, the way I'd choose to respect and disagree, the way he would respond and mediate and if he'd listen and how he related this to me, this heavy, awkward, strange piece of communication was more important than dozens of conversations we'd had previously. This was a step of trust or a rejection, and we chose.

I'm challenging you to write a scene where your character receives a lecture from someone for the first time. The judgements can feel unfair. The assumptions can be overbearing. The advice can seem extreme. But if you let yourself experience the intimacy of the moment, a lecture can turn into something wonderful.

Writing Prompt #227: Conversational Kata

What if people studied conversation the way they study fighting styles, the way they study music, or the way they study art? What would the process of learning be like? What would be the differences in different schools of thought? And how would it change the way you related to people?

Write a scene about a person studying conversation, or pursuing a conversation he or she has prepared for.