Prompt #172

                  Aliens, suicide, a pink ballet tutu.  Go!

Prompt #171

                Your character is cleaning their house with their significant other or roommate, when one of them finds something in a pile of clutter that causes a huge argument.

Prompt #170

               Your yoga class is winding down.  The instructor tells everyone to get in the lotus position and closed their eyes for the unison "ohm" that ends her every class.  You open your eyes during the chant, and see the instructor doing something shocking.

Prompt #169

                Let's try something uplifting for a change.  Your character is met with obstacles at every turn, and continues to doggedly pursue their desire, whatever it may be.  Their success doesn't necessarily lie in the accomplishment of the goal.

Prompt #168

              A couple finds a lovely spot for their picnic and sets up.  Suddenly, the blanket is sucked into the ground along with their lunch.  They barely escape.

Prompt #167

               Your character has to go back to a job they swore they'd never return to, and is confronted by a startling first day back.

Prompt #166

             Your character is on line at the DMV, the twitch in their eye growing more maddening with every second.  Every person at a window in their range of hearing is either a moron, or a jerk, and the heat and stress is getting hard to bear.  Suddenly, someone snaps.

Prompt #165

                  Reveal the story through a conversation two friends have while jogging, turning the conversation into the action of the story.

Prompt #164

                Your character is working a job that seems to everyone else to be below their intellectual level.  They have their reasons.

Prompt #163

                 Your character has never been able to come to terms with not knowing their parents.  Suddenly, a stranger shows up at their doorstep.  Go.

Prompt #162

                Write a love story in which the relationship is based around plotting out and executing the perfect murder.

Prompt #161

                 Write a thriller based entirely in realism where no one dies.  Car chases are cheating, too.

Prompt #160

                 Your character lied massively to get a job, and has to scramble to keep up appearances.

Prompt #159

             "I knew the dame was trouble the minute she stepped through the door..."

Prompt #158

             Skin starts coming off.  A lot of it.

Prompt #157

               The moral of the story is that you can't trust anyone, least of all yourself.

Prompt #156

             Your character's mother is a sleeper agent for one of America's enemies, which would be bad enough, even if your character weren't a spy in the CIA.

Prompt #155

               Your character has been incredibly preoccupied by a goal, and is moments away from achieving it, when the unthinkable happens.

Prompt #154

              Your character is visiting their very eccentric mother.

Prompt #153

               Write a dramatic tale from the perspective of an aging party clown.

Prompt #152

                 In a world where everyone has mandatory yearly mental health screenings, and compulsory psychiatric medication is the norm...

Prompt #151

                 Someone gets hit with a crowbar over the last piece of KFC.

Prompt #150

               Meanwhile, in future America, where prostitution and cocaine are legal, coffee has been banned, and there is no such thing as intellectual property law...

Prompt #149

             Where'd they go?!  Chuck?  Melinda!?!  Bonus points for anything horror.

Prompt #148

              Your character begins to experience persistent and vivid hallucinations of someone from their past.

Prompt #147

              Your character's bachelor/bachelorette party is hijacked by the "wild card" friend.  Or terrorists.  Whatever.

Prompt #146

              Begin your story with the sentence, "I should never have saved his life."

Prompt #145

                  The bulk of your story occurs during a trip to a mental hospital.

Prompt #144

               Find a reason for one of your characters to club another with a liquor bottle.

Prompt #143

Thing 1 - "Did you hear about the guy who killed his son over the last crab cake?

Thing 2 - "Crab cakes are awesome!"

            Either use this dialogue in your story, or base the plot around the concept.

Prompt #142

             Your character's spouse has a kid your character doesn't know about.  Or vice-versa.

Prompt #141

              Your character spends the night in jail with a very interesting cellmate.

Prompt #140

Your character indirectly and/or inadvertently causes the death of their best friend's lover.

Prompt #139

Thank you to Sideshowmom for providing the image!

Prompt #138

              Your character kidnaps somebody, but it's for the good of the victim.

Prompt #137

               Your character has given up drugs and is experiencing withdrawal throughout your story.  This is not the major plot point.

Prompt #136

                  Your story takes place in an alleyway.  Bonus points for featuring musicians or food service workers.

Prompt #135

            Your character loses the ability to distinguish between actual events and imaginings.

Prompt #134

                Thanks to Clarita for sharing the image.

Prompt #133

                 Your story begins when your main character receives their significant other's head in a box.

Prompt #132

                  Set the scene in a barely functioning alcoholic's apartment.

Prompt #131

                      Start your story with the sentence, "Home was the worst place to be."

Prompt #130

Thank you to Dave Dundis for providing the image.

Prompt #129

                 You wake up to find your body caked with pieces of dirty cardboard.  You start pulling it off, and find a worm underneath one.  You rip the rest of the it off and find that some of the worms have burrowed into your skin.  You try to yank them out.  You can't.

Prompt #128

                Your character is hiding something that concerns a coconut and a Barbie doll.

Prompt #127

               A saxophone, a twister and a muffin shop.  Go.

Prompt #126

            Begin your story by having your character find out they have a serious illness.

Prompt #125

               Take a scene from a piece you're working on that doesn't feel right.  Rework it, making the opposite of the action take place or having the character choose the exact reverse option.

Prompt #124

               Your main character is involved in a romantic relationship that makes no sense to any other character in the story.

Prompt #123

            Your character is on the way to a thankless home life from a thankless job.  When they get the usual urge to drive off into the sunset, they finally go for it.

Prompt #122

                Your character wakes up confused and alone on some form of public transportation, unsure of where to get off, where they got on, or who they happen to be.

Prompt #121

            Your character has a severe type A personality, and is doggedly pursuing a goal.  They do everything they can to optimize their performance, including strict attention to diet, exercise, practice, study, and any other relevant factor.  Suddenly, despite their best attempts, everything goes to hell.

Prompt #120

            Write a story that makes a case for euthanasia in humans, no matter what your personal stance happens to be.

Prompt #119

            Write a story about a person who’s suffering abuse at the hands of a pet that they love anyway.

Prompt #118

            Your character is in a posh auditorium, listening to the symphony, eyes closed.  All of a sudden the harmony of the instruments turns into a calamitous cacophony.  Then they hear the screams.

Prompt #117

                At some point during your story, a fight breaks out at a funeral.  The more inappropriate, the better.

Prompt #116

            Confine five characters in a space with no obvious exit.  Bonus points if one of the characters is the person who trapped them there in the first place.

Prompt #115

            A mother can do extraordinary things when the life of her child is threatened, including impossible feats of strength or endurance.  Write a story taking this phenomenon to its absolute extreme.

Prompt #114

            Your character has just failed a suicide attempt.

Prompt #113

            Your character’s child goes missing.  The kid’s on the roof of the house.

Prompt #112

                   Write the story of a truly epic battle between a bartender or waiter and a particularly nasty customer.

Prompt #111

            Your character goes on a blind date.  Include a life raft, a jar of peanut butter, and an anarchist in your story.

Prompt #110

            At some point in your story, your character realizes their lover is actually a half-sibling that was a result of their father’s dalliances.

Prompt #109

            Your entire story takes place in a drug store.

Prompt #108

             Write a story in which your character loses it on an inanimate object.  Bonus points if the object fights back.

Prompt #107

            A couple splits up and one moves out temporarily.  When the exiled partner comes back to get their stuff, they find their ex dead on the couch.

Prompt #106

            Your character is a hermit that finally dares to venture out and socialize.

Prompt #105

            A man walks into a church during a mass and shoots the priest.

Prompt #104

            Your character is doing the dishes when they hear a weird noise from under the sink.  It stops almost immediately, so they shrug it off.  A minute later, they hear it again and their feet are in a puddle of what they hope is water.

Prompt #103

            Create a character with a unique physical description, but don’t describe them directly.  Instead, reveal their appearance through the words and actions of your other characters.

Prompt #102

               Mr. Inspiration....

Prompt #101

            Begin your story with the sentence, “Anonymity is all that’s keeping me alive.”

Prompt #100

            Yay!  One hundred prompts!  Woohoo!

            Write a story about the celebration of meaningless milestones and the havoc this practice can wreak on someone’s life.

Prompt #99

            Write a story that includes a street musician who lives in a tent and travels with the seasons.  At some point during your story, this character is accused of murder.

Prompt #98

            A couple splits up and one moves out temporarily.  When the exiled partner comes back to get their stuff, they find their ex dead on the couch.

Prompt #97

            Your character lives in a society so obsessed with the idea of equality that anyone who even mentions a difference between themselves and another, no matter how factual, is considered a terrorist and a threat to the society’s way of life.

Prompt #96

            One character attempts to prove a point to another by standing three feet behind them for a day.  The concept is ludicrous, but the results are disastrous.

Prompt #95

            Write about a musician that starts to get ataxia in their hands.  No fair using a vocalist!

Prompt #94

            Professor Plum did it in the billiard room with the knife.  “It” doesn’t reference a murder and your story isn’t a mystery.

Prompt #93

            Your character is the husband of a scientist.  He fears his wife may be losing her mind, due to her obsessive connection with her research.  Nervous, he snoops around her study and finds the evidence that proves his worst fears.

Prompt #92

       
           Thank you to katmystiry for providing the image!

Prompt #91

            Write the story of a mother-child relationship that is the polar opposite of your own and base the plot on an emotional experience you’ve endured together.

Prompt #90

                Oh, my god, why's she just sitting there?!  What's wrong with her?!  Just kidding.  Write something sweet, you heathen.

                Thank you to stormwire for providing the image.

Prompt #89

            Okay, so we need some pickles and a labra-doodle and, wait, what’s going on?  Hint: it has something to do with your character’s mother.

Prompt #88

                Write the story of a "your mom" joke gone horribly wrong.

Prompt #87

                May I present the scene of the crime.

Prompt #86

            The ground is wiggling beneath your feet in a manner you’ve never seen before.  The flowing irregularity of the movement is disconcerting and it’s difficult to keep your footing.  You have to keep moving.

Prompt #85

            Write a story based around the concept of beer muscles.

Prompt #84

            A guy calls his girlfriend, “Mom,” in bed and they get into a huge fight.  During the argument, the girl says, “You’re sick, Charlie.”  The guy’s name is Ray.  The battle heats up.

Prompt #83

            One of your characters says, “There’s nothing wrong with chicken omelets. They’re just kind of disturbing.  I mean, think about it.  You’re eating an animal fried up in the scrambled remains of its young.”

Prompt #82

             I hope you find the picture as intriguing as I do!  Much thanks to Cary Grant for sharing.

Prompt #81

            A social worker pays a visit to a cat lady who’s crazier than expected.  Remember to engage all five senses when setting the scene in the feline-ridden home.

Prompt #80

                Your character intentionally chops off a limb.

Prompt #79

            Your protagonist is in deep denial about a certain fact that is so obvious to everyone else in your story, they don’t even realize he or she doesn’t see it.

Prompt #78

            Your character thinks they’re an expert in foraging, but they grossly overestimate their abilities.  On a camping trip, they unwittingly serve magic mushrooms to the entire group.

Prompt #77

            Your character is a mad scientist who constantly works in a creepy, but fastidiously maintained, basement laboratory.  Write the story of their pivotal invention, paying special care to construct  not only a vivid character, but a strong setting.

Prompt #76

            You’re in a diner, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes and twitching.  The person you’ve been waiting for shows up.  You look up, stub out your smoke, leave cash on the table and follow them out of the restaurant.  Bonus points for a noir vibe.

Prompt #75

            Think about the attribute you like least in yourself.  The thing that makes you really hate being you.  Create a character who magnifies this trait to a ludicrous degree, but find a way to make them likeable.

Prompt #74

            Your character finds out that they’re dying.  Their first move is to take up juggling.

Prompt #73

              Your story takes place in the funkiest, nastiest bedroom you can imagine.  Remember to engage all five senses!

Prompt #72

            Your character was told they had two months to live and changed their life accordingly.  By the end of the two months they’re healthier than they’ve ever been and the doctor tells them they’re fine.  What happens next?

Prompt #71

            Watch an early episode of Southpark.  Seasons one through five are your best options for this project.  Take note of how they kill Kenny.  Rewrite the episode, dramatizing this event and moving the main plot to the background.

Prompt #70

            Write a fable about blog addiction.  Wolves and witches optional.

Prompt #69

            Do a piece of writing in any format you choose that is the writer’s equivalent to the visual artist’s self portrait.

Prompt #68

            Your character does a Google search on themselves and finds an article dated a few days in the future about an event that hasn’t happened.  By the article’s publication date, the event described has transpired.

Prompt #67

            Plastic people, robot spiders and zombie grandma.  What does it all mean?!

Prompt #66

            Your character has never eaten meat from an animal that they’ve seen alive before.  Write a dinner scene about their first time.

Prompt #65

            Your story takes the form of a yarn told by a very colorful old man. Begin with the sentence: “You learn a lot, trying to ride a unicycle.”  End it with: “I never saw that moth eaten bear again, either.”

Prompt #64

            You’re a line cook on a busy night, sweating and kind of deranged.  The restaurant owner’s an idiot, you’re hung-over, the chef is drunk again, and the new guy has a pet rock for a brain.  You grab a pan that is too hot for human flesh, feel your skin sizzle, and fly into a psychotic rage.  Write your meltdown.

Prompt #63

            Draft an outwardly pleasant conversation between a single career woman and a busy mother and housewife.  The dialogue is laced with thinly veiled barbs as the women deal with their respective insecurities.

Prompt #62

            One of your characters is completely serious and more than a little pissed when they say to another, “You can’t change the sour cream protocol without my express written consent!”