Writing prompt – hot air

Bristol Balloons_August 2023_Judy Darley

Every August in Bristol the chance of seeing a sky filled with hot air balloons rises. This is mainly due to the annual Balloon Fiesta, which took place last weekend, but on any day when the wind isn’t too vigorous, you’re likely to see a few passing overhead.

I snapped this photo early one Monday morning, sharing the moment with a few dog-walkers and a woman doing tai-chi. The balloons made everyone pause and smile.

What if this cheerful sight wasn’t a celebration but an exodus? What if something had occurred prompting people to leave, and the safest way to travel was via balloon?

What could have happened? Where might these people be going? What could befall the folks left behind watching from the ground? Can you write a piece in that most challenging genre, the hopeful dystopia?

To add a touch of humour, can you think of who the worst possible person would be to share a balloon basket with for a long flight?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – viaduct

Azores cycling_Photo by Judy DarleyIncongruous pairings make great writing prompts, and this cyclist framed by a viaduct on Sao Miguel, The Azores, is the perfect match of old and new. This blend makes me think of ancient myths in modern settings, or time slip tales, while the bumpy track and lush greenery of this volcanic isle adds to the backdrop.

Who might the cyclist be? What made them choose this route so far from the mainland? Who or what might they be running from or towards? What historic travellers have passed this way before? Why not turn it into a story with adventure at its heart?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – throne

Throne_Plymouth. Photo by Judy Darley

What a curious sight! A simple wicker and metal chair has become part of the Devon coastline, inviting weary swimmers, seabirds, and perhaps Poseidon, to take a load off.

Who could have placed it here, how and why? What were they hoping to achieve, other than some anonymous notoriety (if that’s not a total oxymoron)? How will the chair be impacted by incoming storms, and with what results?

Using this as a springing off point for a comical or poignant tale.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – bums

Beatlebums. Photo by Judy Darley

The fourth and final of July’s Plymouth Prompts offer you the chance to enjoy the best seat in Plymouth.

In fact, there are four exceptional seats here, as part of the sculpture Beatlebums. These galvanised steel and copper patches on the lawn of Plymouth Hoe Park commemorate a moment in 1967 when Beatles John, Paul, George and Ringo sat down to enjoy a view over Plymouth Sound.

The first time I strolled past, I confess, I failed to notice the famous bum-prints. The second time, I couldn’t resist sitting where Lennon’s buttocks had been.

It brought to mind the idea of someone walking over your grave. Could this sculpture create a link between the Beatles (living and deceased) and their fans? It feels like the start of a psychedelic time slip tale.

Discover more about the Beatlebums installation here.

Plymouth Prompts: Island.

Plymouth Prompts: Survivor.

Plymouth Prompts: Figurehead.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – figurehead

Victorian naval figureheads suspended from the ceiling of Plymouth museum The Box_Photo by Judy DarleyIn the third of July’s Plymouth Prompts, I’m inviting you into The Box, a beautiful museum, social space and architectural marvel in Plymouth.

An astonishing display of 14 Victorian Naval figureheads hangs suspended in the entrance  and cafe.

What vessels did these carvings grace? Who created them, and what characteristics did they imbue the sculptures with? What naval adventures did the figureheads embark on? Might they have their own personalities, revealed when no one is looking, or shown only to a privileged few?

You can find details of these historic carvings here.

Plymouth Prompts: Island.

Plymouth Prompts: Survivor.

Plymouth Prompts: Bums.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Look out for next week’s Plymouth Prompt.

Writing prompt – survivor

National Marine Aquarium_Friday the turtle_Photo by Judy Darley

In the second of July’s Plymouth Prompts, I want to introduce you to one of the characters we met at the National Marine Aquarium, Friday the Green Turtle.

Last week I shared a creative prompt inspired by Drake’s Island, which sits in the Plymouth Sound.

Friday shares the Atlantic Tank with an assortment of sharks, rays and other species and is doing his part to enthral visitors with his cheeky antics, which include stealing food from the immense sting rays and lemon sharks.

His name inevitably makes me think of Robinson Crusoe. In fact, Bournemouth Oceanarium, which Friday is on loan from, also had a female Green Sea Turtle called Crusoe until she died in 2016.

At Bournemouth Oceanarium, Friday made headlines in 2009 after retrieving a toddler’s dummy dropped into his tank – and sucking it just as a baby would. So it seems his cheeky behaviour is nothing new.

Plymouth Marine Aquarium has introduced an enrichment programme for Friday to keep him occupied. It’s like he’s that disruptive child in a classroom who’s just too smart for their own good (or the good of their teachers/marine biologists!).

However, his naughtiness is brilliant for the Aquarium’s PR, helping visitors to see marine animals as personality-rich individuals in need of our respect and care.

Can you turn this into a story about a marine creature’s misadventures, or a climate fiction tale about how we can positively impact our seas?

Write a tale inspired by this marine mischief-maker!

Plymouth Prompts: Island.

Plymouth Prompts: Figurehead.

Plymouth Prompts: Bums.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Look out for next week’s Plymouth Prompt.

 

Writing prompts – Plymouth Prompts

Drakes Island_Plymouth_Photo by Judy Darley

Easily reached by rail or sea, Plymouth sits on the south coast of Devon, and is aptly described as Britain’s Ocean City. It looks out to where the English Channel broadens into the open Atlantic, and onwards to North America. On fine summer days, you could feel you’re somewhere far more tropical than south west England.

We travelled via GWR trains, taking in the most glorious scenery south and west of Bristol), with wildlife sightings including a buzzard and a heron as well as numerous other wading birds. We stayed at Jewells Guest House on Citadel Road, very close to Hoe Park and the waterfront.

To celebrate this beautiful city, I’m going to devote July’s weekly writing prompts to highlights and curiosities glimpsed here.

The first is very much a highlight, whether you have a passion for marine life, boats, islands or history.

Drake’s Island sits in the Plymouth Sound just a short distance from the mainland, and is a haven for wildlife as well as brimming with military tales and more. I’ve always loved islands – the possibility of being cut off from civilisation is hugely appealing and rife with suspenseful possibilities (as Agatha Christie understood well). The island only got its first telephone in 1987!

In 2005 anti-nuclear protestors squatted here, It’s changed names (and personalities) several times since it first appeared in recorded history in 1135 as St Michael’s, and was fortified for 400 years.

How could you use some of this in a work of fiction? Might you introduce a few military ghosts, an eerie fog-laced Armada or a fizz of climatic peril?

Plymouth Prompts: Survivor.

Plymouth Prompts: Figurehead.

Plymouth Prompts: Bums.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – juxtaposition

Abbots Pool showing heron in foreground. Photo by Judy Darley

At a beautiful local pond called Abbots Pool, I was struck by the tranquility of the foreground, the lily pads and sun-drenched green and purple reflections, while in the background a group of teens are planning to jump in and disrupt the calm.

As I sat enjoying the scene, a grey heron flew in, waded for a while, and then flapped away.

This clash of natural idyll and human nature seems at first an affront, but this pool is far from wild – it was used by medieval monks from St Augustine’s Abbey as a spot to farm fish, and has been landscaped in the 1920s.

And yet, wildlife, including humans (and dogs) loves to splash here.

Can you turn this juxtaposition of rural and landscaped, wild and domestic, into a tale?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – world

Dizzying trees_Photo by Judy Darley

Occasionally I glance up and feel awed by the beauty of the trees and the sky above me. It’s as though I’ve stepped into another, possibly far away, world. The extreme beauty can be dizzying.

Other times I glance into the heart of a flower, and feel the same.

With natural world flourishing in the summer sunshine, it seems there are multiple worlds of all different sizes and complexities all around us. This offers the perfect opportunity (and perhaps excuse) to dive headlong into fictional world-building.

How can you build up textures, smells, sounds and sights to create an imagined space that feels authentic? What details have you chosen to notice, or invent to include?

Now, who or what will you devise to populate the world you’ve built? Are they peaceful or warlike? Petty or magnanimous, or as varied and strange as human beings?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – arson

Burntout boat. Photo by Judy Darley

A Bristol landmark blazed into headlines in May when a local arsonist set Underfall Boat Yard alight. The beautiful harbourside business lost boats and “a lifetime’s collection of tools” in the fire. This boat was dragged out burning in an effort to save ships moored nearby. Sooty remains of historic vessels languish in the water.

It’s a terrible loss, but could have been far worse if it had happened a few weeks’ earlier when the city’s ferries were undergoing their annual survey by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Bristol Ferry Boats workshop was destroyed.

Naturally, Bristol residents are outraged and busy fundraising to help rebuild.

Can you write a story where a single criminal act disrupts a city’s day-to-day activities? Might it bring people together in surprising ways?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.