Tag Archives: creative ideas

Writing prompt – rural

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Golden Teasels by Jane Betteridge

This painting, Golden Teasels by Jane Betteridge, seems loaded with potential to me. I have the sense of someone wandering along deep in their thoughts, then unexpectedly witnessing something private and possibly awful unfurl.

Or perhaps this is a scene of bucolic beauty and innocence.

What does it bring to mind for you?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – grave companion

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Grave companion cr Judy DarleyMy local Victorian cemetery where I like to run is littered with tombs topped by curious effigies. When I spied the small horse above, my only thought was, “Funny, I never noticed that one before.”

I actually ran past, then trotted back for a closer look, and realised that what I’d taken for carved stone was in fact sodden fur, moss-stained and sullied by spending who knows how long in a graveyard?

Grave companion by Judy Darley

Who could have lost this precious companion? What lonely soul might have claimed it as their own?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – crisis

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Deceased March wasp photo by Judy DarleyApologies, I realise this post should have come with a warning for those entomophobes among us.

I stepped over this deceased wasp on a sunny day last week and was struck by how wrong it is to see a wasp, alive or dead, at this time of year. To my knowledge, they’re best known for spoiling late summer picnics, so what was this one doing out and about so early, and what caused its demise?

To me this insect corpse is a potent symbol of the climate crisis – a seemingly minor anomaly, but heralding potential catastrophe – the equivalent of a butterfly effect with a sting in its tail. It seems ripe with metaphor and satire for cli-fi (yes, that is a genre) writers.

Curiously enough, when I googled the definition of wasp, as well as getting lots of info about White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (go figure), I was informed that a wasp is A) a social social winged insect which has a narrow waist, and B) a solitary winged insect which has a narrow waist.

So there you go, plenty of tangents to fly with.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – animals

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Animal Wall Lioness photo by Judy Darley

Animal Wall Lioness photo by Judy Darley

On a recent visit to Cardiff’s Castle Quarter, I strolled along The Animal Wall, an impressive series of sculptures depicting fauna from across the world. These include an anteater, a seal and a hyena. My favourite is the stately lioness, pictured above with the Castle Clock Tower.

Designed by William Burges, the first nine were sculpted by Thomas Nicholls in 1890, with six more added by Alexander Carrick in 1931.

I love the idea of making one or more of these statues the site of a clandestine rendezvous – “meet me beneath the pelican at 9.15…” Or could the animals themselves have a secret other life?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – heart

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Heart by Judy Darley

This week’s writing prompt comes early, in honour of the date.

Imagine a dawn full of frost and fogged breath. Your protagonist has been thwarted in love  and has no interest in Valentine’s Day. On their way to work they spy something that reminds them of the date.

What follows? Is it something that softens their frozen heart, do they feel alienated enough to commit a terrible act, or is it something far subtler?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – possibilities

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Icelandic time machine photo by Judy Darley

#writingprompt

You come across this scene while strolling in the Icelandic countryside.

What could it be?
a) A modern art installation;
b) An Icelandic time machine;
c) An offering to the elven folk;
d) Some rusting farm equipment that’s seen better days.

Write a story around this idea.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – close encounter

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Westonbirt close encounter cr Judy DarleyI took this photo at Westonbirt Arboretum‘s Winter Wonderland. What an exquisite display of light and shadow. To me it resembles the moment in a movie or sci-fi show when the characters spy something unearthly in the woods.

What might be happening here? Could it be an alien encounter, or something far more inexplicable?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – moth

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Atlas Moth at National Botanic Garden of Wales cr Judy DarleyI encountered this rather exceptional Atlas Moth in the Butterfly House at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. It’s not only his snakehead markings on each wing that are impressive. This beauty is the female, with a wingspan of more than 25cm (9.8in).

I asked a horticulturalist what they eat, and he told me they don’t. After metamorphosis they’re re-born without mouthparts, with their only motivator the drive to mate and reproduce in their five-day lifespan.

January seems the perfect time for a metamorphic tale. This week imagine your protagonist has been a joyful glutton, feasting their way through their youth until strange urge to tuck up and sleep takes them over. After a series of strange and painful dreams they wake to find themselves transformed, sans mouth and an overwhelming desire to fly, seduce and procreate.

Not a bad premise for a Kafka-esque nightmare!

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – three

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Three frosty benches by Judy DarleyI have a minor obsession with photographing park benches. I love imagining the people who might pause there for a moment to rest their legs or admire the view.

These three frosted seats intrigue me all the more for being winterly frosted up. Who might take a moment to clear the ice crystals so they can sit more comfortably? How might three very different people on these three benches interact? How could this develop into a narrative?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Writing prompt – starburst

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Queen Square starburst, Bristol. Photo by Judy DarleyOne of the many things I love about living in Bristol is the random ways people choose to brighten our surroundings. This vivid starburst of plastic yellow pipes appeared on an otherwise serious statue a few weeks ago.

The equestrian statue of William III stands in the middle of Queen Square and is, quite frankly, wonderfully improved by this act of irreverence. Who might have done this, and why? What could it possibly mean? Or is the meaninglessness the very point of it all?

Make this the starting point of a story, and see where it leads you.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.