Today seems to be a random word day. "Home", home is where the heart is. Home is a place where a bunch of strangers, who know each other very well, congregate a few times a year to get drunk and bitch about what you haven't done yet with your life.

Lets see what a freewrite has to say about home.

Timer Set
10 Minutes... Go!

Home, the smell of cookies baking, the taste of cookie dough. Sweet baked goodies, and the smell of baby powder. Christmas trees and popcorn, ginger snaps and stockings. Glasses of spiked eggnog and kahlua in your coffee.

Dad is buzzed and talking to sister about how fucked up her man is. It'd be funny if its wasn't so true. Brother is on his 5 beer and snatching cookies from the cookie jar to give the kids before dinner. Mom pretends she's mad, but probably would have done it herself. Brother two is out in the garage beating his drum set so the house vibrates. Sister two hits dad up for more money. She forgot to pay the bills and off go the lights. Dad bitches and moans but forks over cash.

Mom, greets everyone with smiles and love. She doesn't want to fight with dad today. She wants it to be a good day.

The turkey's cooking and mom's made sweet potato pie for brother three. He can't stand pumpkin, I wonder who's kid he is to hate pumpkin.

They're all getting older, me the oldest. Brother 1,2, and 3 almost all adults. Strange seeing them now, I remember them all as kids. Sister two can't get her life straight and sister three could have been something amazing. Brilliant, but no, she works like everyone else and hits dad up for money when things get tough.

I love them all, and wonder why they stopped being more. Brother 3 too brainy for his own good, just like sister 3, they could have been amazing those two.

TIMES UP.

That's it for today. This prompt turned a bit depressing.

See you tomorrow.
-Q

Tags: christmas, home, story
Inspirational Snippet: Home
My Mood: cynical
Music of the Hour: U2

Good morning. Today I thought I'd put up a bunch of opening sentences. I love a good opening sentence. Sometimes I can really pick them too. Grabbing the reader with the first sentence or paragraph is a goal of mine for any story or novel. I think it's massively important, plus I love a good challenge.

Not all stories have to start off with a killer opening sentence, but I do like the practice. If you want to use any of these, be my guest. I often use them for prompts. I would suggest however, that you compile a list of your own as well. They're fun as hell, and you can be as dark, funny or silly as you want. These are just for fun. You'd be amazed how many random bits of flash fiction come from these little openings when you're bored and look them over later.

STORY STARTERS:

Blood dripped from her hands and tiny rivers of thick crimson stained the white porcelain sink.

Something in the box moved when he touched it.

The clock struck midnight for the third time that night.

Did that squirrel just flip me off?

Never, give a fairy chocolate. Just trust me on this one.

Death was in a pissy mood by the time he reached my house that night.

Okay, that's it for now. I have to get some writing on my story done. Enjoy, and good writing everyone.

-Q

Tags: novel, opening sentences., prompts, story
Inspirational Snippet: Story Starters
My Mood: good
Music of the Hour: Opeth

For today's late entry this morning, I'm on a blood and guts kick. "Red River" popped into my head so here we go. A nice short 10 minutes on this.

Now if anyone else does this prompt there is actually a river named the Red River, though for the life of me, I can't recall where I've seen it. Considering I've lived in 10 of the continental United States and visited over 35, it could be anywhere between Oregon and Philly or as far south as Texas and Florida.

Any way, off we go.
TIMER SET:
10 MINUTES... START!

Laura walked through the tall brush. Apple blossoms fell from the trees filling the air with their sweet scent, blinding her vision and making her stagger over twisted roots. Spring grass and old leaves crunched under foot as she made her way through the rambles.

"Cory?" She called.

The wind stirred the branches around her and light flickered through the trees. Squinting through the dark shadows ahead of her, she could hear the sound of the river just ahead.

"Cory, stop playing games. Are you here?"

Laura frowned into the silence and pushed back the heavy branches. The sound of the river grew louder, and a crow squawked overhead.

"Laura, come see what I did for you."

Laura jumped at the sound of Cory's voice. She peered through the brush, catching the sight of movement ahead.

"Cory?" She said, and pushed through the last of the bushes.

The river opened up in front of her, the muddy bank slippery under foot. She jumped as a hand touched her shoulder.

"Damn it Cory, you scared the shit out of me." She said turning to face him.

He smiled down at her, a strange look on his face. Blue eyes glowing in the dim light he took her arm and pulled her closer to him.

"Easy there, Laura, I wouldn't want you to fall in. You'd stain you're pretty clothes."

Something in his voice caught her ear and she stared up at him uneasily. He turned to stare upstream at the rambling rocks, blond hair falling in his eyes. His cheeks were flushed with excitement and Laura forced herself to relax.

"What are we doing here?" She said.

"You love the river, I did something special for you for valentines day."

Laura smiled. "Really? I thought you forgot."

TIME... BUT I WANT TO FINISH. ( RED RIVER CONTINUES. )

It turned out to be a nice rough for a potentially good bit of flash fiction. Not to bad.

See you tomorrow. -Q

Tags: horror, story, suspense, writing
Inspirational Snippet: Red River
My Mood: energetic
Music of the Hour: Rob Zombie

Today's prompt for today is, "Space Case". Inspired from a few articles on Space.com. Did you know they're building (or in deep planning mode) of the first commercial space port in New Mexico. Also, the first female tourist is set to go up to the ISS in '08 (I think it was '08 anyway). Cool stuff. I'm a huge space buff, so things like that always interest me.

Okay, on with today's prompt.

TIMER SET: TEN MINUTES.... GO!

Donna stared around the massive space port. Lines of people bustled to and from down think granite floor corridors. The scent of rich brewed coffee from the Starbucks a few yards away filled the air with savory bitterness and nutty aroma.

Biting her lip, she scanned the catacomb of passageways trying to decide which way to go. Announcements rang over the intercom in several languages and bright red lit signs scrolled the same for the hearing impaired.

She gripped her small case tighter in her hand as an older man bumped into her. She muttered an apology and received a dark look as if she had been the one to bump into him. Why on earth had she apologized in the first place? Hadn't he bumped into her, not the other way around?

She was too nice, Donna decided. Maybe that was why she was here in the middle of this space port. She'd thought the idea of coming here would be neat, but it was little more than a glorified airport for the rich. If she had the money, she'd go visit the moon. Maybe the low gravity would do her good. She heard it was great for the complexion, took away wrinkles or something. At 35, and looking it, she could do with a few less wrinkles.

Holding the case tighter to her chest, she spotted the sign she was looking for. B-3 Docks. Under it gave the arrival time 12:43. She glanced at her watch... 4 minutes left.

TIME'S UP FOR ME.

Well that was interesting. Didn't have enough time to see what was in the case, and the piece is in serious need of editing, but hey, it was a timed exercise, not a leisure piece. The possibilities for that prompt abound.

Good luck and good writing.
-Q

Tags: prompts, story, writing
Inspirational Snippet: Space Case
My Mood: refreshed
Music of the Hour: 3 Doors Down

Picking a word off the top of my head, I've decided to do a bit of freewriting. This will not be in the form of a story but an utter ramble to see where the word leads me. If you've never tried doing this, it's great fun. The rules are simple. You cannot stop typing (which is the hardest part), but words can be repeated until you've got a train of thought to work from.

I'm doing this one as a 5 min. exercise.

Time Starts, NOW:

Justice, truth, hope hoping for justice, lady blind. Justice and balance. A balancing beam.

Balancing life with work. Loving work, loving art, loving reading and writing, love of invention.

Justice, Justice, Justice. Hope for a better future. future is new, new life and hope, crime and punishment. Punishment, a prison a prison planet of the future. Prison planet on on on on on on in the desert. vast sands and hard stone, forgotten planet of prisoners. Justice lost hope lost, blinding heat and sun. Hot, sand stone, the aged dying, battles begin. The want of freedom, fighting from freedom and justice. Finding a statue of Justice blind with her scales. Her statue crumbling in the sand, her limbs broken and white marble face worn away from sand and wind. There is no water and the statue stands alone. Found by a prisoner. Weeping for the lost, for the forgotten, for freedom. Torn clothes and rags hard stone and burning sand.

Time's up.

Not bad I suppose for a 5 minute freewrite. Almost have a glimmer of an idea there. I love a bit of freewriting, where I'm completely free to make all the mistakes I want. The tricky part is not to stop. I have a hard time not stopping when I get stuck, but I like seeing how my brain work and how ideas start to form. In 5 minutes and one word, I have a bunch of stuff I can work from complete with the start of a few mental images.

Post yours if you want. Don't worry about form, it certainly can't be any worse than mine. Freewriting is not supposed to have form not until you start to get an idea from it.

Good luck and good writing

-Q

Tags: ideas, story, story prompts, writing
Inspirational Snippet: Random Word, "Justice".
My Mood: pleased
Music of the Hour: Flyleaf

Today's random thought, just popped into my head for no particular reason, "A WHITE HIPPO AND GREEN TEA". I'll be racing with this one. 10 minutes of incessant drivel while I try to wake up over a hot cup of coffee.

STARTING TIME:

The white hippo stood in the center of a vast tea field, the fresh scent of bitter herbs filled the air and he filled his massive lungs with the scent. Licking his lips, he reached out with one massive tongue and touched the nearest bush.

"Hey, you! Stop that!" A voice said.

The hippo stopped and looked around. His eyes were not so good as he squinted through the tall line of tea leave, trying to make out the speaker.

"Over here, you big oaf."

The hippo blinked and squinted some more. His large eyes, eventually fell on a tiny mouse. The mouse jumped up and down on the branches of a nearby tea bush, waving a small coat in an attempt to get the hippo's attention.

"Oh, there you are," the hippo said. "What do you want?"

"Don't eat these bushes, they're special," said the mouse.

"I can't eat them because they're special? That's stupid. I'm hungry, and a hungry hippo is not the most pleasant of beasts. Go away and let me eat in peace."

The little mouse put his coat back on and frowned at the huge hippo. "I'm serious. They tell me that eating these tea leaves will make strange things happen to you. I heard about a sparrow who ate some of these and he grew two sizes and a red breast. The poor guy's wife never looked at him again."

"You're full of shit," the hippo said.

TIME'S UP.

Okay, I have no idea where this little snippet was going, but it was fun and got the creative juices flowing.

Tags: story, writing
Inspirational Snippet: A white hippo and green tea.
My Mood: cheerful
Music of the Hour: Enya

Okay, so I decided to start this blog up to help me keep a daily writing journal of exercises and prompts I find or invent myself. This is for personal use, but any writer who happens along and wants to try one of these, be my guest. Post your results or comments. I love to see other writers at work.

Tags: writing
Inspirational Snippet: A white hippo and green tea.
My Mood: groggy
Music of the Hour: Enya