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'Prompt' Exchange
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'Prompt' Exchange
'Prompt' Exchange Thread!
A thread for random ideas you thought up but are probably never going to write/a place to brainstorm cool plots, whether or not you end up going any further.
Maybe you'll inspire someone else with cute, heartfelt, mysterious, angsty, or flat-out weird ideas? Maybe you have a really cool first line or interesting premise, but don't know where to use it? Maybe you're looking for something to motivate or inspire you, but don't know where to start? Or perhaps you just want to design an OC without writing a whole story, or concoct an outline for an overly-convoluted scheme? Perhaps you really want to see more post-apocalypse cyberpunk or a fresh take fantasy or pure fluff-mance stories, or something niche and oddly specific, and want to egg random people on until they finally write it for you?
Well why not try exchanging with others? Drop off ideas that you might not want to write an entire thing about, and pick up other people's ideas to test them out. Maybe you'll find a new favourite genre or writer; maybe you'll finally cure your writers' block. Challenge yourself! And of course, have fun!
submitted by Jaybells, age Obscure, Lost in the Universe
(December 17, 2021 - 12:28 am)
(December 17, 2021 - 12:28 am)
(September 21, 2022 - 6:39 pm)
Actually I have random ideas for scenes all the time - I write them usually in the back pages of my notebook, and I call them "Bits and Pieces" :)
So here's a short scene that I wrote-
Round and round the old fountain, which had not known dancing for decades, now sounded the tap of feet and the brush of skirts against stone. Through the sunny air, where for so long the only sound had been restrained, timid voices, audacious notes bounced and circled and twanged, weaving together into a cheeky and joyous tune. And hearts that had done nothing but sedately do as they were told now dipped and turned and circled like swallows, rushing over a field after being let out of a cage.
I was inspired for it while listening to a country music song on the radio. But where should it go from there??
I'm pretty sure it never will go anywhere, but I'd like to see what everyone else thinks!
(October 19, 2022 - 8:04 pm)
top top top!
(October 22, 2022 - 8:52 pm)
> Chains, rusted and links loosened by time (maybe representative of the ruins of an ancient civilization or societal degradation, and the impending revolution it inspires)
> Clouds, how they play into our thoughts and feelings; maybe they seem to foreshadow the coming events of the day
> Rain; the smell and feel and look of it; the way it sticks in the air and colours the whole world in a special glow, the way it trickles and sweetly kisses the Earth, especially the dusty parts
> Butterflies, how they flutter, what they do in the rain, the way they lick the Earth and sip from flowers as if trying to carve it into their memories before they take off and become creatures of the sky and then eventually dust, once more
(October 23, 2022 - 3:40 pm)
I had this idea about magical people who live in "tribes", and each separate "tribe" is associated with a particular element of weather - for instance, the rain-tribe, the storm-tribe, and the snow-tribe. That provides such opportunities for world-building! Each tribe has a chief or a leader, and each one protects, and is protected by, its particular element. They haven't been active for a long time, because of human activity, but with global warming they start to awaken again and protect nature.
Ooh, I think I've just inspired myself...
My ideas for plots are still a little vague, though.
(October 30, 2022 - 11:40 am)
That sounds cool, maybe if they work together they can morph into sub-tribes of different things, like maybe a sun tribe and a moon tribe could together make an eclipse thingy? Or a rain tribe and a sun tribe could make a rainbow thingy?
(November 4, 2022 - 2:10 pm)
Or maybe something happened so there's distrust between the tribes. So Sun and Moon fight for time in the sky. And weird things happen all the time because the tribes don't get along.
(November 4, 2022 - 4:22 pm)
Oh yeah, distrust between the tribes would help to propel the plot along. I think I do want them to be united in the end, though, and work toward stopping climate change. Each tribe would take care of its own element of weather, but they would all work together.
However... how do they "stop climate change"? Should they march into the gasoline stations and demand that sales be stopped? Forcibly put solar panels on people's houses? Magically remove all cars?
Wild ideas...
Still, there has to be some way.
Okay, they could work to find a spell that would remove all gasoline and oil from the world, so that none could be obtained by humans anymore. Maybe there's an enemy gasoline/coal/oil/darknes tribe, which they've always hated, and now they fight them using their magic powers, and eventually emerge victorious. And some humans could help them.
@Hex, making the tribes combine to create certain things like rainbows is a great idea! :)
Any other ideas or feedback are welcome!
(November 4, 2022 - 7:19 pm)
The only thing is if they remove all the coal and oil and stuff from the world, in it's current state it will probably cease to function. Economic (and not just economic) disaster. So maybe they have to fix that after?
Think of all the things that won't work... cars, ovens + stoves, AC, lipstick, life-saving medical devices (like MRIs or pacemakers), asphalt for roads, etc. So many small things would build up quickly.
You might need to fix that, maybe magically? Or all go to Mars or something? Some kind of space travel? Or burrow underground. Or live in the oceans. Okay, maybe not any of these—they're kind of impractical.
Otherwise it's a really cool idea, I'm interested to see where you go with it.
(November 5, 2022 - 10:58 am)
Thanks, Hex! :) That's a good point for consideration. I decided on a solution - remember I mentioned that maybe some humans could be helping the tribes? Well, we humans are probably a lot better at changing society than magic weather-tribes are. *smug sniff* So the humans could be trying to rework society so that the coal-dependent things we use are done away with or replaced by cleaner alternatives. Sounds very dry, but there'd actually be lots of room for adventures, and the narrative could also focus on their personal growth and relationships to each other (a romance or two, two branches of a quarreling family become reconciled, etc).
(November 6, 2022 - 10:39 am)
Whales and sea turtles flying in a sky of wave-like clouds.
Idk
(November 15, 2022 - 6:40 pm)
For some reason that sounds absolutely thrilling, lol.
(November 18, 2022 - 8:01 am)
What if sea-life lived out of water and people and land-life lived in the water? Fish could use balloons to get around in the sky.
(November 19, 2022 - 10:57 am)
I have a story idea. I call it Heaven's Heir but the title is definitely not permanent.
There’s a 15-year-old (the human equivalent of his angel age) angel, Aaron, and he’s been kicked out of Heaven because an angel that’s a few years older than him stole a precious crystal that is very important to the Heavenly Monarchy, and that angel managed to frame Aaron. Aaron never knew who he was, he was just the orphan angel, bullied by everyone else because he was kind. All of Heaven’s angels were supposed to be unforgiving angels that would bring justice to the world. Aaron wasn’t anything like that. He would always help anyone who needed it, even if they didn’t want help. He tried to explain who had actually stolen the crystal, but the other angel was highly favored, so no one listened to Aaron. On earth, Aaron has to find his way in the world without revealing that he is a fallen angel. Along the way he meets a girl about his age, and a Waterchild. The girl had befriended the Waterchild, a supposedly impossible feat. The pair said they were looking for the heir to Heaven’s throne. Unbeknownst to the three of them, that heir was Aaron himself.
Angels always wear white and gold clothing, but some of them choose to add another color to their garb. The angel that framed Aaron, Blaze, chose pale red. Aaron chose pale blue. The young angels’ teacher chose a deep purple.
The Cloudcrystal Shard is a shard of a crystal that was lost long ago. Heaven thrived when the Cloudcrystal resided in the Celestial Palace. Many years ago, a dark angel broke into the Palace and tried to steal the Crystal. In the ensuing chaos, the Crystal shattered, and the thief made off with three of the shards. The last, the shard that currently resides in the Palace, the angelic guards managed to grab. Heaven was reduced to a fraction of its former glory when the three Shards were stolen, but the angels make do with what they have. The Heavenly Monarchs have been searching for the Shards for centuries.
(November 20, 2022 - 11:08 pm)
Wow, that's really intricate! Sounds cool!
(November 24, 2022 - 1:58 am)