post_text stringlengths 0 17.5k | post_title stringlengths 8 314 | comment_texts listlengths 1 74 | num_stories int64 1 74 |
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[WP] You're a soldier serving in the Union Army. Your twin brother is in the Confederate Army. You finally come face to face with each other during a battle. | [
"And there he was, the next soldier in line. He lowered his bayonet at me and attacked, not realizing who i was. I shouted his name, and he looked up. He checked his lunge at the exact right moment. Recognition lit up his face, and we both spent a long moment looking at each other.\n\nI thought him dead. The battle... | 4 | |
Is your character doing well for the church? Perhaps their God has a few tips for success or new demands? | [WP] Your character has reached the highest rank in their religion and their God or Goddess has decided to pay a visit. | [
"The Lord Ascendant took the stairs two at a time. \n\nHis heavy, silk-lined overcoat pulled under the armpit, in the familiar way it always had. The ornate staircase curved gracefully upwards and to the left, and the Ascendant doubled his pace. It would take another few moments to reach the Sanct, and he didn't ha... | 5 |
[WP] A man can travel through time, but he can only go up to 70 years in the past. With his gun and a list of as many infamous crimes as he can muster, he sets out to give justice by killing these criminals. Describe society's reaction through the years as his crusade progresses throughout time. | [
"As a scientist, crime fighting and heroics were never something that came naturally to me. In fact I would go as far to say that when I was younger I would shy away from confrontation and socializing in general when ever possible. My interests lay in the understanding of things. Books and projects were my friends ... | 8 | |
[WP] A person is receiving their last haircut. | [
">*My hands shook too much. I could almost feel the heat as the pixelated explosion erupted in my face.*\n\n***Ding. Ding.***\n\n\"Just a little off the top, then?\"\n\n\"I suppose so. Why does it matter anyway?\"\n\n\"Well, if you're going to be so morbid, you might as well go out in style then.\"\n\n\"Gotta lo... | 6 | |
[WP] Words are recognized for their power (like guns), and people need licenses to write incisively or tell stories. | [
"It had been the fourth and final printing of the year and now Dakken was fleeing for his life. Running down the alleys of the Grand City, trench coat flicking in tow, he struggled to conceal his fugitive presence. The clamoring of militia, those brain-washed and servant dogs to the establishment, paced the streets... | 2 | |
For example, you see that someone will be shot to death or die of old age in a hospital, but you don't actually know when it's going to happen. It could be in a few seconds or in a hundred years that they die. | [WP] You Have a Special Ability. You Can See How Someone Will Die, but not When. | [
"*\"Its a curse.\"*\n\nIve grown accustomed to looking at the floor when I walk the streets. Its not enough... Even if I see only their feet it happens. A sudden hot flash paired with a flash of a different kind. I see the intended end for all those people, although not always gruesome it makes me cringe every time... | 4 |
[WP] A man stuck in a ground-hog day-esque time loop meets another person also stuck in the loop. | [
"He stopped at 11 times and laid on his comforter, in his cozy quaint apartment unable to express anything relevant to his situation. He'd exhausted every possibility and each and every time Chad opened the door to leave his apartment it happened. One hundred percent of the time, without fail, even jumping from the... | 3 | |
Welcome to the second Guaranteed Critique Week prompt! The response to the first one was (literally) overwhelming, and we are still working through the backlog. We will give a critique to everyone, and we are switching to [FF] prompts to make this challenge easier for you and to give us the ability to give more detaile... | [FF] Guaranteed Critique Week #2: You hear a knock at your door. You weren't expecting anyone today. | [
"\"Be on the lookout for three masked men. They are armed and dangero...\"\n\n\"I can't listen to this shit anymore,\" I mumbled as I turned off the television. My days were hard enough, trying to teach kids when all they wanted to do was run around and hit each other. God, why had I become a teacher?\n\nI heard a ... | 62 |
[WP] In my entire life I had never met a cat I did not like until I met Baxter. | [
"\"In my entire life, I had never met a cat I did not like, until I met Baxter. It was a Tuesday, or a Wednesday.\" The tall gentleman offered, between sips of his John Daily. \"I'd been out, making calls on housewives in the area, selling a novel line of new Va-cum Machine Attachments for a man who ordered them fr... | 2 | |
[FF] An old forgotten friend from the unknown(area, time, dimension etc.) wants you to go back with him. 250 words | [
"I sat staring at the blank screen. The hardest part of writing was always the first paragraph. It always took a minute for the words to flow from my mind. I stared at the flashing cursor as it taunted me, goaded me to begin writing something, anything to fill its white void. I reached for the keyboard, finally hav... | 5 | |
The destruction can be via natural disasters or man-made causes, and it can be over a long period of time or nearly instantaneous. Get creative! | [WP] You are aboard a space station and witnessing the destruction of Earth. | [
"We had known the trajectory of the asteroid since before I was born, but it wasn't enough to save us. It was too big they said, spotted too late - no amount of nuclear explosives could knock it off its path now. So we did what we had to do. We built vast silver ships and held lotteries for the lucky few. \n\nI rem... | 3 |
You can write about a fight, a rebellion, two drunken men talking about the fights over drinks...
I can't wait to see the stories you come up with. | [WP] In a world of mythical beings and legendary creatures, humans have (through sheer number) managed to create gladiator games in which they force two mythical beings to fight one another. | [
"Fireworks ended their short lives in the sky, struggling against the omnipotent darkness of the Alvian arena. From her perch, Susan could hear the cries of the spectators. Terrible cries. She shuddered, for the cries were not of pain, not the audible ones, anyway. \n\nBlood-lust. The cries were of joy and satiatio... | 1 |
What does the world think of this? What is the fallout, if any? | [WP] Instead of running, a man calmly holds his hand up to a falling wall, stopping it like cardboard. He has inadvertently discovered a latent power that potentially every human possesses. There are witnesses. | [
"I saw this one elderly man slowly walking along a building site close to my school. The workers were setting up a premade wall on the first floor of what seemed to be a concrete sceleton. While lifting this slab of a house a single chord was yanked off it. What was to be one of your four walls suddenly became a de... | 5 |
[WP] A former, now elderly totalitarian dictator meets with the leader of the opposition group that deposed him many years ago. | [
"A hospital ward, afternoon sunlight streams in through an open window; curtains flow in the breeze, their rail holding a bag of saline solution which is slowly draining into an arm.\n\n'You know, there was a time I wished death upon you.'\n\nThe man in the cot by the window does not respond, he may be asleep, his ... | 3 | |
However you want to take that. Go with it. | [WP] HIV research has led to an unstoppable, easier to spread strain that is wiping out human life. | [
"The dawn came slowly and stumbling, as fuzzy and muddled as it was bright. In suffering, she watched it stumble through her window, straining to see, straining to hear, straining to feel. In distance, far away, something crashed. Car horns screamed and blazed, but through her fading ears it was like an echo from a... | 3 |
[WP] You and your family are watching T.V. when your countries leader announces that a nuclear war has begun. | [
"*Smelly cat... Smelly cat..* the TV moans as it suddenly splutters into static. *We are prempting this program to give you some breaking news* \n\n\"Dad what was that?\" \n\n\"John listen to me carefully, go to mom and tell her to turn on the TV\"\n\n\"What?\" \n\n\n\"Just listen to me dammit\" he bellowed in wha... | 4 | |
[WP] When a person lies, what they say appears above their head in orange. When they tell the truth, it's green. When they say something with a harmful intent, it appears red. One day, a man realizes that he can control what color his words appear to be. He is the only man to be able to lie. | [
"Mark stood in front of the mirror, watching the words turn colors above his head. \n\n\"You look lovely today,\" he said, moving his mouth slowly. He was thinking about Loraine, her long brown legs, her purple streaked hair. She always looked lovely. Always. The words remained green. \n\n\"You look lovely today,\"... | 2 | |
I think this is a good exercise in holding tension and suspense throughout a story as opposed to just using the opportunity to throw in a twist at the end as a crutch. It will (hopefully) force you to explore other methods of building tension, instead of solely relying on a simple reversal of expectations. | [WP] Reveal the ending at the beginning of your story (however you want to), but still hold the reader's suspense all the way to the end. | [
"The bottom of the dirty glass in my hand stared at me, judging me, I had failed.\nStood on the steps looking at the buzzer to his room flashing in the darkness, I couldn't help but think back to the meeting. Nobody who sits in that circle seemed genuine, everybody looking to each other for comfort and guidance, th... | 9 |
Open to interpretation, it felt like a cool short story title. | [WP] The Day the Wind Stopped | [
"He sat atop the rock jutting out the side of the mountain, hands resting palms up on his knees. His eyes closed, his breath slowed, his mind clear. The weather was calm, a light breeze pushing through the mountain with no clouds to be seen. He struggled. It was difficult for him to keep his mind empty.Thoughts kep... | 2 |
Describe a day in the life of a human who cannot telepathically communicate with other humans. | [WP] Humanity evolved with telepathy instead of verbal language. However, diseases leave some people without telepathic powers. | [
"\nI pointed violently to the door in frustration. “Leave me!”, I yelled as Marguerite looked at me wide-eyed. “Please…leave...me”, I said, this time nearly sobbing and barely above a whisper. I could see a sharp pang of sorrow form on her lips. Her pupils met mine, and we stood there looking at each other in silen... | 2 |
[WP] End a story the same way you started it. | [
"My father used to say \"I never knew a man who lost a coin and lived long enough to see it come back to him.\" \n\nOn a cold winter night, I was leaving my mother's home outside of London to make the long drive back towards Manchester where my wife was about to deliver our first baby boy. I had come to London to l... | 14 | |
The setting and backstory are *entirely* up to you.
Maybe you're a 15th century explorer who was adopted as a pet. Maybe you're a tralfamadorian tourist disguised as an earthling. Maybe you're one of many exchange students sent to planet sextopia for the "cultural" experience. | [WP] You've spent a month living with an alien race. Share an excerpt from your journal. | [
"Trackman's Log, 16th of May 2011 according to my watch. \n\nThese people are strange but fascinating. If my watch is correct, I've been here for 10 days - and in that amount, their amazing devices taught me what should have taken DECADES to learn in a university. I think there might be even a few things mankind d... | 4 |
[WP] It's finally time to turn off a simulation of the universe. You are the scientist in charge of turning it off. | [
"I looked at the rows of monitors from the door. I had spent sixteen years in this room, inside here, held within the servers and spreadsheets laid before me my entire career. We started the project to simulate the creation of new galaxies. Now, I could look at the monitor and see creatures and individuals much lik... | 4 | |
How does the 30 year old find out? How does he/she handle it? | [WP] A 30 year old who has believed in Santa up until this point discovers Santa isn't real. | [
"“I don’t believe it, you really think that a 250 lb man in a red suit slides down the chimney, which is by the way locked, and brings every presents to 3 billion kids in a single night on a magic reindeer!” Tracy exclaimed with her voice rising in disbelief. \n\nJohn looked back with a similar exasperated expres... | 4 |
[WP]Whats the Most fucked up way to die | [
"So.\n\nSatan employs people to do hard jobs but he pays well. For 10% lifetime employment you get one wish fulfilled.\n \nThe clever bastard nailed a contract with the big man himself. Every death is decided by God but now carried out by the hand of Lucifer.\n\nBut... after a drinking contest with Bacchus, the god... | 2 | |
[WP] The grim reaper offers someone a very strange deal to escape death. | [
"Death stood before my eyes looking nothing like I had imagined. I always assumed Death would be a skeleton in a big black cloak with a reaper or some manipulative looking business man like the movies. Instead I was cowering in front of what looked to be a two year old begging for just a little while more.\n\n The ... | 2 | |
Wikipedia article for [reference](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy). | [WP] The Technocracy movement of the early 1900s took off and we now live in a world governed by scientists and engineers. | [
"We were so scared. On February 26, 1993, Al Qaeda launched the most destructive terror attacks ever unleashed on American soil. They destroyed the World Trade Center and Pentagon on the same day. For months, the capitol was crippled by anthrax. The mail didn't move. The phone lines were jammed. The TV wasn't... | 3 |
[WP] it's been 2 months since the outbreak of zombies, you live peacefully in the woods. Explain day to day life with a twist at the end. | [
"laughter fills my ears and i wake with a smile. as i open my eyes, i'm welcomed by a dim light curtained by the ragtied tarp of my home. peeling back the dense roll of my sleeping bag, i crawl into the day light. my eyes take a while to adjust. i look up trying to guess the time. \n\"i figured you needed a few ext... | 2 | |
Best of luck to you. | [WP] You are the groundskeeper of a cemetery, hardened from the many years on the job. One day, something happens that makes you experience emotions you thought died a long time ago... | [
"George twisted and arched his back. Although the bulk of the digging was now done by the mechanical mini diggers, there was still a small amount of manual work that needed to be done by hand. Years of toil had it's way with his spine and he couldn't help the grimace that spread over his face.\n\n\"I'm too old for ... | 2 |
It doesn't matter if it's the perspective of the person doing the spinning or if it's on a grander scale. Drag it enough to have a noticeable effect (so not just in the ocean), but please don't have the finger touch where the person is :) | [WP] A person is playing with a globe, spins it, and moves his finger across the spinning map. Wherever the finger touches, all human life dies. What happens? | [
"Gravity.\n\nIn simple terms, the idea that masses are attracted to other masses. Be massive enough, and you'll have planets revolving around you. At least that's what you've all thought of it as.\n\nThe rub is that, gravity doesn't exist. You've made it all so much more complicated than it is. There are giant astr... | 4 |
I came up with this one after thinking about what it might mean when a battery is "dying", but you can try with any common, everyday object.
Also, if at all possible, no Flintstones jokes. | [wp]An alternate world where a single, everyday object is instead a living being that fills the same function | [
"\"Pshooo! \" this was all I did. And I did it a lot. \nTen minutes later, I was finally permitted to stop and take a breath. One of these days I'm gonna blow my lungs out. I drank about a litre of water. Phew. \nMy owner gave me an appreciative smile and proceeded to comb her hair. I glanced at her hair, proud of ... | 8 |
Try not to use the "Hero is trying not to save the villain" line, I mean more like someone the Hero knows is an asshole. | [WP] A super hero attempts to rationalize not saving someone they personally dislike | [
"Awesome, another sinking yacht with no life preservers on board, a mile offshore, this time with some screaming dude clutching the railing on the bow. Chunks of wood from the shredded hull floated around the wreck. These people really need to learn to hire a pilot instead of just winging it. I flew towards him,... | 8 |
[WP] First sentence: "It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw." | [
"It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw. Isaac was a beautiful human being, even covered in the crimson life juice that dripped from his slit throat he was my angel. A perfect being that I was blessed with. The doctors tell me that I’m “idealizing” him and that I’m having “delusions of grandeur”.... | 3 | |
This is a well-known Cormac McCarthy quote (No Country for Old Men, The Road). Take it and build upon it. | [WP] "How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?" | [
"I'll start.\n\n\n\nHow does a man decide in what order to abandon his life? Does one simply outweigh that which is more important? Money, love, family, friends? It can’t just be what matters the most to you. In the grand scheme of things, what does really matter? Not you, and definitely not I. Yet, one cannot help... | 4 |
[WP] November, 1965: Moscow has lost radio contact with a secret research facility in Siberia, and the last broadcast from the facility was "It...is awake." | [
"Inside of two hours of the Soviet's receipt of the harrowing message, a monstrous silver capsule had been loaded onto a Tu-95v aircraft, and was in flight to Siberia. Heavy winter turbulence buffetted the craft this way and that, but the giant silver cupola of the bomb stayed deathly silent. Only the drone of the ... | 7 | |
The overlooked aspects of becoming a pokemon trainer, how he feels about his companions etc. Maybe he is regretting his choice. | [WP] A gritty/dark journal entry from an up and coming pokemon trainer. | [
"Day 1 : Sweet Jesus it's my 10th birthday! My mom suggested that I have a journal to write down my adventures in. Seems pretty lame, but whatever. I'm gonna be a Pokemon master. Here in the Kanto region, I have the choice of Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur as my starting Pokemon. I'm gonna ask Professor Oak if ... | 3 |
[WP] During the zombie apocalypse you are cornered by a horde and bitten. At that moment you are saved by a group of survivors. | [
"My life was over. Since the beginning of this mess I hadn’t questioned it. The moment that the horror movies I had seen as a kid were realized I silently accepted death, or so I thought. I had met a few survivors about a month ago, I think, and it only taught me one thing. Some were slower than others, some still ... | 4 | |
MILITARY STORYS!! FRONT AND CENTER!! | [WP] Its 3AM, Youre waiting to muster with your commander about tonights raid. Youre cold and tired, but worst of all, your family is back on earth..... | [
"Hell it was cold out here. The four of us sat shivering quietly in the dark, for fear that any light would give us away. We were sheltering, if one could call this shelter, in a formation of large rocks which jutted out of the ground at the base of the small mountain to our east. The rest of the group should be cl... | 3 |
[WP] Tell your grandchildren your experiences as an Allied Mage dropping behind Omaha Beach on June 5th, 1944. | [
"It was a warm, humid day in August. Not unbearable, but still north of comfortable. Nazario didn't mind though. He was an old man, and liked it warm and sunny. He was in his late eighties by now, though he still moved and talked as if he was thirty. With a spring in his step, he went to meet his granddaughters at ... | 6 | |
[WP] Everytime the leader of a major country is elected, he is visited the following night by the ghosts of other famous world leaders offering advice. You have just become the president. | [
"\"WACH AUF!\"\n\nI jolted up with a start. Someone was in my room. Despite the myriad of alarming thoughts settling into my barely woken up conscience I could make out a figure sitting across my bed in my burgundy tufted leather armchair in the dark. \n\n\"WACH AUF!\"\n\nRealization finally started to creep its wa... | 2 | |
[WP] A person suffering from multiple personality disorder for their entire life arrives at the gates of heaven, right next to the other souls that were accidentally stuffed into his body | [
"Noah took a deep breath as his vision began to blur and everything went quiet. When he reopened his eyes he was in an elevator. His mind was still too hazy to process any thoughts so when the operator gestured for him to get out, he didn’t protest. He walked down a long hallway to arrive at a large set of gates. N... | 6 | |
[WP] All of the most hated celebrities are part of a game show where only one will get out alive. | [
"WARNING. NSFW LANGUAGE.\n\nYou don't know how much blood actually courses through the human body until its gushing from a kid's neck before your eyes. Even a tattooed shrimp like Justin, scrawny little prick that he was, drenched himself in it. He looked more a chunky puddle than a human husk when it was all said ... | 2 | |
The dragon can talk if you want her to. Or not. It's up to you. You can also flip the genders of the dragon and the adventurer if you like. Or what the hell, make 'em gay. I don't care, have at it! | [WP] An adventurer in a fantasy world tries to justify his relationship with his pigmy dragon girlfriend to his somewhat disgusted friends. | [
"\"Look, he looked just like an elf the first time we met, I swear.\"\n\nDaryl lowered his face into his palms as Bridget spoke.\n\n\"For the last time Bridget, that is *not* the reason we're here right now.\"\n\nThe rest of the group muttered their agreement, besides Syrah, who seemed decidedly interested in the d... | 3 |
They're heeeerrree... | [WP] Aliens have just landed on the lawn of the Whitehouse, your the President, what do you say or do? | [
"What today had been a chaotic day, one which I had not prepared for. Awoken regular time my morning was average foreign policy, speech about this and that my average presidential day that was until 2:53 pm I remember the time due to my countless briefs lately on this subject. Before I was notified these are the ev... | 3 |
[WP]You meet the best version of yourself at a bar. What happens next? | [
"Do you know what a tulpa is?\n\nNepalese thing. These little slant eyed fucks, they go up a mountain, get hammered to high hell off of drugs, and meditate in fucking caves for months at a time. \n\nBut here's the thing, see? When a man comes out of the cave, he doesn't come out alone. The fucked up shit he meditat... | 2 | |
A space explorer, who has been travelling alone with no contact for years, finds a satellite or space station that has gained sentience but been alone for 2000 years. | [WP] A space explorer finds a satellite or space station that has gained sentience, but been alone for 2000 years. What do they talk about? | [
"**Hello**\n\nOh uh, hi there. \n\n**Please state identity and purpose**\n\nOh, I'm Renard Fendar, legendary space explorer, lover, warrior. What's your name? That's a neat-looking space station you got there, very retro.\n\n**I do not have a name**\n\nWhat, that's nonsense. What are you doing out in the middle of ... | 2 |
[WP] A ridiculous sporting event set in the future where the rules are very unclear for a contemporary reader | [
"Jim entered the sports bar smelling the cheap American beer and even cheaper wings doused in sauce assualting his nostrils. As he scanned the bar he spotted his friends at a table with a beer waiting for him. \n\"Hey guys, so whats the occasion? You called me outa the blue and I don't recall any plans that we had ... | 2 | |
[WP] About the man who can't separate his dreams from his reality | [
"She was there down in the sand, sunk to her knees, looking hopelessly lost. Tattered dress, hair matted; she did not stir, but her head looked straight down as the ocean surf washed up around her legs. I stepped out from the brush in the tree line, startled to see this figure appear on the beach, the day's scorchi... | 2 | |
From the point of view of the man, the people trying to kill him, or even people hearing about this on the news. or something else. whatever floats your boat | [WP] A man sentenced to death is found to be imortal, much to everyone's suprise | [
"The hood was placed over his head, and then the noose around his neck.\n\nThose in attendance watched in solemn silence. A few looked at the clock, waiting for the time to come. They all knew though. This was not a good man. He had done terrible things. If anyone deserved the death penalty, it was this horrib... | 4 |
EDIT: Not lung cancer, brain damage. | [WP] You are a drug dealer who has to leave behind his family to become a priest at a failing church that is funding a charity that endorses the Cancer treatment center where your best friend is slowly dying of Marijuana-induced lung cancer. Marijuana that you gave him. | [
"That's not a writing prompt so much as an idea for a novel, or maybe a TV series. Try to aim more into the realm of things that can fit adequately inside a single Reddit comment. \n\nAlso, if at all possible, aim for prompts to serve as a jumping off point for *someone else's* idea, rather than \"Here is the story... | 1 |
[WP] You always get monthly hospital visits for "tests". You always believed it is because you are sick, but one day you learn the truth. | [
"\"how are you feeling Quinn?\", says an old man with gray hair and and a kind voice\n\n\"no headaches anymore, that medication really helps.\"\n\n\"Great!, lets check on that brain of yours\" he said, holding up electrodes, with suctions on the ends.\n\n\"I've been wondering Ben, why do I feel so good except the o... | 17 | |
This is a challenging one! Hope somebody is equal to the task. | [WP] a narrative in which the protagonist dies almost immediately | [
"I was on a jagged edge the night I died. The kind of rage where your clenched jaw pulls at your nostrils harder than your breath. Eyes glaring past the sweat, ignoring the stinging and zeroed in on nothing outside your skull. That's when the shit hits the fan. You stop paying attention to whats around you beca... | 6 |
All other senses are fair game. Try not to name the food and let others guess it correctly. | [WP] Describe a favorite food WITHOUT using the sense of taste in your writing. | [
"It's bottled, liquid fire, and it has the hue of flame as well. Like the ambrosia and the nectar of the gods, it must be used sparingly, lest it torch your entire body. It is versatile, and unlike a normal flame, can consume any fuel you give it. When it enters your mouth, smoke begins to issue from all your exist... | 1 |
[WP] You are a WWI pilot. After an incredibly close duel, your opponent has jumped out of his plane and is now hanging from his parachute. You debate whether or not to shoot him. | [
"Jerry drifted down on his parachute while Biggles circled round him in his Camel. Algy circled with him and made signals to finish the helpless Albatros pilot but Biggles was cautious. \n\nHe respected the Hun pilots and felt that if he had a parachute to use he would not want the enemy to kill him as he drifted d... | 4 | |
Aliens have invaded earth, their technology runs from brain patterns, and only autistic humans can use it. The final battle approaches as we take the fight to them. | [WP] Aliens have invaded earth, their technology runs from brain patterns, and only autistic humans can use it. The final battle approaches as we take the fight to them. | [
"It was Him. He walked across the plaza, slowly, completely exposed, as if daring us to attack. A thousand troops were holed up in the ruins of these buildings. A thousand against one. But it felt like Hubris. What good is strength of numbers against a god?\n\n\"FIRE!\" came the order, and the air around him became... | 2 |
For reference, [epic poetry on wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry)
Also, for the sake of keeping things readable, I'm not prompting for a full 24000-word epic... but more than a three-verse-poem would be good. | [WP] Write an epic poem summarizing your nation's history. | [
"Cold, cold, why am I so cold?\n\nOh if only there was a beaver skin to hold\n\nBut what is that--what do I see?\n\nIt's a goose--no, a boat! Oh, sorry.\n\nThere's a funny man onboard\n\nHe says he's French; what is this 'sword'?\n\nNice to meet you Champlain\n\nAnd yes, I would like to try this '*pate sur pain*'!\... | 1 |
You can change the subject a little, like, instead of puns, bad jokes, or both. Instead of an apartment, your house, or your workplace, etc. | [WP] You live in a world where urban pests can only be killed by telling them puns. Your apartment is infested. You just hired an extermination company. | [
"\"Hey! You... roaches! You're driving me, no, hmm... you're making me CRAWL up the walls! Eh? EH?\"\n\n\"Darryl, seriously, we need a professional.\"\n\n\"I've got this, really! I think that one started stumbling toward the end there.\"\n\n\"No, Darryl. I'm calling an exterminator.\"\n\n[Time passes, as time often... | 5 |
[WP] For 10 years, the FBI has been tracking a killer who chooses one victim every three months, in accordance to the four seasons of the year. | [
"We call him The Axis. \n\nYou don't understand. This man... No! Not \"man\". Calling him a man is a fucking compliment. \n\nWe don't know who he is,\n\nWhere he's from,\n\nOr even if it's any one person. \n\nRegardless, ever since 2004, we've learned to be extremely attentive during the equinoxes and solstices. Wh... | 2 | |
[WP] At a family reunion, identical twins see each other for the first time in ten years. One is CEO of a multibillion dollar evil corporation, the other runs the non-profit organization that is trying to expose the evil of the corporation. | [
"Now I’m an evil bitch. It didn’t used to be this way. When I was young I was a democrat, I did semester-at-sea with Greenpeace, hell, I even screwed that geeky kid with the glasses from Whale Wars. All of that changed the last time I saw my sister.\n\nI met her, the real her, at a family reunion outside of Seattl... | 1 | |
Bonus for avoiding the typical freedom of speech argument | [wp] School trial, Your defending a kid who refuses to say the pledge in class. | [
"\"Tim, you know it is disrespectful for you not to say The Pledge of Allegiance. You are an american. You know how many people have died for you to have the right to say the Pledge!\"\n\n\"I don't want to say it.\"\n\nTim was at the top of the bell curve and principal Wright was as red white and blue as a rocket p... | 2 |
[WP] You've come to realize that you can smell death before it happens. You only smell that smell when someone present is going to within the next 24 hours, expectedly or not. | [
"Remember me? About two weeks ago? You laughed when the train door closed on my face? Not in my face, but on it? \nHilarious, right? Yeah, it must have been, but I have something really hysterical to share with you. On my way home I realized everything smelt awful. \nEverything. Roses? Smelt like shit. So I figured... | 2 | |
[WP] You are the last human being on earth, and have only a few days left before the plague kills you too. You decide to write a book for whatever intelligent species may discover Earth next so they can get an idea of what life was like. Write the first page. | [
"To whom it may concern,\n\nThough the sands of time may erode my words from this carved stone or the earth would bury it, my intent remains the same.\n\nI will write my story on the only material that has lasted the test of time longer than any of my species has.\n\nWe existed. For more than 6000 season cycles, we... | 6 | |
[WP] Super heroes and super villains have Facebooks. Write about their interactions on Facebook. | [
"Louis Lane is in a relationship.\n\n-- Jimmy and 152 others like this\n\n-- Congratz! -Jimmy\n\n-- About time you and the big guy made it official! -Flash\n\n-- When did this happen!? Call me! - Supergirl\n\n-- Why didn't you link it to Superman? He has a profile **here**. -Batman\n\n-- Wow, never thought you guys... | 2 | |
[WP] You are a writer in the year 1983. Write a futuristic dystopian short story set in the year 2014. Your story includes true dystopian facts that have actually happened in our era, while including "future tech" from the viewpoint of the 1984 writer. Future tech can be real or fictional. | [
"\"Hello?\" The man's voice echoed of the walls. \"Who's there?\"\n\nI stepped out from the corner where I was hiding into the dim light of the room. \"Just me. Friendly.\"\n\n\"Friendly, eh?\" he said. \"Well, what's your name, boy?\"\n\n\"Alex. Alex Roscoe.\"\n\n\"Alex. What brings you here?\"\n\n\"Same thing as ... | 9 | |
[WP] Write a story where you are the supervillain you have always secretly wanted to be. | [
"\"Dad, why can't I just go out tonight with Bobby? He has a new basketball...\" my 9-year-old daughter pleaded with me. I looked up from my panini and grinned bemusedly from my chair at the kitchen table, \"Honey, if you had been honest with me in the first place, I might have said yes.\" She pouted and I laughed.... | 3 | |
Inspired by [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/standupshots/comments/28jk20/i_wouldnt_even_try_to_not_get_caught/) post. | [WP] A new law dictates that all marriages are final "till death do us part". Write about what happens when someone wants a divorce. | [
"I was sick of her.She wasn't the woman I married,she was a whiny,bitchy slut.She doesn't even hide her flirtations and if she could cheat on me,she would.I wanted to leave,but orange wasn't my colour and I don't want to get shanked or raped in a prison.So I stayed with her for 2 years.And another 2 years.And anoth... | 2 |
[WP] "The Huns are coming." | [
"\"...THE HUNS ARE COMING!\"\n\nMr. Larenson always had a way of pulling us into the lesson, this month we're studying China, which of course means there has to be some mention of the Huns.\n\n\"ARE ANY OF YOU EVEN LISTENING, I SAID THE HUNS ARE COMING!\"\n\nA few kids fake a terrified scream, Mr. Larenson just lau... | 1 | |
Any interpretation of the title flies, go nuts. | [WP] Taking your own life now also takes the lives of your children; A man explains to his daughter what is about to happen. | [
"\"Daddy, what's going on?\" My daughter asked. She sounds just like her mother. \"Why is there so much yelling?\" She is far to young to understand. She was only 5 when her mother died. \n\nI knelt so that my head was at her level. \"There are some very bad people here, and they want to take us away.\" I said to h... | 3 |
You are given these pieces of knowledge twice a month and it is impossible to forget them. These pieces can be original but aren't always as others may have been granted it. | [WP] You live in a world where implants are put into your head at birth, an implant that grants a piece of knowledge; a piece of knowledge varying in size, complexity, and importance. | [
"Every invention advances like a wave. The wave reaches up towards a peak, then crashes and is overtaken by a new wave, a new invention. Though, the new technology has can not be overtaken. Technology has advancement to the point to cease to be only technology. Humans have advancement to the point to cease be only ... | 3 |
[WP] You read the morning paper and are surprised to find your obituary. You are still alive. | [
"That was quick. Too quick. I'd been planning my disappearance for months, it should have taken a week or two before being declared dead. This is no good. No, this is all wrong altogether.\n\nIf you want to disappear, really disappear, you need to keep the authorities off your back for a while, pointed in some oth... | 7 | |
[WP] The year is 3097, you have just received your license to teleport. | [
"*Translated from Neo-Indo-European*\n\n\"—Teleport, yes.\"\n\n\"No way. They selected *you* for the trials?\"\n\n\"Yup. God, imagine all I could do with this. Save people from burning buildings and the like.\"\n\n\"But does it... Does it work?\"\n\n\"Well, let's find out, shall we?\"\n\n\"You... You haven't used i... | 2 | |
[WP] A geeky outcast becomes the stuff of legend in a highschool. Fame or infamy? You decide... | [
"The Paleinator talks not to you. He addresses you with a glare, then he saunters away, eyes on his smartphone. No one knows the meaning of this intense relationship, but perhaps it may show you when the Paleinator is pensive. In the cafeteria, he has an entire table to himself. \"How can this be good?\" you may... | 2 | |
[WP] Someone from an ancient civilization arrives in the modern day world to find that everything we think we know about their people, is wrong. | [
" \"Push the button General Thompson.\" The general hesitantly hovered his hand over the red button before pushing down on it and jerking his head to the machine. Contrary to every sci-fi movie ever made it did not so much as make a sound. At any other time this would be a bad thing but the scientists a... | 2 | |
[wp] your favorite song has been made into a movie, write the opening scene | [
"*King and Lionheart* by **Of Monsters and Men**, with references to other songs. \n \nThe lyrics I have written about are as follows; \n \n*\"Taking over this town, they should worry \nBut these problems aside I think I taught you well \nThat we won't run, and we won't run, and we won't run. \nAnd in the wi... | 6 | |
[WP] After being struck by lightning, you wake up in home of Zeus. | [
"NOTE: Typed up on phone, paragraphs probably all over the place so apologies in advance.\n\n\n\"Oh Zeus, not again,\" I heard a soft, female voice sigh next to me. I kept my eyes closed, the last thing I could remember was what had felt like being burned alive from the inside out. If I was in hell (with my past, t... | 3 | |
Expand. Choose a situation. | [WP] The protagonist is on a 90 second elevator ride. Something remarkable happens. | [
"John glanced across the lobby to the digital clock hanging about the front desk as he locked the doors for the night. Normally he would probably stay for an extra hour or so, but there wasn’t much left to do he didn’t feel like sticking around. He thumbed the down button on the elevator and whistled tunelessly, sh... | 4 |
Whether it be a object, a place, or even a person, he for she stumbles upon a reminder of a time they had nearly forgotten. | [WP] Years after the apocalypse, a survivor runs across a reminder of innocence in the wastes. | [
"\n\nThe sound of gunshots was what originally drew her. The ceaseless cries were what kept her going.\n\nShe walked forward through the forest green in a surreal, dream-like state, snapping twigs and crunching leaves, both barely audible over the cry's, like those of an all too familiar banshee. It soon became a ... | 6 |
[WP] Your cat finally manages to catch the red dot. | [
"No response. I slap the enemy once again. No response. It remains untouched by my efforts. A third slap. Finally, I have caught the enemy, yet it taunts me so. A fourth, a fifth, a sixth, and still, nothing. No response, no change. What type of creature is this? It possesses a strength that I could not even fathom... | 6 | |
[WP]Earth is one of the most inhospitable planets in the universe | [
"Name: Earth\n\nAlso known as: Terra, Gaia\n\nCrustal Composition: Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, Iron, Calcium, and other trace elements. \n\nApproximately 70% of the surface is covered by liquid water. Remaining 30% is uncovered, but changes coverage over time due to ice cap melting and refreezing.\n\nStatus: capable... | 6 | |
Be creative! Be abstract! Be dark! Be none of those! | [WP] After visiting the doctor and getting an MRI, you learn that an organ you used to have is now missing. Where did it go? | [
"So, here I am, sat in one of those stupid hospital gowns waiting to go in. What's through those doors scares the crap out of me but it has to be done I suppose. Through there are doctors and scientists and technicians and God knows who else and they've all got questions for me and examinations to do. \n \nIt all... | 3 |
[WP] The largest pirate ship of the 1700's is transported in time to 2014 where the crew encounters a lone modern day U.S. Navy battleship. Thinking they can destroy it, the pirate ship decides to attack the battleship. What happens next from the point of view of the crew of the battleship? | [
"From the Journal of REDACTED:\nStrange, to see a sailing in these waters. Impossible, really.\nCaptain ordered us to slow down, he was curious.\nThe ancient sailing ship slowly made an arc to come alongside. The Spanish flag flew from its mast in the salty air, at least it did until they raised the Jolly Roger. A ... | 3 | |
[WP] Time travel is invented, but it is impossible to travel back before it is invented. Meaning the moment it is made possible, reality is thrown into chaos as time travel changes all following events radically. | [
"Was it just a gimmick? Some parlor trick he couldn't recreate? No, it had been more than that. It was material. It was physical. It was real. Why couldn't he do it again? The machine was in the exact condition he had left it in yesterday. Tomorrow, actually. He poured over his notes. \n\"...activate machine at the... | 2 | |
[WP] Write a story that ends with "And that's when I realized I didn't have any pants on" | [
"Grabbing a drink had me running late \nand I didn't want to keep this guy waiting \ngranted most of his anger I could dissipate \none of the many perks of dating \n\n\"You look spectacular tonight, is that dress new?\" \n\"Thanks, you're so nice when you're mad at me.\" \n\"Mad? No! It's so quite at the off... | 4 | |
Edit: Incorporate intimate details about the victim's life. Create fear on a personal level. Bonus points if you can this without even needing to threaten violence. Take liberties with the back story or premise of the scene. | [WP] Write an interrogation scene where the interrogator threatens his victim without using any means of torture or violence: no stabbing, punching, cutting etc. | [
"He held the bottle of Cognac in front of him, the sweetly sickening wine was then poured into the glass so ever slowly. The SS Officer cherished every drop that was poured into the glass. So very, very slowly. The officer then took a sip. Stephan was so thirsty, it had been days since he had anything to drink. Day... | 14 |
[WP] On his death bed, Christopher Robin tries to explain to pooh the concept of death. Pooh and his animal friends have not, and do not age, so they have never had any experience with it. | [
"A broom sits by a slatted door, waiting to sweep the autumn leaves before winter draws near.\n\nThe carrot garden lies empty, a pair of gloves folded neatly on the side of a wooden wheel barrow.\n\nA small house of thatched sticks waits patiently to be finished.\n\nBehind the green door in another part of the fore... | 13 | |
[WP] Aliens seeking mind expanding substances stumbles across Earth and gets addicted to ... | [
"-Agent Romo, I'm your relief this evening. \n\n-Thank god. These emergency 14-hour shifts are murder on my feet.\n\n-Tell me about it. At least it's quite, huh?\n\n-Yeah, it's not bursting out of anyone's chest or anything. Still gives me the damned heebie-jeebies, though. Freakish thing. \n\n-It was panicking whe... | 2 | |
[WP] Two classmates are passing a note back and forth, when the teacher finds it and decides to take it and read it to the class. Upon opening it, however, she calmly gives it back to the student who she took it from. | [
"The two had been thick as thieves since they'd come to this this school four years ago. They were almost done here, and nothing had changed. Every day he would walk to her homeroom, and she'd pop out when he was engrossed in his phone and scare him so bad he almost dropped it. It was pretty adorable to see them wa... | 2 | |
[WP] An ordinary man discovers he can manipulate, even weaponize, the butterfly effect. What does he do, and what does this do to him? | [
"I've done a lot of reading recently. It's been three years now since I found out about my gift, and I can't say I haven't been selfish with it. Small things, really. Spilling drinks of people who give me stick in bars, making the odd thing drop onto someone. I have had my fair share of revenge. But I never conside... | 1 | |
For example in the movie *American Psycho*, Patrick Bateman goes into great detail about his admiration for the band *Huey Lewis and the News*, prior to murdering his friend Paul Owen. | [WP] Write about a killer. Go into detail about a product prior to killing a character. | [
"Mark Matterhorn. That was his name. My boss didn't tell me what he did, nor did he tell me why he did what he did. In any case I'm sitting in the basement floor of some mid-town parking garage. \n\nAll I know is, *I'm paid to kill him*. \n\nBored, I flip through the folder I was handed listing his known whereabout... | 2 |
[WP] Describe the five stages of grief someone experiences when using Dial-up. | [
"**Denial:** \"It must be the internet provider or an overflow of other users. It can't be *my* internet.\"\n\n**Anger:** \"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. I'VE BEEN AT THIS SAME SCREEN FOR 45 MINUTES, AND IT **STILL** WON'T LOAD. HURRY THE FUCK UP YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!\"\n\n**Bargaining:** \"God, are you there? It's me, Sy... | 2 | |
[WP] A happy ending from the villain's perspective. | [
"*Also inspired by Game of Thrones*\n\n\"That smell,\" he thought as he inhaled deeply. He stood on the very top of the Matterhorn with his eyes closed and his arms outstretched. Ash swirled around him and blanketed the desolated park he stood over.\n\n\"Ash. All that's left is ash.\" He looked down and surveyed th... | 2 | |
[WP] You live in Hidden Valley. You're the only one in town who doesn't like ranch dressing. | [
"Wanna know how I know we're under control? Last night, I fell asleep in my bed, in Madrid. Now I'm in Hidden Valley...apparently. I'd never even heard of the place, but here I am.\n\nAnd I know that the people who picked me up and put me here aren't even people. Humans can't lob a person across an ocean and into a... | 17 | |
[WP] You're shopping and look at the missing children board. You see your baby picture next to your birthdate and a different name. You were kidnapped at 6 months old. Your "mom" is just a call away. | [
"Peyton can’t believe his eyes and wipes his glasses to ensure that he is reading the flier correctly. He studies the features of the baby’s face and skims the information. He gasps loudly when he sees that the baby also has a scar on his chest. He touches where his scar lies and snaps a picture on his phone. A cas... | 3 | |
Little Timmy didn't want to move to Missouri, he liked it perfectly well in Southern California.
"But what about the beach mom? What about my friends? There is nothing in St. Louis!"
"Timmy, we aren't going over this again, we cannot afford to stay here without your father, and he decided he isn't coming back.
"Just... | [WP] A "shooting star" falls from the sky into the backyard, and only one person saw it fall | [
"There are some formatting errors that I didn't catch, but I'm tired and about to go to bed so I'll try to fix them in the morning. Sorry it is pretty long, I wanted to keep going but figured nobody would want to read a long post so I cut it short and didn't get too descriptive. \n\nThis is my first little story ... | 2 |
[WP] Tell me a classic "evil stepmother" fairy tale (Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, etc.). Make me sympathize with the stepmother. | [
"It’s been 11 years since my first husband passed and 6 years since my second husband did. I’m beginning to think I might be the problem. Whispers on the street tell me the rest of the town does too. Upon occasion I’m asked to dinner, but my date always becomes distant when he learns who I am and ends the relations... | 10 | |
[WP] A young German is sent back in time to prevent WWI. How does she do so? | [
"Failed. Everything had failed. All her attempts, everything Hannah had tried to do ever since she discovered that she had the power to go back. To go back in time. Why, out of all the billions and trillions of humans that had lived upon this earth it was her who developed this ability, a 30-year-old immunologist, ... | 6 | |
[WP] Write a persuasive essay about a controversial topic, convincing me of the opposite perspective of what you actually believe. | [
"In this day and age, being gay, being different, having a mental disability. It's been trivialized into stupid concepts that people love to identify themselves with in order to feel special. The truth in the end is that you aren't special, you are just another human on this earth trying to survive. \n\nYou aren't ... | 2 | |
[WP] The day after losing his only son in a tragic accident, a man wins $146 million in the state lottery. What does he pray later that night? | [
" He looks down through the smoke of his hundredth cigarette for the day at the tiny piece of paper sitting on the bigger piece of paper on his coffee table. The smaller one is worth more than the bigger one when it comes to money, the bigger one is worth more than the smaller one when it comes to life... or death... | 5 | |
You could also use this as an inspiration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcMDJ1jEou8 | [WP] Write the woeful tale/poem of a veteran bank robber on his last heist. Make me both love and hate him. | [
"So many jobs he'd done before, \nA thousand tellers he had robbed. \nFrom Monterey to Baltimore, \nHe'd seen the workers as they sobbed.\n\nHe didn't want to see them cry, \nBut It kept Johnny in the band. \nThings he could not otherwise buy, \nWhy couldn't people understand? \n\nHe never shot or hurt a sou... | 2 |
[WP] You are a slave; to society, to authority, and most of all, to yourself. No matter how hard one works at something in life, he will never be fully content or happy; there will always be something above him holding him back. Write a story of emancipation. | [
"I memorized a good portion of the doctrine. I understood the prescribed morality and I knew the difference between right and wrong. I scored highest in my class on our mandatory religion test. I could name all of the books of The Book, in order, and give a detailed description of each. I was praised for my underst... | 2 |
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