And let's admit it, every single one of us has at least a few minutes every day just to sit back, relax, and enjoy a little mental writing.
Thus I thought, that since you are already doing it anyways, why not share some of it?
I actually made up a nice little imagination challenge for you guys that you will probably enjoy. I just want a whole bunch of you to share it around, and challenge your friends to answer the questions. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer, and there is no winner or loser in this.
Still, I'm awfully interested in how your minds work, and I wouldn't mind it if you shared your stories. Feel free to email them to me, post them as comments, or even post a link to your own blog where you worked on it.
All right, let's begin!
1. Myths and Legends
Most of these short stories are quite impossible, which is great when it comes to this sort of thing. Now here's what you have to do: If you are not really familiar with the cute little stories of your family, go around asking people in it to tell you about something that happened to them. The weirder, the better. When you found the perfect story, try to add your version to it - make it funny, frightening or absolutely incredible. Don't worry if it doesn't fit in this world - after all, a lot of myths and legends don't.
2. Sci-Fi (or is it?)
All right, now that you are getting warmed up with this, here's something a bit more fun. According to some people, since the Big Bang (or even before it), every single thing that could be changed could create a new Universe. This means that somewhere out there you could be a superhero, or a bank robber, or - who knows, maybe even a world renown scientist. The choices are infinite. Think about a story where you would have the ability to travel between these Universes. You can keep it personal, or if you don't feel comfortable with that yet, you can tell the story where even the basic physical laws are totally different.
3. Fairy tales
So if you are finished with this pretty large kind of topic where everything could happen, let's narrow it down a little. Since last year we had a whole big variety of fairy tales, why not come up with one for yourself? But wait, here's the twist. Instead of starting out with something totally new and unpredictable, pick out one well-known fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, whoever you want! Now imagine what would happen if something would have went differently in those stories, like Red deciding to follow her mother's advice, after all. Or Rapunzel having a wig. Something that would turn the whole story upside down.
4. Mystery
Most (good) stories include at least a little bit of mystery in them, after all why would someone want to read it if you already know what's going to happen? Thus, here's a simple idea you can start out with: The streets of the little town were all deserted. Where was everyone?
5. Fantasy- differently
You already know I love the Game of Thrones series, and one of the reasons behind this is that there aren't really heroes and villains in it. Not in the traditional way, at least. But when it comes to making up a world that actually has a villain, you must be sure that the villain has good enough reasons for what he is doing. Imagine what would happen if someone would come up to you out of the blue, proclaim himself a hero and you- the villain.
6. Anything you want (well, not really)
For the previous ones, however unlikely it might be, chances are that someone out there thinks like you do, and will come up with somewhat similar things to write about. This next prompt will make sure that you won't just copy someone else's idea. Go stand in front of your bookshelves. Pick out the fifth book - you can count it in any way you like, from bottom to top, from back to front, just make sure it's the fifth. Go to page 55, and read the first sentence. Make this the first sentence in your story - and go wherever you want to with it.
7. Mary Sue
Everyone hates Mary Sue characters. Everyone hates stories with Mary Sue characters, right? And we all know, that most people who ever tried to make up a story as teenagers managed to somehow create a few of these characters (and most adults hated them at first glance). This time tho, instead of trying to avoid one, try to create one deliberately. Feel free to make them funny, pathetic or just plain boring. Bad writing is sometimes good too.
8. In reverse
If you like to come up with stories you probably know how difficult it is to get to the ending point that you want. I fall into this trap time and time again when I come up with the ending way before I should, and being so impatient I usually quit somewhere around the middle, before actually getting where I wanted. But what if you would be able to reverse the whole process? Well, here's a challenge: come up with a perfect ending to a story and write it backwards. It will give you perspective, for sure.
9. Description time!
These are always a must when it comes to making up a good story (but sometimes they can also get too much). I remember that when I was still in Elementary school our teacher(s) gave us the task to write up different descriptions. Most of the kids hated doing these assignments, but I loved it for some reason. I usually tried to write something about an unusual place, not those ordinary this-is-a-forest, or that's-a-seashore type of things. And since I find that those are usually kind of boring nowadays too, here's the challenge: you find yourself in a forest, that was once upon a time a graveyard, but it got abandoned. What do you see?
10. Humor!
Let's face it, a good laugh WILL brighten your day, no matter what. For this last prompt, here's something you will have to do: take things to the next level. All right, let me explain it in more details: nowadays may things seem to have an "extreme" version to them. But what happens with everyday, boring, normal stuff? Your task is simple (or is it?): take something that can be really dull - like washing the dishes, or bringing out the trash can, and turn it into something "epic", and extreme. Hell, maybe you'll even start a new trend with this!
Don't forget, guys, if you want to share, just send me the stories. I'll definitely read them (and I'll maybe even post one or two, if you are game). Have fun!
