Weekend Writer: May Prompts

Hey all, Sam here.

We have reached the beginning of another month already. I’m pretty excited to see what happens this month. I took a step forward in the application process for a really good job. The blog is doing well. I’ve been reading and writing. Things seem to be heading in the right direction, which is great.

I have started reading a new book on creative writing, and it’ll be the one that I start my deep dives into…but because I don’t want it to get too long today, there will be a bonus Weekend Writer post coming up tomorrow. But even though I’ve only read the Introduction and first chapter for this book, I’m already feeling like I’m really going to like it and there will be plenty of cool tidbits and advice to share.

But, before we get to that, we should talk about the creative writing prompts for the month. Now, if you’re new around here, there is a Weekend Writer post every Friday. On the first Friday of the month that post will include a few randomly generated prompts to spark the creativity and get us writing. Then, on the last Friday of the month, I have a post where I share snippets from what I’ve been writing over the month. For all the other Fridays in the month, the focus is on a creative writing topic or on a deep dive into a section of a book on the writing craft.

Prompt Time

Story Engine Deck

A Hag Wants to Destroy a Monster Whose Only Weakness is A Forbidden Spell But it Will Turn Them Into Someone They Never Wanted to Be.

This prompt comes from this storytelling deck from The Story Engine, which is a prompt and idea generating tool that I adore for both creative writing and for TTRPG plotting. I can’t wait to get myself a physical deck for the Deck of Worlds. When the Kickstarter came around I could only manage the PDF. I wanted to support the project, but I knew I was unlikely to print out the PDF and cut out all the cards and everything. Oh…and they have another Kickstarter coming, this time for a Lore Builder deck, which I’m really excited about.

Tarot/Oracle Deck

Curiosity. Communication. Community.

Once again, I used my Urban Crow Oracle Deck by MJ Cullinane for this prompt. I really like using this oracle deck, because the card names are different from a tarot deck. I do have a few different tarot decks as well, and I might use those at some point for future draws, but for now I’m really enjoying my crow deck.

Roll & Play

A festival celebrating a great annual harvest by gathering at a bonfire in the town square every day for a week.

This month I decided to roll the dice on the Wonderful Festivals page in the Roll & Play book. You can use the dice I rolled, or if you have your own d12, you can roll on the chart yourself. Or heck, if you want to then you can just choose whichever option sparks your interest. 

Sidequest Decks

Finally, the Sidequest decks from Inkwell Ideas are another wonderful accessory designed for TTRPGs, but can easily be used for writers as well. This time around I used the High Seas, Pirates, & Ports deck, and again, I went with two options as prompt inspiration. You can use either option, and you can either use the basic concept at the top of the card, or you can use the various encounters at the bottom of the card to expand upon the adventure/story further.

Option 1: The Sea Hag’s Lair – an adventurous Prince of a nearby kingdom demanded a ship to go adventuring but got himself captured by a Sea Hag. She is demanding ransom of his father, but the King cannot afford to pay and needs brave sorts to break his headstrong son out.

Option 2: The Mythic Caves – every hundred years the Moons align and the tides are at their absolute lowest. At this time the entrance to the mythic caves becomes accessible. Now a merchant wants to send people in to grab as many magical crystals growing from the walls as possible.

---

I have no idea which of the prompts I’m going to go with for this month, but I look forward to sharing some of my writing when we get to the last Friday of the month, as with every Weekend Writer before this. For the next couple weeks we’ll be doing little deep dives into chapters from Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need, which we should be focusing on for the months of May and June.

Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.