Weekend Writer: October Prompts

Hey all, Sam here.

I completely messed up the order my posts were supposed to be posted this weekend. I was supposed to do the first chapter of No Plot? No Problem! today. Yesterday I was meant to do my October prompts, as it was the first Friday of the month.

I use several story generator tools to create various creativity prompts for both you and I to use to help kickstart your creative projects (your choice if you want to write something or draw something). Then, on the last Friday of the month, I share snippets of what I’ve been working on over the month…it could be from the prompt generation, or it could be from some other project I’ve been working on…or it could be from both. I’ve had a couple months where I’ve shared a couple passages from different writing projects.

For the rest of the Fridays of the month, I do a deep dive breakdown that focuses on some aspect of creative writing. That has mostly been deep dives into sections of books about the craft of writing, but sometimes might be a deep dive into a lecture or an episode of a podcast or a YouTube video or just a general discussion about some sort of creativity/writing topic.

And since I missed out on sharing my September writing snippets, I will have that posted tomorrow. Why yes, it is a whole weekend of Weekend Writer, so I hope that you are all ready for it and that you enjoy the posts.

Let’s get started.

October Prompt Time

All right…I currently have six different creativity generator tools in my collection/arsenal. Some of them are technically aimed at TTRPGs, BUT I’ve found that for the most part they work for creative writing just fine as well, which is why I include them all. With each prompt, I take a photo of the prompt randomization (whether that is dice rolls, card draws, or whatever), type up the prompt below the photo, and then I include a paragraph where I give you information about the generator tool I used.

If you know of any other useful tools like these, please let me know. I’d love to keep expanding my collection. It’s cool to see what sorts of ideas can be generated when you use a randomization method for creation.

I tried to keep to a Spooky Season theme when coming up with these prompts this month, and honestly, I think they’re all pretty cool…so here they are…

Story Engine Deck

Prompt: A Ghost Wants to Unravel the Mystery of A Damaged Map But it Will Cost Them Their Soul.

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.

Tarot/Oracle Deck

Prompt: Grief, Ghosts, Memory

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. What can I say? I just like crows.

Roll & Play

Prompt: The Drowned Lady – an elderly woman who swims and floats as if in water, is stuck in this realm because she was sent back on a mission by an entity in the afterlife.

This month I decided to roll the dice on the Spooky Specters pages in the Roll & Play book. You can use the dice I rolled, or if you have your own dice, 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

Prompt 1: Save or Kill the Princess — A princess was bitten two weeks ago by a werewolf. Yesterday (the first night of the full moon) she transformed, attacked several people in the palace and escaped. The king’s ransom is double if she’s brought back alive.

Prompt 2: Dead and Disapproving — A ruler married a forbidden mate from a nomadic tribe, and now dead ancestors are rising to cleanse the bloodline.

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 went back to the After the Total Party Kill 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.

The Oracle Story Generator

Prompt: A Faction Will Hire You to Neutralize An Undead To Gain Power But the Undead Takes Measures to Protect Themselves

Next, we have The Oracle Story Generator by Nord Games. They have a Character Generator as well, but that one won’t be shipped out for another couple months. I’ve enjoyed playing around with these cards the past couple months, and look forward to doing even more with them in future. With this prompt, you can make it even more specific by either rolling a four-sided die for each card, or by simply choosing which option you like best.

Deck of Worlds

Prompt: A creature has claimed the Deathless Crematorium as its lair, located in a Necropolis founded as a funerary city that was once said to be a gateway to/of the dead.

The newest addition to the prompt generation is the Deck of Worlds by The Story Engine, and it works in a very similar way to the story deck, but it helps you think about and build either micro settings or small words or huge words with numerous countries throughout. It’s pretty cool.

For this first foray into the prompt generation I chose not to use the full deck. Instead I only used the Worlds of Blight & Shadow: Horror Expansion in honor of it being Spooky Season.

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All right, that is all from me for today. I honestly don’t know yet which of these prompts I’ll use for some bonus writing in October, but I’m looking forward to creating something cool using them. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.