Weekend Writer: January Prompts

Hey all, Sam here.

Weekend Writer is back! As I mentioned in a previous post, I am making some changes to how this blog series works, mostly because I was spending so much time prepping and writing these weekly posts and it left me so drained. I absolutely loved writing all the writing posts and doing the writing craft book deep dives, but I have to start thinking of my mental health and clearing the path for me to have more time to actually work on my creative writing.

So the first weekend of the month, I will have this prompt post up, and the final weekend of the month, I will share some of my writing: sometimes based on these prompts, sometimes based on whatever novel I’m writing, and sometimes both.

For the other weekends of the month, I will be talking about the writing craft, whether that is sharing writing craft books I’ve read and giving a general review for them, or having a writing related topic to discuss. I’m not strictly planning any of these other weekends. Some of them might even end up being extra prompt shares. So who knows what will happen…I’m just trying to figure out my new process and enjoy myself as I do it.

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.

Story Engine Deck

Prompt: An Explorer Wants to Gain Fame With an Invisible Map But the Last Time They Tried, It Ended in Humiliation

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: Gifts, Mimicry, Play

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: How Does the Party Meet? Option 1 (14)–The characters are old school friends, and meet again at a school reunion OR Option 2 (20)–An anonymous invitation to a masquerade ball led them all to an old manor house.

This month I decided to roll the dice on the First Meetings pages (TWICE) in the Roll & Play book. You can use either of 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: Stranded! — When a journey goes wrong, the survivors are left stranded, with little by way of supplies. Soon the way will clear, but until it does, someone must take charge to ensure the group’s survival.

Prompt 2: The Blizzard — The mountains are a dangerous place to live, made worse by a blizzard. A band of ice elves has decided to wipe out the village, who they consider interlopers in their domain.

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 Wilderness & Frontier Fantasy 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 Scholar Will Hire You to Steal From a Fey To Unlock Magic But the Fey is Protected by Magic

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: On a mountain that is only safely traversable once a year lies the Spa of Hibernation, known to be linked to the legend of a frost creature. Something has appeared on the summit of the mountain overnight (your choice if it is a building, a creature, a sculpture, etc).

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.

Since I’m still new to using the Deck of Worlds for prompt generation I chose not to use the full deck. Instead I only used the Worlds of Frost & Fable arctic expansion deck. But, one upcoming month I will do a full setting instead of a micro setting, and give us a larger world that we can explore for a few months of writing.

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I have no idea which of these prompts I’ll be using for some bonus writing in January, but I’m looking forward to getting my writing going again, and I hope some of you will join me in this journey.

That’s all from me for today. Thank you for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.