Hey all, Sam here.
Today is Day Two of Gen Con, and it is a busy day of panels at the Writer’s Symposium for me. Though I’m writing this up a few days early, I’m pretty sure I’m taking lots of notes at my panels, and so I might share some of my notes in either a Gen Con Wrap Up post, or in a few future Weekend Writer posts. I have not quite decided, and I guess it will depend on what knowledge I scribble down from all of the panels and workshops.
Anyway, welcome back to Weekend Writer, as well as the first weekend of the month. I try to have a prompt post like this up at the beginning of the month, and then when we reach the final weekend of the month, I share some of my writing: sometimes based on these prompts, sometimes based on whatever novel I’m writing, and sometimes both. And I’d love to have you share some of your writing with me, especially if you use one of my monthly prompts.
Then, 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 seven 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 Enchanted Automaton Wants to Deliver Justice With A Recording But They Will Have to Break a Societal Rule
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 Decks
Prompt: Memory, Insight, Gifts
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: There is a festival celebrating a new season arriving. The celebration includes dancing and partying, and takes place all across the village, beginning at midday.
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 dice, you can roll on the chart yourself. Or heck, if you want to then you can just choose whichever option sparks your interest.
Basically, I am playing around with more worldbuilding and fleshing out towns and regions in my current WIP, so I figured I would continue that by giving myself (and all of you) some prompts to help with designing areas to write adventures in, and what worldbuilding doesn’t include the arts with artists and musicians and performers of all varieties?
Sidequest Decks
Prompt 1: An Unearthly Frost – An unnatural winter has descended on the region in the middle of summer, and everything is dying.
Prompt 2: Needed Rest – A small church appears just when needed, but it isn’t what it seems.
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 decided to use the new-to-me Horror 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 Warlord Will Betray A Peer To Overthrow a God But They Are Unexpectedly Interrupted
Next, we have The Oracle Story Generator by Nord Games. 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: Write an Account of a Historic Event With Excessive Detail in Less Than 30 Minutes OR Describe or Sketch a Shop in Less Than Five Minutes
A newer 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 Fresh Ink & Ancient Song lore fragments expansion deck. These decks are designed so you can use an expansion deck alone or build it into the main Deck of Worlds. This particular expansion deck makes you think about little things like holidays or rituals or ceremonies or local legends and tall tales, all to help develop and expand your world so it feels more three dimensional and real and complex.
One upcoming month (maybe next month? Do we want to do a big world creation to play around in for the rest of 2024?) 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.
The Oracle Character Generator
Prompt: Wizard, Personality: Manipulative, Motivation: Domination, Flaw: Hedonistic, Intrigue: Hidden Bond
The newest addition to this is Nord Game’s The Oracle Character Generator, which finally arrived just a couple months ago. They don’t have The Oracle Character Generator up on their page yet, but you can follow the link up in The Oracle Story Generator to find all of the cool TTRPG accessories that Nord Games and friends have created.
All right, well that is all from me for today. As a reminder, I share what I wrote based on one of these prompts the last Friday of the month, and I encourage you to join in with me. I honestly don’t know which one of these will be the one I choose for my writing this month, because there’s a few that I’m decently interested in, so I guess we’ll find out at the end of the month which one won out.
I’ll likely play around with the lore fragments expansion for the Deck of Worlds, although I’m planning on picking up a couple Story Engine expansions while at Gen Con, so who knows, there might be a few surprises at the prompt share later this month. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 