Improve your writing—and creativity—with some story prompts

Played any writing games lately?

One of my favorites is Storymatic, a game that uses a series of cards to generate story ideas. With each turn, players draw two character cards, such as “a butcher” and “the object of a secret crush,” along with two object cards, such as “a flat tire” and “a secret hiding place.” The goal is to combine all four elements into one story. The person with the most creative story wins.

Playing these types of games helps me think creatively and stretches my storytelling skills. So I thought it might be fun to play a few rounds of Storymatic in this post. Below are the entries from three sets of cards and the stories that came from them.

[RELATED: Learn how to infuse storytelling and great writing into all your communications at the Business Writing Summit.]

1. Person with a tail; winner of a reality show; safety deposit box; an email that cannot be unsent.
Chuck should have won the reality show. Should have. He had the most shocking reveal—that due to a genetic anomaly, he had been born with a tail. But that didn’t compare with Courtney, who spent four days trapped in a bank vault after a failed attempt to break into her ex-husband’s safety deposit box. Or with Chazz, who lost more than 200 pounds on a diet of couscous. It was official now. The announcement of the winner came by email. And that email could not be unsent.

2. Prisoner of war; royalty; the last one; reunited
Jack and Stephen—reunited after serving 20 years in prison for robbing a rare bookshop—had just finished the last beer in the bar. The last one. No more Miller Lite. No more Shiner. No more Dos Equis. No more Royalty Ginger Beer. They had drunk the hotel bar, Prisoner of War, completely dry.

3. Space alien disguised as a person; runner; regret; stranger’s diary
Jeffrey was surrounded by people disguised as space aliens, super heroes and movie stars. But regretfully, he did not see any runner dressed as a mermaid. That’s what the stranger from the plane had written in her diary: that she would be wearing a mermaid costume at the 10K on Saturday.

How about you, PR Daily readers? What can you do with these prompts: object of a crush; daydreamer; flashlight; plastic flowers?

Laura Hale Brockway is a regular contributor to PR Daily. Read more of her posts on writing, editing and corporate life at impertinentremarks.com.

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