Tag: Photo prompt for inspiring setting

Start a Story with this Scene

Start a Story with this Scene

To start a story with this scene, I’m going to repeat an exercise I used in some writing prompts a couple of years ago. Look at the scene and imagine what you as the character see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. Make a list like the one below.

  • Sights–Dark, the full moon throws weird shadows and odd silver light
  • Sounds–hushed, still, creepy quiet, drips from soaked pine trees
  • Touch–cold, damp, no wind
  • Smells–dampness, maybe musty, cold enough to make your nose run, pine
  • Taste–?

Now that you have a list of sensations, you can select which ones you want to build into your description to set the scene as you start your story. Here’s mine.

My steps sounded like thunder claps as every time I broke a stick on the dirt path. The air was still. Not a breath of wind. The woods were eerily quiet too. No scurrying animals or bird calls. Only the steady drip from the drenched pine needles.

The light of the full moon was eerie too, layering a silver light over every edge that made the entire forest look not quite real.

No wonder a full moon night was supposed to be the only night the castle appeared.

Your turn. How would you start a story with this scene?

For more prompt for speculative fiction, click here.

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Who Will You Create for This Setting?

For this month’s last prompt about setting, I chose a picture with no characters in it. I’d like you to let it spark your creativity and people it with characters you like.

So who will you create for this setting? Maybe you need to select a genre first. The setting could work with just about any of them. Newly engaged woman in 1880’s New York City is waiting for her fiancé. A father who runs a bed-and-breakfast in an old Victorian house receives devastating news. The domed flower arrangement is actually a powerful weapon, and a curious child enters the room.

I usually start with characters. My first thought was an old woman. The home has been in her family for over one hundred years, and she decorates it in antiques. She is the wealthiest person in her small town.

Since I love mysteries, I’ve decided that the old woman is sitting in this room when the chief of police and another officer stop by. They’ve been investigating a series of murders, and the chief believes the old woman knows more than she’s telling. Fully aware that this interview may cost him his job, the chief walks into the room.

Who will you create for this setting? I’d love to hear your ideas!

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