Come for the Mysteries. Stay for the Characters.
One more speculative fiction prompt to finish my monthly theme. What’s the story? Here’s mine.
The wyvern flapped its enormous wings, forcing the smaller draco into cartwheels. But the draco used its superior speed to fly behind the wyvern and shoot its hotter flame at the back of the wyvern’s head.
I grabbed the battle ax from the deck. What a homecoming.
What’s the story you can imagine for this picture? Here’s mine:
Where’d that creature come from? I’d seen them at the surface but never down here before.
Our eyes locked, and I pressed closer. So strange. It looked nothing like me and yet I could see something recognizable in those tiny eyes.
My brother clicked behind me, and I clicked back.
“Don’t waste your time with that long-finned fish.” His clicks crackled like sand abrading my skin.
“I don’t think they are fish.” I flicked my tail to move closer and hit something smooth.
The creature reached out one of its fins. I tried to touch it with my nose, but it felt as smooth the area I’d hit above it.
“Let’s go!” My brother spun away.
To the creature, I clicked, “I’ll be back.” I turned, my head full of questions.
How about a science fiction prompt to kick off your week? What’s the story for this photo? I chose this one because it is clearly a science fiction setting with the spaceship, but there’s also a castle in the background. I like the contrast, and that ignited my imagination. Here’s my story:
The rust bucket hit the planet with all the grace an ancient space shuttle.
“If our mission is so important,” I flipped switches to cut the steam billowing from a burst tube, “why didn’t the Government give us a decent ship?”
Haney stared at me. “You’re trying to make sense of the Government?”
“Sorry,” I said through clenched teeth. “Don’t know what came over me.” I stared out the window, past the iron formations to a castle straight out of a fairy tale. “This is a wasted trip. Senator Allus quit and came to the backend of the galaxy to build that thing and live by himself. He’s not going to help the Government, no matter what the crisis is.”
Haney lowered his eyebrows. “Do you know there’s a crisis?”
“No. But why else would the Government send us to get somebody who’s made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with anybody?”
“Good question.” His voice was quiet as he gazed at the spires rising against the purple clouds of methane.
My featured author this week is Ronnel Kay Gibson, whose short story “Those Who Stayed” in Christmas fiction off the beaten path, is a drama centered around a life-changing question.
My prompt isn’t the same question, but I thought I’d choose one that had similar consequences. Your main characters is alone by a body of water and sees someone who looks like he’s drowning. What does she do?
If she’s a strong swimmer, does she try to rescue him? What if she isn’t? Does she still try? Should she try to get help? Or risk her life? The answers depend on your character, whether the incident is at the beginning, middle, or end of your plot, and what theme you are trying to explore. If the drowning or near-drowning kicks off a story, I’ll treat it differently than if it was the climax.
So what’s the story you imagine from this photo?
This prompt ties in with the short story guest blogger Sandra Merville Hart will be writing about on Thursday. “Not This Year” is a family drama, set in the 1980’s. But family drama is timeless.
This photo grabbed my attention because no one in it looks happy, and a few people look decidedly unhappy. What is story behind this family’s trip to the grocery store? Here’s my version.
What was I thinking? When has going shopping with the kids ever gone well? And I had the bright idea of bringing two nieces along. If one more kid complains, I am out of here, and I’ll give Mom and Dad a gift card for their anniversary instead of a party.
JPC Allen Writes