Friday Prompt: Musical Inspiration

Often we can be inspired by a piece of music. Check out the music video below and watch it a couple of times close your eyes and really get a feel for the beat and lyrics. Then pull out a blank page and tell us a story inspired by the music. Minimum word count 500.

Friday Prompt: The Hunt

It's Black Friday the most dreaded day of the year for retail workers and the most looked forward to by bargin hunters. Today let's have some fun and write a flash fiction of any length about the hunt for an elusive gift item. Ready, set, write it!

Friday prompt: Visual

Take the visual prompt below and write a short story of at least 800 words. Have fun!

Remember for a great book or to submit your manuscript visit JLBCreatives.com

Friday Prompt: Story Starter

Happy All Hallow's Eve! Halloween is a favorite holiday, the ghost stories, the costumes, the candy! Let's celebrate this night before the ghosts come out by telling a scary story. It doesn't have to be completely scary. Horror is an awesome genre that can be completely frightening or mixed with comedy, action, mystery or even romance.

Begin your story with the story starter below and write at least 1000 words to tell your tale.

Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound came from inside the closet. Quietly, I crept toward the door ...


Happy scribbles and Happy Halloween! 

Stop by JLBCreatives.com for great reads for all ages or to submit your completed manuscript for possible publication! 

Friday Prompt: Character Study

This week let's think about characters. A great way to come up with character ideas is to Google images of people. You can choose to search for Steampunk Men or Femme Fatals or just a general search for random images. Portraits can tell you the story of that person if you take a few minutes to really look at it and listen to what they have to tell you. Here are a couple of "characters" to practice with or maybe they'll be in your next story. NaNoWriMo is coming up! 

Take a look at each one. What do they do for a living? Where are they from? What music do they have on their iPod or in their record collection? Are they married or are they a player? Ask more questions and design the perfect character for your story. 

Friday Prompt: A ride with Bones

This week we're going to tease your muse with an image and a dare. We dare you to write a 1,000 word or more flash fiction using the photo below for inspiration. Goodness weren't those Victorians strange?

As always be sure to stop by JLBCreatives.com to submit your manuscript or pick up a great book! 

Thursday Prompt: The yellow brick road leads to....

This week I'm challenging you with a photo prompt. Write a flash fiction of 500 words or more inspired by the photo below. Where does this road lead to? What's waiting at the end or inside the fog at the edges? Is it a dangerous journey or are your travelers safe as long as they stay on the yellow brick road?

Be sure to post a link to your story in the comments below or the comments section on the blog link on our Facebook page JLB Creatives Publishing.

Don't forget to stop by JLBCreatives.com for great books and cosplay accessories!

Thrusday Prompt: Junk Drawer Challenge

This week we're going to have a fun challenge and maybe find a few things we forgot we owned! It's time for a Junk Drawer Challenge! Every house or office has at least one. It might be a box, closet or other container instead of a drawer, but I can say for certain we all have a junk catcher somewhere. :)

For this challenge, you are going to go to that drawer full of inspiration and open it up. Don't take time to study the contents. Don't even look in the drawer if you're sure there's nothing dangerous to your fingers inside. You have five seconds to pick up three objects from different locations in the drawer. Yup, only five seconds. That keeps you from taking too much time or thinking about what you're picking up. You want your story inspirations to be purely random objects. Go on and grab your treasures I'll be waiting right here.

*Whistles and waits while you pick out your junk... er treasures.* Oh good you're back! Now let's sit down at the computer or with a notebook and examine your finds. Look at each object and think about what a character would do with it or use it for. Don't linger too long here just take five minutes or so to let your muse wonder on this.

Once the time is up open up a shiny new page and start writing using each of the objects in your story. You can use any genre or wordcount for this one. Most important have fun with it! Okay get writing I'm going to go raid my junk drawer for inspiration!

Thursday Prompt: Grab Bag

Happy Thursday! It's that time again! Let's have some fun with a grab bag of 15 words to use in a 1500 word flash fiction. The goal is to use all of the words in the randomly generated grab bag below in your story. The words can not be altered from their present form. They can be capitalized, that is the only alteration, but, can be used in any order. Ready? Okay here's your grab bag list check them out then get started on your next adventure.

Grab Bag list 

automobile
dandelion
description
Brazil
film
catcall
driven
proposition
authentic
intensity
dedicated
obsolete
risk
plantation
rose

Thursday Prompt: Audio

Listen to the music below at least twice with your eyes shut so there are no distractions. Only the sound coming into your ears for inspiration. If you can use headphones to block out any household or office sounds even better.

Let the music form a scene or picture in  your mind. Once it takes solid shape open a blank document and start writing. Write for at least 15 minutes without any editing. That means no backspacing to fix those lil squiggly lines until you're finished. :) What are you waiting for get writing! 

Don't forget to stop by JLBCreatives.com to see what's new! 

Thurday Prompt: Visual Prompt

This week we're challenging you to put your imagination to work creating a story from the image below. Minimum 350 word count, in any genre. Now what are you waiting for take a gander at the image and let's see what your muse comes up with :)

As always don't forget to visit our website for great reads and to submit your manuscript! JLBCreatives.com

Acrostic Prompt Fun!

Hello fans and followers - hope your summer is going nice and casual. Today we're going to have some fun with acrostic prose. Did you know that our epic fantasy author, Janet Beasley, actually used an acrostic prose piece in her Hidden Earth Series Volume 1 Maycly the Trilogy? She was inspired to do so from Lewis Carroll's acrostic poem found in Through the Looking Glass, written for Alice Pleasance Liddell. You'll find Janet's acrostic prose hidden in book one of the Maycly Trilogy, Two Altered Worlds.

What is acrostic prose you may ask? There are a couple of ways an acrostic prose can be written. It can be done by using the first letter of each sentence to create a phrase when read vertically. For example:

Some people wear them well
Most wear them in happy times
I myself wear one every morning
Like you I can't believe there are those who have never worn one
Everyone must choose at some point as to whether they will wear one or not

As you can see by the acrostic above the first letter of each line when read vertically reads SMILE.

Acrostics can also leave a hidden message using the entire first word of every line. For example:

Twas a dark and cold night
The air was crisp
Night had fallen and
Before he knew it
Christmas Eve had come 

As you can see in this example the first word of every sentence begins the popular seasonal prose, Twas the night before Christmas...

Now it's your turn to have some fun...we've created some acrostic prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Jot down (or copy and paste) the following and turn them into acrostic works, or create your own. Then, share them with us on our JLB Creatives Publishing Facebook page; look for the post titled Share Your Acrostic Talent with the photo shown here on the right (hint: it will be the post that is pinned to the top of the news feed) and post your acrostic as a comment.

Ready...GO!

Acrostic Prompt #1:

S
U
M
M
E
R
F
U
N

Acrostic Prompt #2:

C
O
O
K
O
U
T

Acrostic Prompt #3:

C
O
W
B
O
Y
B
O
O
T
S

Acrostic Prompt #4:

T
H
E
B
E
A
C
H

Acrostic Prompt #5:

And
I
Think
To
Myself
What
A
Beautiful
World

Acrostic Prompt #6:

The
Itsy
Bitsy
Spider
Climbed
Up
The
Waterspout 

Acrostic Prompt #7:

Row
Row
Row
Your
Boat
Gently
Down
The
Stream

Acrostic Prompt #8:

It
Was
A
Dark
And
Stormy
Night

See you on our Facebook Page! http://www.Facebook.com/JLBCreatives Look for the post pinned to the top titled: Share Your Acrostic Talent. 

Thursday Prompt: Grab bag

This week we're going to challenge you to write a 1,500 word minimum flash fiction of any genre you like using the following list of words in your story. The words and their tenses can not be altered you must use them as is. Some of these are real wing-dingers that will be a blast to use. Can't wait to see what you come up with! Just post a link to your story in the comments of this blog or the post on our FB page :) Now here's your list!

Grab Bag Story List:

Paparazzi
Global
Watched
Studebaker
Gingerbread
Newspaper Stand
Capture
Curtain
Email
Options
Dive
Chandelier

Thursday Prompt: Caged

Today we are challenging you to write a story from the point of view of an animal or creature in a cage. A hamster, bird, lion, maybe a fish in a tank or fish bowl. Your story can be silly, serious, or a combination of the two. Think about the point of view. What does a bird see from its perch? Does a hamster care that his owner is a goth who listens to loud death rock? Is the lion tired of eating stew and would like to have a bite of Stu?  Possibilities are endless with this point of view. So get writing and have fun! Minimum word count of 500 words.

Thursday Prompt: Camp Fire Stories

It's summer time a great time to pack your tent and head to the woods for some time away from technology and get back in tune with nature. Oh and make s'mores! Camping has many traditions but the best known tradition is telling stories around the campfire. Some are funny others are meant to make you zip your sleeping bag all the way up for safety.

Today we're going to have a little fun creating our own campfire legends. Here is a list of campfire songs to inspire your story. You can use the song title or theme in your story. It must be at least 500 words. Can't wait to hear your tales as we roast some marshmallows! Now here's that list.

“House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals
“Take Me Home, Country Roads” – John Denver
“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” – Harry Belafonte
 "Do Your Ears Hang Low?"
"Cat Came Back"
"Boa Constrictor"

Google song title for the full lyrics. There are many other campsongs to use out ther so if none of these spark an idea try searching for more. Have fun and don't let your s'mores get cold. :)

Thrusday Prompt: Audio

Sounds and music can be very inspirational. Music can help us get into the mood for a certain scene or spark a character or plot. For this story exercise sit back and close your eyes after hitting play on the piece below. Listen to it at least twice before you set your muse free on the page. What does it inspire? A car chase? A battle of wizards? Two crazy teens on skateboards taking over the town?

Have fun and write a story of at least 350 words inspired by the music below. 

Thursday Prompt: Superheroes

This week we're going to have a bit of fun playing with superhero fantasy.  Create an original superhero using the questionnaire below. Then write a story introducing your hero or heroine to the world with a minimum word count of 500 words.

The Mighty Isis

Superhero/heroine Questionaire

Name:
Species: (human, alien, animal and so on)
From: (from earth or another planet or plane of existence?)
Superpower/s:
How did they get their power/s?
Do they have a base of operations? ie the Batcave
Are they part of a group?
Do they have an alias?
Do they hold a day job as their alias?
What is their weakness? ie Superman's Kryptonite


There you have it a short formula for creating a superhero/heroine. Now get busy saving the world or universe! :) Need a little inspiration or a place for ideas? Try here the Superhero Database

Thrusday Prompt: Out of body

This week we're going to give the imagination a good workout. We're challenging you to write about an out of body experience. Something happened, maybe an accident, a psychic power awakens, or other cause for this phenomenon but, suddenly you find yourself walking around in spirit form outside your body.

What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see? Would you be mischievous, helpful, or just observe. Explore this idea in a flash fiction of at least 500 words.

Thursday Prompt: Art Interpretation

Paintings and sculptures like books tell a story. The wonderful thing about art is that the stories a work tells is up to the person viewing it. One person may see a painting very differently from another. That's one of the reasons art can be so inspirational for writers. We can take one image and create thousands of stories from it.

This week that's exactly what we're going to do.... well one story, not thousands. :) There are three paintings below choose one and study it for a while. Take a paragraph or two of notes about the people or things in the work. How does it make you feel? What do you think the person or people are feeling or thinking? After your study session take a five-minute break then come back and look at your chosen painting and notes. 

Now you're ready to tell the tale that you see envisioned in oils, watercolor, charcoal, or clay. 

Artist: Bartolomé González y Serrano

Artist: Frida Kahlo

Artist: Victor Figol

Thursday Prompt: Battle Sound

For this prompt you will write a battle scene inspired by the music below. Your scene can be set in any era, time or place. Minimum word count 1,500 words. That's not a lot for a scene like this, battles can be wordy. :) Below is your inspiration. Can't wait to see what you do with it!