INKsters Competitive Writers Literary Salon 
Daily Writing Prompts for July 2008
Use these prompts to develop a portfolio of your unique vision as an author. Share your results with others and brighten their lives. Choose only ONE prompt each day and submit your 500 word (max) assignment in Second Life before midnight. We encourage you to copy and paste your entry onto the blog comments. All items posted on this blog are for private study, scholarship, or research only. Clicking on images will enlarge them.
Click HERE for a text-only version to print and carry with you.

Obstacles
What obstacle, real or imagined, is standing in the way of you and success? Imagine a friend of yours (or one of your own characters) and create a dream for them and a stumbling block for their pathway to achieving that dream.

Burning Globe
She sat across the river watching as the Globe went up in flames and as she flicked her Zippo open and closed she thought ...   

Torture
What tortures you? Who tortures you? If you could torture somebody else, who would it be and why?.

The Tower
The storm finally cleared out and the two inhabitants of the tower returned to their work. By morning ...    

Video Games
What's great about your favorite video game? Does your family know about your SL obsession? Is your grand father a violent person?

Let's Go
Nestled behind the control panel of the massive dirigible, and still slightly drunk from the night before, she ...

Whatever It Takes
Did you ever do something questionable to get ahead? Who do you know with a lot of power and what makes them tick? Can you be bought? 

Black Widow
He'd be arriving within the hour, and her plans were complete, so she flipped the television on for some company, now if only ...

Stickman
How thin is thin enough? Describe your ideal employee; your ideal boss. Got a good hangman story to relate? 

Jesus He's Big
The police swarmed the bottom of the giant statue, but the three didn't intend to be taken alive. No, their plans ...

Pyrrhic Victory
When is losing winning? When is winning losing? Name a time when you've attempted to reclaim something lost. 

Gentle Giant
He'd made a terrible miscalculation of scale when he arrived on Earth, and despite being impeccably dressed, he towered above the terrified inhabitants. Even hiding in the woods ...

Anxiety Notes
How do you handle your anxieties? What are you afraid of? What are you nervous about right now? 

Purple Observations
From his observatory, he could see into the deep corners of the universe, but what he didn't see ...

Bad Dinner
What was your least pleasant meal lately? What was your most pleasant? Describe a bar that has great food by your house. Visit an ugly bar by your house you've never been to and describe it. 

Sunset
The flying whale docked below the windmill as the sun set behind the haunted house and ...

Ugly
What is your favorite part of your body? What is your least favorite part? If you could take somebody in for plastic surgery, who would it be and what would the doctors do? 

Defiance
She stood outside of her towers watching the armies gather in the valley below and she thought ...

Steroids
Ever cheat? Ever have a weird side effect? How do you feel about baseball? What do you do to enhance your performance?

Winkenberry
"Winkenberry," she said to her robot, "I think I'm falling in love with you, and I know you're just a machine." Winkenberry calculated his response and said ...

Cookbooks
Discuss your favorite recipe. Write out a recipe with literary flair. Who is your favorite TV chef?

Monkeys and Me
She knew it could only lead to disaster, but she did it anyway. She followed the two giant monkeys to their obelisk and ...

Marriage
Ever regret being married? Ever know anybody who did? Describe a marriage that should end soon.

InfoHub
He arrived at the greeting area where a stunning woman sauntered up to him, struck a pose and said ...

Whack a Mole
Describe a trip to a game room where you or your character ends up in big trouble. Who would you whack with a rubber mallet if you could and why?

Perfectly Purple
Everything in her life was perfect. The colors matched, the furnishings were dramatic yet useful. The only thing she needed now was ...

Pesky Novelists
Where will you move when you've written your famous novel? What are the negative effects of your interest in writing?

Dance Hall
It was 4 a.m. and a few dancers still clung to one another as the dawn began to threaten outside. She knew she shouldn't leave the building alone, but ...

Tunnel of Jerks
Who is your favorite jerk? How's your love life going? If you had a paddle boat, where would you like to ride it?

Angelic Intervention
Being divine seemed like a lot of fun at first, but Candice and Jessica soon learned the struggles they'd face as the angelic protectors of Earth would be ...

Book Club
What's your book club reading? What are you reading in bed? Who would you like to invite into your bed?

Book of Doom
She lingered in the opulent mansion alone with a novel she'd found on the back of a toilet in a local coffee shop, but the book seemed to be describing ...

Proactive
If you were looking out for your own interest, who would be worth eliminating? Ever been stabbed in the back? Do tell!!

Ivory Tower
He sat smoking his pipe and staring out of the window. He felt confident to the point of arrogance. Then there came a knock on the door ...

Inventive
Describe how you'd be inventive. Describe a time when you tried and failed. Describe a time you horrified somebody.

Dancing with Irons
They loved that song and they leaped into the center of the floor and began jitterbugging like two young fools. Little did they know Cleetus next door purchased a video camera with a telephoto lens earlier in the day and ...

Mom and Dad
Who do you blame? Who do you celebrate? Who loved you more, mom or dad?

Bath Time
Alone in the tub, she felt serene as if she'd escaped a lifetime of agony, and then she heard something rattle outside the bathroom door and ...

Thanks Kid
Describe a day at the beach. Tell us a sandcastle story. Who is king of your castle in the sand?

Big Bear
The bear looked friendly enough scurrying around in their kitchen as he tore the cabinet doors off, but when the bear realized he was being watched, he turned and stood on his hind legs and ...

House Arrest
What criminal would you like to meet? Where would you hide if you escaped?

Splash
The morning sun and the cool water invited her to leap from the side of the speedboat, and yet ...

Sirens
What type of woman (or man) would lure you to your doom? What song do you find irresistable? Tell your "naked at the beach" story.

Caged
He collected them in cages. They seemed so unhappy but he still wanted to own them. The latest one was the pretty one and ...

Bad Aim
Ever miss your mark? Ever get in trouble for making a mess of things?

The Gazebo
They met in the gazebo away from the others just as the sun began to shrink away from the day and he ...

Ouch
You've broken a bone, cut yourself, needed surgery, or endured some other physical malady. Let's hear the story.

The Warden
Through the rusted bars and down the groaning metal corridor, the warden could hear the breathing of the only inmate in the ward. "I'm going to play a game tonight," the warden thought, and ...

Depression
How do you deal with sadness? How do you deal with the airlines? How do you deal with the nightly news?

Amusement Park
He'd fled into the abandoned amusement park, and ...

Novelty Chair
You've just been given a free makeover from the Crazy Furniture Funny Club. They're going to give you all new furniture. What do you end up owning?

When the Levee Breaks
She lived just below the Sugarloaf dam in a home where she held dinner parties for the notable members of society, but tonight's dinner would take an unexpected turn and change them all forever ...

Spring Cleaning
Who do you know who needs a good scrubbing? What's your relationship with laundry? What do you wish was brighter in your life?

Fighter Plane
He'd been running and running and when he found the old fighter plane in the old airport hanger he knew it was his one chance, so he ...

Selling Out
How have you sold out? What do you fetch? If dogs could talk among themselves, what would they say?

Skeletons and Flowers
Being dead was only the half of it. He still had an eye for beauty and a heartbreaking need to share his visions, nevertheless ...

Liking Trucks
Have you ever complicated something simple? Have you ever bought into gender stereotypes? How do you feel about trucks and sandboxes?

Sonata
The new piano arrived early in the morning and now as sunset approached his playing seemed to miraculously improve and something otherworldly took over his body. ...

Take That!
What do you have that's way better than somebody else's? What's your dream car?

Diabolical
Behind the unkempt facade of the creepy old mansion a quiet man hoped to escape the turmoil of his life, but just outside in the trees lurked a diabolical young woman whose latest petulant plan would ...  

My Oh My
How big is your pencil?

Station Break
He'd been running his run-down service station the same way for so many years he couldn't begin to adapt with the changes the world kept bringing to his little corner of the world, and so one night, he ...