Haunting Shadows

What is an epic anyway? https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Epic Character:  The richest person in the world Material:  A cowboy hat Sentence:  "It's too hot." Bonus:  There is a great storm. An Empty Man All the money in the world couldn't predict when a heat storm was going to strike. A side effect of severe warming brought on by the farming and the fossil fuel industries, both great monopolies owned by a single man - Bruce Kingston. The man came from a long line of Kingstons all trying to find their place in the world. Despite their hard work, none found success until Leonard Kingston - Bruce's great grandfather. Leonard came along and spun up the capitalist machine, making Kingstons the richest family in the world. Thanks to the efforts of his ancestors Bruce never had to do a thing. He was born into fame, riches, and millions of employees all working for him like a well oiled machine. His father always said "If i...

Hey readers. I had a very busy, fun weekend, meaning little sleep, but I gotta get back into my usual schedule! Let's not be a lazeball and get right to it. https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Drama Character:  A desperate girlfriend Material:  A bowler hat Sentence:  "Maybe we should just kiss to break the tension." Bonus:  Your character is fearless to the point of stupidity. Pizza and Candles It would be all over if the beast were to reach it's lair. Using all of it's limbs to full effect, the monster was quickly climbing down the vertical wall, seconds away from reaching it's destination. Despite it's speed, father was the faster one. Moments before the spider disappeared behind the couch, to be feared by all for at least a week, dad valiantly leaped across the room, one slipper hand, the other flying off his foot, and slammed the poor thing against the wall. As dad fell onto the couch, he grinned back at ever...

Hey readers. It's time to write something new. I haven't written crime before! Let's try to make at least one character into an ok character and describe at least a bit of the world. And, you know, get to the actual meat and potatoes of the story, the crime? Coolio, let's goooo! https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Crime Character:  A cowardly fireman Material:  A saxophone Sentence:  "There is no time." Bonus:  There is a great storm A Dog's Burden The rabbit was completely out of breath, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest. As he turned down another dirty alley, he realized that it was all over. He hit a dead end. The rabbit pressed himself into the cold brick wall, his body sliding down, his knees weak from fear. There was no point in screaming, the city streets were filled with constant howling. Without any hope, he looked up, his lower lip trembling at the thought of what's to come. The sky was beaut...

Guys!!! Another comedy, are you ready for this train wreck? It is going to be SO GOOD. I love writing comedy right before sleep. Especially after working all day and working out after, FULL OF CREATIVE ENERGY LET'S GOOOO! I'm so good at complaining, I GOTTA be good at comedy, mirite? Let's do this boys and girls. https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Comedy Character:  A jock Material:  A desk Sentence:  "It's too warm." Bonus:  Your character is fearless to the point of stupidity. Chad Chad was making faces at himself in the mirror. He looked so mean, it made him giggle. He had an image to keep up, and it wasn't all that easy and effortless. He earned his place, and the rest of the losers didn't - simple as that. "Yeah, it's so warm outside. Awesome." It was the perfect weather for his favorite outfit. Chad slicked back his hair, put on his favorite khaki shorts and his varsity jacket and went out t...

Hey hey, we made it to post number 20! I didn't know if this writing experiment was going to catch on, but it clearly did, and I've been writing almost consistently. I haven't published a story every single day I planned to, but life happens, just gotta keep writing. This has been successful. I feel like I'm getting better bit by bit and learning a ton! Let's move on to this week's topic. We are going back to random generation this time around. Going to write something simple, to get away from the complex story I came up with when doing The Entire Life of Brooke. That was definitely a big undertaking, even if it didn't seem like it. Now, one thing I can't figure out for the life of me, is what the heck is a seasonal genre? I guess I'll write about Christmas! https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Seasonal Character:  A struggling musician Material:  A saxophone Sentence:  "It was her!" Bonus:  Your charac...

Hey there readers! Part 3 has been written over three separate chunks of 30 min so far. About to be four! I wanted this story to be done in three parts, yet part 3 just kept on getting more and more difficult to nail. I have written and re-written parts, shuffled them around, changing the order of events, scrapped ideas, etc. The main idea never changed though, the original concept always stayed the same, which is awesome! Let's just jump into this and see where we get. The goal is to get to the main idea of the story all out in the third part, and leave it hanging there. Without the main bits introduced, it won't feel right to just stop thinking about this world. The Entire Life of Brooke (Part 3) As Brooke's initial excitement subsided, she skeptically scrolled through the Oven's logs from last night. The Oven was a long term project the girl came up with to try and do something good for the world. At least that was the surface reason, that's what she told an...

Hey guys, I never really got past the introductions in Brooke's story last week, so I decided to continue writing, so I could at least flesh out the world, and the main plot more. I have been listening to a writing podcast recently, as well as some Japanese culture podcasts, as I am learning Japanese, as well as videogame ones, design ones, music design ones... Basically, I'm really into podcasts, so I was delighted to learn there are plenty of them out there on the subject of writing! What I'm trying to get to, is that as I was listening to this podcast, I discovered something about myself, which made all the sense in the world, but just wan't something I previously thought was a thing, or was ever a possibility. I found out that I am a discovery writer. What that means, is that the world, the characters and the plot in my stories only become clear to me as I start writing. I am pretty bad at outlines, and that's what I always got hung up on whenever I wanted t...

Today I decided to not have my prompt be generated, since there have been a few repeat parts, the generator is not an infinite resource. I decided to ask someone to come up with the prompt for me, and they did! Well, let's dig in! Genre:  Sci-fi Character:  A lazy teenager Material:  A mug Sentence:  "No way." Bonus:  The supporting character is flamboyant. The Entire Life of Brooke Brooke didn't need to do much. The world was more or less designed to be effortless. From the moment of her birth till now, everything had already been figured out. It was our nature to design tools, but she always thought that humanity has gone overboard hundreds of years ago. Humans evolved to be challenged, so of course in an over-designed world - this challenge was supposed to be perfectly tailored to you. Unfortunately, as with all things made for the mass market, not everyone fit the generic templates. Brooke was one of the people whom the system had no idea what to...

Hey hi hello. So this is different. Military? Flight Attendant? DELICIOUS SLIPPERS? I'm freaking out guys, what is this even going to be about? Well, let's find out, shall we? https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Military Character:  A stewardess Material:  A pair of slippers Sentence:  "This is delicious!" Bonus:  Your story involves a damsel in distress. The Dream Hacker At 1600 on the dot I walked on board of the civilian vessel where the operation was going to take place. I felt uncomfortable, like a fish out of water. Instead of the standard military uniform, I had to wear the standard flight attendant attire provided by the airline. It consisted of cheap plastic heels, a pair of itchy tights, a skirt and a very tight blouse. This was a far cry from the form fitting, heat regulating uniforms of the modern military, but such was the nature of an undercover operation. Blending in took priority over both comfort and fre...

OH BOY, it will be interesting to try and write a comedy. Especially when I am a tired potato trying to write at 11 pm. The prompt details sound pretty out there though, so maybe I'll even make ONE JOKE (gasp). Here we go! https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Comedy Character:  A hot-shot CEO Material:  A frisbee Sentence:  "Shut up." Bonus:  There seems to be no one left on the planet. Well, He Tried Richard was ready for another beautiful day of leading his mighty company. He wasn't a very experienced CEO, but he really did try his best. It was an unlikely string of events that led him to being reluctantly promoted, and he still couldn't believe the position he was in. He was grateful, of course, maybe too grateful, considering the circumstances. You see, Richard used to be the late CEO's assistant, and there was nobody else in the entire company who knew the CEO and his strategies as well as Dick, which was step nu...

https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Children Character:  A soldier Material:  Paint Sentence:  "Not for you." Bonus:  There is a great storm. A Day in the Life of Danny Danny was walking down the sidewalk with his head down, quietly fuming. Just a few minutes ago he was yelled at by his mom for staying out too long, and something about bread and lunch. He didn't really pay much attention to the second part, Danny was too busy feeling bad for himself. Like it was his fault the game of hide and seek took so long, he thought. If his friends weren't so bad at the game, and didn't spend twenty whole minutes looking for him, Danny wouldn't be in this mess right now. On top of everything they called him a cheater, when he wasn't doing anything like that! It wasn't his fault the boys didn't think of hiding inside that abandoned garage. "It's too dangerous" they said. And what did he get as a reward ...

Adventure Hiatus (part 2) Lancelot the cat gave his human companion an inquisitive look, as inquisitive as he could muster with his little cat face. It was hard to emote in a way humans understood. "Cal, what is that?" Callahan cleared his throat and began to read the letter he just picked up from the table. "Ahoy adventurers! According to our resident wizards meteorologists, the winter ahead is going to be long, cold, and trying. We suggest you cease any of your current quests. At the time of sending out the messenger eagles with this message, we are going to shut down the guild assignment center, meaning you will not be able to pick up any further assignments. We suggest you spend the upcoming weeks seeking shelter, and stocking up on supplies required to get through this upcoming monstrosity in one piece. Treat this as your next assignment! In case you find yourself in the vicinity of our headquarters, stop by! We are always willing to help, otherwise, see you ...

An adventuring adventurer goes on an adventure! Good times, lets go! https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Adventure Character:  Adventurer Material:  A very old sofa Sentence:  "I can't see you." Bonus:  Winter is long and extremely cold. Adventure Hiatus Lancelot the cat was lazily spread out on the ancient, creaky sofa right next to the fireplace. He was half sleeping, half lazily staring at the sausage the adventurer sitting next to him has been slowly biting away at between page turns. The cat didn't really want the sausage, the hut had a huge supply of mice hiding in every corner, taking shelter from the long harsh winter outside. It was more of a bored curiosity. As sad as it was, besides throwing fresh logs into the always burning fireplace, that fat, juicy sausage was probably the most exciting thing that Lancelot had laid his eyes on in months. Suddenly, the adventurer shut the book, the cover of which read "A...

OH BOY, I'm not sure I'm all about writing a children story, I'm not entirely sure is this is all that helpful, but it's worth a try! I guess the main focus here will be to use simple concepts and an interesting story to teach a lesson? Well, let's try https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Children Character:  A crazy ice cream maker Material:  A music instrument Sentence:  "Not for you." Bonus:  Your character has lost someone dear. The Crazy Ice Cream Maker There once lived a boy who really loved ice cream. The only thing he loved more than ice cream, was his flute! The boy wasn't very good at playing the flute quite yet, he only got it last Christmas, but he loved playing it anyway, and tried very hard to be just a little bit better every single day. Every weekend, the ice cream truck would drive by the boy's house, always playing the same happy, simple jingle. Each time he would hear the jingle, the b...

Sup internet, I'm feeling better today! I am not lacking energy as I have been the past few days, and I'm excited for the weekend to begin. Today is going to be a bit of an exception to the regular writing exercise, as today's prompt has issued an interesting challenge. As I have mention previously, the writing prompt generator gives me all the information I usually list out before the short story, but it also gives me another constraint - a word count. Generally it ranges from 600 to 900 words, but I don't take it into consideration, since I have given myself a 30 minute limit to come up with and start writing the story. I use time instead of word counts to limit myself. Today the word count kind of surprised me, so I figured it would be a fun change of pace and an interesting challenge to write a story in only 50 words. Every single word is going to have to count. I will try to wrap up the entire thing in 50 words without including an "out of time" section. ...

Sup internet, I am still feeling kind of sick, but that's a perfect time to catch up on my writing. Sure, I might not be as motivated, and my head might be a little foggy, but that doesn't mean I can't write something decent! Does it? I guess there are many other hurdles in my way. The main two being my lack of writing expertise, as well as, and more importantly, a lack of reading I do day to day. Sure, I read things on the internet, but reading narratives is a while different beast. The only stories I consume these days are video game narratives and occasional films. I should institute a reading schedule on top of my writing one! Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Here is the prompt! https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Drama Character:  An archivist Material:  A computer Sentence:  "You're an idiot." Bonus:  Your character is imprisoned. Jumping Chip I was exhausted. It's been a long time since I've gotten ...

Sup internet, I have been trying my best to adhere to a specific schedule for writing this, specifically doing one story three times a week - every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This weekend I turned 26, and decided to celebrate it in Canada! So all the celebrating and traveling ended up offsetting my writing schedule a bit. Instead of Monday, I'm writing today, and hopefully tomorrow! I hope this odd feeling I'm experiencing right now isn't the flu, and I'll be feeling way better tomorrow. https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Fairy Tale Character:  An archivist Material:  A shield Sentence:  "I'm sorry." Bonus:  Your character is loved by everyone The Tale of a Forgetful Boy A long time ago in a kingdom far far away lived a little boy named Sam. Everyone he ever met always knew his name, and it always surprised the boy. Of course, there was nothing surprising about it. Sam's mother made the most beautiful shi...

This past weekend I have done a lot of reflection on my writing so far, and I realized just how much work is left to be done. I need to improve my ability to develop a coherent plot and multi-layered characters. I also need to get better at descriptions of certain things, and leaving out the unimportant information. Finally, I realized that my sentence structure and certain punctuation doesn't lend itself to easy reading and deep immersion. I tend to make sentences way longer than they need to be. This leads to each thought (each sentence) being too big of a chunk of information to properly process by the readers. This is something that tends to take people out of the reading experience and pay more attention to the fact that this is a hell of a long sentence and not really what the sentence was about. Anyway, without further ado - A DRAMA! Where the character is NOT shipwrecked. This random generator needs to get just a little bit more random. https://thestoryshack.com/tools/...

https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/ Genre:  Fairy Tale Character:  An ice cream addict Material:  A fridge Sentence:  "Whoopsidaisies!" Bonus:   Your character is fearless to the point of stupidity. Hazel and the Ice-Cream Giants Long time ago, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a girl named Hazel. She lived in a small wooden cabin at the foot of a big tall mountain inhabited by giants. Every once in a while Hazel would leave her cabin to play with kids in a town nearby, and to get some ice-cream - her favorite treat. Her grandfather used to bring her ice-cream from the giants at the very top of the mountain when she was but a little girl, but now that she was more grown up and responsible, so she decided to start getting her own from the town. In the past grandpa used to bring her treats only a few times a year. While he was friends with the giants, they weren't kind to most humans, and grandpa didn't want to insist...