Month: February 2016

My first writing prompt and my response.

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Hello,

I attempted a writing prompt yesterday, my first don’t you know, which was as follows:

‘One lazy Sunday afternoon, with the sun trying to push its way through your carefully closed curtains, your favourite mythical creature crashes through the window and pleads with you to help them with a quest. Because, naturally, you are the only one who can help. So,

Which mythical creature is it?

Why that particular creature?

And, what is the quest?’

Today in work I decided that I would attempt to write off the back of my own prompt. Just to see if it’s any good and, not being biased of course, but I believe it to be the best prompt EVER.

I would appreciate any feedback regarding this prompt. Is it good? Bad? Indifferent? I’ve enjoyed creating it so I may make it a regular thing. Anyway, here is what I came up with from my prompt.

‘Which mythical creature is it?

Dragon. More specifically, a sleep-walking male dragon named Stephanie. His owner does not believe in gender specific names and believes that any name can be given to anyone, especially a twenty-foot dragon.

Why that particular creature?

I’ve enjoyed seeing dragons in films and TV shows and reading about them as well. When creating this particular dragon I remembered how most of the dragons I had seen or read were either angry villains or bloody ‘magic’ dragons. I wanted a change and I think I’ve accomplished that.

And, what is the quest?’

Stephanie has climbed through the window of our hero’s, John’s, front room and pleads with him to help him carry a wooden chest filled with sacred scrolls to the dragon homeland. The scrolls contain spells which hide the dragon world from the human one. The spells were originally cast two thousand years ago, are beginning to fade and must be recited again in order to keep the dragons safely hidden. Without the spells, how would the human world react? The risk is too great and they need to be kept hidden.

The dragon chose John because the portal to the dragon homeland is located in Woodley, a small village where John grew up. John knows Woodley better than most and the dragon knows this as well. The dragon has watched John grow up and followed him as he left Woodley when he became fully grown. Stephanie finds that John is much like him, laid back and intelligent and a quick thinker with bags of unfulfilled potential, and sees him as a kindred spirit. John is scared for his life and agrees to go along with the quest through fear but quickly realises that the dragon could have killed him at any time and seems very nice. But, how can John sneak a twenty-foot dragon from Salford, Manchester to 10 miles away in Woodley? The dragon squeezed through a small window, what else can he squeeze through? How small can he make himself? John contemplates this and more as he sets off inexplicably with a dragon named Stephanie on a quest to save the dragon homeland.

 

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My first attempt at a…Writing Prompt!

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Writing Prompt

Hello,

I’m currently doing a ‘Blogging 101’ course, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. Each day since 8th February I’ve been given a task to do that is designed to help to improve my blog (hopefully) and expand my audience (such as, following a certain amount of blogs I’m interested in, engaging more with the blogs I follow) and personal knowledge of what I can do with my blog behind the scenes (adding widgets and changing themes). Though this all probably sounds simple enough to do I have been neglecting my blog recently so it has helped me out immensely.

The latest assignment is too create a writing prompt. Now, I’ve answered many a prompt before but never actually created one. If it sounds too easy then I’ll make up a harder one next time. It is my first go after all. Alright, here it goes…

One lazy Sunday afternoon, with the sun trying to push its way through your carefully closed curtains, your favourite mythical creature crashes through the window and pleads with you to help them with a quest. Because, naturally, you are the only one who can help. So,

Which mythical creature is it?

Why that particular creature?

And, what is the quest?

Thank you in advance for those of you who take part. Go nuts with it and see what happens.

Hope to read your responses soon.

Getting back to blogging basics. Let me (re)introduce myself.

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Hello,

Back in 2012, March 7th to be exact, I published my first ever blog post. This went as follows:

‘

Well, I’ve took the plunge and created my own blog. Its use is to either:

  1. Read other writers blogs and stories and maybe have them do the same for me.
  2. Rant about stuff.

But which do i do first?

‘

Short and sweet and to the point. Well, two points. Point 2 hasn’t happened that much as I don’t tend to rant that often. However, point 1 still rings true today. I want to read other authors blogs and stories. I want to do this to try and take in all kinds of styles and genres that may help me when I come to do my own writing.

Then, there’s the maybe.

I like the word maybe. When used correctly it can invoke intrigue and suspense. Or at least, I hope it can. But, when I used it in my first blog post ‘maybe have them do the same for me’, it was used incorrectly. In fact, it should not have been used at all. Now, I very much want other authors and non-authors alike to read my stories and blog posts so I can converse with them and learn and grow when it comes to my writing. Happily, I have made that clear since March 2012 and I speak to authors regularly but not as often as I’d like. But I would like to increase the amount of people I speak to.

So, I decided to take a ‘Blogging 101’ course to try and improve my chances and move my blog forward. The course’s first assignment is to introduce myself. As you can see, I’ve already done that but I would like to do this again. If you let me. And…

Good evening,

My name is John Robert Sermon and I’m from Stockport, Greater Manchester, UK. I have been writing on and off since 2001. With more emphasis on the off. But since 2009, I started to write more and more until March 2012 when I started this blog. Since then, I have written 21 stories (3 novels and 18 short ones) and this number is growing. I would like to use this blog to share those stories and the process I go through when I write them. I would also like to read other blogs and stories and interact with other authors.

I would like this blog to help me to improve my writing and to talk to some like-minded people.

There you have it. Happy re-meet you again. Now, back to the writing.

Bye!