Day 141 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a childhood experience that changes your character’s life.

Erin: “What’s your secret?”

I thought about what the interviewer was asking. I tried to think of something profound, but all I could think was “my mom.”

“Aww,” she cooed.

I didn’t retract my statement though, because it was true. My mom loved me enough for a lifetime before I was even 12. In her doing that I learned to love myself. The confidence that came with that made me “inspiring” to young women. It was a sad truth, but for that reason I was ecstatic to have the mom that I did so I could be the person I was.

Shannon: “You’re weird, we don’t want you here. Just go home and leave us alone,” Ruby giggled looking down at me from the top slide, still declaring herself queen of the jungle gym. Her two suck-up friends were blocking me from even placing a hand on their newly claimed territory.

They were her puppets, and in the past I used to be too, but looking at it from this angle it didn’t make sense anymore. Why did we always let Ruby tell us what to do, and why did we always let her decide who got singled out everyday? I liked having friends to play with, but we only ever played her games. They weren’t fun and they usually just ended with someone running away crying. Beforehand she had never picked on me, so I could easily let it go. “Fine, I’ll start my own kingdom,” I shouted back. “Feel free to join me the next time she kicks you out,” I directed my offer to Harper and Riley before heading over to my bike. “In my kingdom everyone gets to be queen, or whatever they want to be,” I shouted as I rode off.

That day I vowed to never let anyone make me feel that small and powerless ever again.

How has your character’s past changed their present?

Day 140 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a forbidden relationship.

Shannon: We talked through the fence. I pretended to read, back pressed against the wood and he’d pretend to be working on fixing up an old moped and other pieces of broke down junk that was never going to work. We were told never to speak to each other again, after our families got into a big fight. It’s not that we thought the fight was stupid, I mean it was both of their livelihoods that the other was jeopardizing, but fraternizing with the enemy’s child didn’t seem like such a big deal to either of us. We didn’t think we were doing anything wrong, and we didn’t understand how it would ever work for us to stop being friends.

I peaked through the hole in the fence nonchalantly to get a peak at him, in case anyone was watching from the window. As far as they would know this was just my favorite reading spot. “You still working on that moped,” I smirked, book blocking my mouth.

“You still reading the same book,” he responded with the other end of our own greeting to let the other know the coast was clear. We had our own secret language and code words. We made sure nobody else would ever know, and that’s what made our bond so strong, because we were the only two people who could keep it alive.

Erin: The problem that I had with the government genetic modifications was that they thought they knew too much. They thought they knew that I a girl of my status would never give a guy of his status a chance. But I did. Not only did I give him a chance, I fell in love with him. Our chemistry was toxic when mixed though. I didn’t care tough. I let him hold me and I held him. While we were comforting each other we were also killing each other. However, I would rather live a short passionate life than a long life of nothing.

Write about what you shouldn’t be allowing.

Day 139 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a group traveling together.

Erin: “I can’t take it anymore!”

“I know,” my sister agreed.

The RV was starting to make me claustrophobic. Too many family members in one place lead to be slowly being driven to insanity. “I’m hungry,” my cousin started grumbling.

“We just went a buffet,” I reminded.

“I only had two plates,” he argued and I scoffed.

“Can’t you give us the back room alone for two minutes?”

“You already had your two minutes. I need time away from my mom too.”

We all needed time away from everyone. When there was clunking sound and we rolled to a stop I feared that was not going to be a reality for a long while.

Shannon: When I was younger I used to wonder what it was like to travel with the cast of a musical, now years later I finally landed myself a spot on a tour, and I’m living out my fantasy. We spend a lot of time in buses, planes, and hotel rooms always flocking together in one big herd. I like traveling with the group, it reminds me of school field trips. The way they can make you feel small, yet important at the same time. Considering you can get lost so easily exploring, but no one would ever let you get left behind.

We are familiar with each other, and know everyone’s name, but we break off into our own family-like subgroups, because you need close friend when you’re on the road. They’re temporary family you can take with you. My group is the dancer-focused singers. We were never good enough to make it on dancing alone, but we pass as multi-talented background. It’s nice to be around people who understand you, and that you can share life experiences with. I wish I could do this job for the rest of my life.

Write about a group that travels in a pack.

Day 138 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a character finding out they are a figment of someone’s imagination.

Shannon: “Hey, you can’t do that,” I shouted to sky. “I remember,” I shouted. “I remember what happened before it all disappeared,” I was curling into my chest to keep myself from bursting in rage. “I liked what I had. I don’t understand, did you erase it,” I shouted. “Why are you always erasing? I can’t keep living all of these lives.” I sat down, hiding my head behind my knees as I squeezed the back of my neck. “I’m not doing it anymore, you can’t make me,” I hugged my legs, trying to keep myself still.

Soon enough I was standing, involuntarily again. I’d stopped freaking out and I had a new purpose. Now I understood it wasn’t my own, just something someone thought up for me. My only motivation was to prove that I deserved a say too. I wanted to lead my own story. Now I’d know the difference, and now I could fight it.

Erin: “You know what I realized the other day?”

Gina talked to herself.

“No I didn’t, I’m talking to you.”

She looked up at the celling, squinting at nothing but the chipping paint.

“I’m looking for you, narrator. I know you are up there, I know you have been controlling me. I have had enough though. I’m taking over the ending of my story.”

Oh no.

Write about someone you imagine finding out about someone imagining them.

Day 137 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about inanimate objects coming to life.

Erin: “Ewe,” I heard a little cry as I was blowing my nose. When it registered that I lived alone I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Who said that,” my breath was shaky.

“Me down here,” I lowered head to see my tissues little mouth and eyes.

“Ah,” I screamed throwing her down.

“First you’re trying to get me sick then you throw me to my death.”

“You can’t get sick, you’re just doing your job,” a scoff came from my soap dispenser.

That’s all I could remember from before I passed out on my bathroom floor.

Shannon: I woke up to the sound of something clunking to the floor. I lifted my upper half over the side of the bed to check if it was my phone. It was just the nesting doll on my dresser. Oddly it continued to roll around, and not in one motion. It seemed to be rocking back and forth until I saw it split open and the doll inside of it was moving now too.

I quickly grabbed my phone and flashed my screen on the dolls. They were looking at me. I blinked, locking my eyes shut, hoping the dream would go away. When I opened my eyes they were in a raising-the-bar line blinking back at me. “Please don’t scream,” the tallest women begged, “Sophia’s has sensitive hearing, and Amber scares easy. It will take me a long time to get them back inside.”

I listened, trying to remain calm, and sane. “Why do want them inside?” I was pretty sure having conversations with inanimate objects wasn’t sane, but I couldn’t help myself.

“They’re meant to stay inside. I only let them out at night.”

“That’s no way to live, doesn’t it get heavy always trapping them inside?”

She nodded, “But I’m responsible for them. Who will protect them if they’re not with me?”

“They’ll have to protect themselves, and they will. They’ll be okay. Give them a chance,” I encouraged.

Bring everything to life with your writing.

Day 136 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a day where everything goes right.

Shannon: I had an amazing dream last night where I was on vacation at a hotel I’d never be able to afford in my lifetime. I was surround by my friends, my boyfriend, and breathtaking views. It was so vivid in my memory that it was like it actually happened. I woke up while we were parasailing, and although I was upset it was over I was also grateful. My mind could have taken me anywhere last night, and it gave me something good. It didn’t matter if it was real or fake. It still made me happy, so I woke up ready to start the day.

Soon after waking up I got a knock on the door. My neighbor was in a rush but handed over some homemade muffins her family couldn’t possibly finish, and they were the best muffins I’ve ever tasted. I made a note to ask her for her recipe, and beg her to teach me her ways.

I got an early start so I was able to make the early bus, but not long after getting to work the power went out to the whole building. We sat there for a while, useless without our computers, until they told us they couldn’t get anyone in to fix it until late afternoon. Free day off, I should make the most of all this good luck.

Erin: I am a perfectionist, so it is no surprise that I needed everything at my wedding to live up to my very high expectations. Everything I wanted to happened was planned down to the minute. It did.

That’s the part I didn’t account for. By the end of the wedding all I could remember is that everything went just as I had pictured it in my head. Not a single noteworthy story of trouble and shenanigans popped up in my head. In that fact, I had made a major mistake.

Imperfections were what made a wedding one’s own. Imperfections where what made people individual. Loving Jays imperfections was why I had married him. In controlling my wedding I had drained all of the life from it. If I could do it all again I’d be more careless.

Remove all of the conflict from today’s writing.

Day 135 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a day where nothing goes right.

Erin: I woke up one hour after I needed to be at work. When I got outside my car wouldn’t start. All of my neighbors were already gone so I had to call the shop down the road. Another hour passed before I was on the road. I got pulled over because I was speeding in an attempt to get to work sometime close to my shift. After I was given a ticket instead of a warning a nail popped a hole in my tier. I didn’t have a spare so I had to call she shop again. And I called my boss, because there was no way I was going to try and continue my day. I was going to lock myself in my house where I was hopefully safe.

Shannon: My morning started with me spilling hot oatmeal on my hand, leaving a red burn mark I was sure would irritate me the entire day and maybe longer. I should have known the day was going to be a mess from then on out, but I had to hope things would get better. Well, that was before I popped a hole in my tire, and had to walk my bike to work. No surprise that made late to my shift, and of course my boss was there to see me and write me up for a warning strike.

Turns out it didn’t matter. I was supposed to start out the day by running the Ferris wheel, but it broke down last night. I soon learned that meant I was on garbage duty. Forget hope, I just need to survive the day.

Your character may not be able to catch a break, but maybe you can by writing about it.

Day 134 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a character paving their own path.

Shannon: “What are you doing,” I asked my older sister as I watched her packing her things into a suitcase. “Are we going somewhere? Is it a surprise?”

She pushed her lips to the side and sat me back down on the bed. “Sorry, but this is actually just a trip for me. You should go back to bed. You’ll be tired for school tomorrow.”

“So will you,” I quickly refused.

She smiled, “Do you want to be in on a secret,” she questioned, knowing I loved to know information other people didn’t.

“Yes,” I eagerly got closer, putting my ear up in perfect listening range.

She let out laugh. “First you have to pinky promise not to tell mom and dad,” she held out her finger, “And you’re the one who told me how serious this kind of promise is, so don’t agree if it’s too hard,” she warned.

She sounded like she didn’t think I could do it, so I had to prove her wrong. “I can keep your secret,” I quickly wrapped my pinky around hers before she could take the offer back.

“I’m running away,” she quickly revealed, carefully watching me, witnessing the fear wash over my face. “It’s not that I don’t love all of you anymore. I just don’t have any freedom to live my own life. I can pretend I can ask for it, and someone could give it to me, but I feel bound by everything I’m connected to. I just want to break free. Do you understand,” she questioned, nervously.

I shook my head, “Don’t go,” I moved forward to hug her, trying to persuade her to stay the only way I knew how.

She seemed torn. “If I stay I’m living someone else’s life. It’s a fine life and I’m sure it would have great moments and I’d be with you guys. If I go I’ll finally be free to find out what I’m capable of. I can’t live with myself if I don’t find out.”

I didn’t understand a word she was saying. I only knew that I wanted her to be here in the morning, so I started crying into her stomach.

“Do you feel that,” she questioned.

“What?” I looked up at her.

“That thing that makes you cry,” she explained and I nodded. “I feel that everyday I stay hear, pretending to be happy as somebody I’m not. I want you to feel better, do you want me to feel better too,” she smiled, holding me tighter.

I nodded, reluctantly.

“Than you have to let me go.”

Erin: “Do you have your homework,” Mrs. Ray asked Ron when she got to his desk.

“No ma’am,” he answered honestly.

“Again,” she sighed. “Please see me after class.”

He did. “You wanted to talk to me.”

“You have not been doing your homework for weeks. What is up with you Ron?”

“Well, I’ve been observing my fellow classmates and have realized the effect homework has on our grades is heavily disproportional to our tests. I’m only going to be young once, and don’t see the point of wasting my time on it. I can do well on the test by just coming to class, so that is what I plan on doing.”

She was not sure what to say to him, so she just dismissed him, planning on following up at a later date, though it never came. Honestly, he wasn’t wrong and if he wanted his grade to reflect his choice that was his right.

Write about a character finding their own route.

Day 133 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a group that is stronger together.

Erin: “What are we going to do,” Malinda started to stress. “We have to get up there in 10 minutes and two of us our missing.” She was the one who made sure we got our things done in plenty of time. Because of her we didn’t have to pull any all-nighters. When crunch time came she still cracked though.

“Found a typo in the paper,” Landon informed us. He was our perfectionist. He just did his thing with every revision he made.

“ETA for Brit and Cas is 2 minutes,” I continued my moderator duties.

Malinda’s leg did not stop shaking until she saw Brit step into the door. “Look at this presentation,” she pulled it up on her phone. It was impressive. She was the creative that made the rest of our slop look good.

“We should go first,” Cas nodded her head, she didn’t do a dang thing. Which don’t get me wrong, didn’t make her a weak link. Once we got up there, no one could think on their toes in front of a group better. She was a master of preforming and made all of our other work worth it

Shannon: Ever been a part of a group that functions so well together, you forgot how you ever got by on your own. It’s like you’re each a gear, and no one is forced into their role, they just ease into it, knowing exactly what they need to do at the perfect time. There’s something calming about working with that kind of trust, and sometimes I just have to take a step back and admire it. For once in my life I know where I belong.

Your characters are stronger together, than any of them alone.

Day 132 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a character in a peaceful place.

Shannon: I love floating in a pool. Ears below the surface, body weightless. The second I become one with the water I crease to exist as a human with a lot on her mind, one with many responsibilities, and one who could be doing so much more with her time. Right now I feel the sun shining on my face, and I can’t think of anything more important then to stop running and just enjoy the moment. A moment where time stands still.

Erin: My husband sent me off to the spa to relax me. Little did he know, the last thing I needed was the peace and quiet he granted me. The entire time that she was working out my tension I was stiffening more and more. Because I was thinking about the triplets tearing there room up, Rachel sneaking out with her boyfriend, and Mary coming home from school after dealing with her bully. I pictured them eating sugary cereal and watching scary movies until they were overly energized and running around the house terrified. I could not get my brain to stop spiraling until I was home, in the middle of the mess, with the power to change it.

Give your characters a little peace.