Message In A Bottle
One of my Christmas presents from 
charlies_dragon was a writing prompt book called '642 Things To Write About', and Dragon being Dragon she got me the 'Young Writer's Edition. Or, to put it much plainer, the kids version. *grins* Thanks Dragon.
And so this, the first day of 2016, seems like a good time to crack open the spine and take a look at my first writing prompt:
You're enjoying making sandcastles at the beach, when the ocean waves wash up a message in a bottle. You pull out the message. What does it say?
Firstly, I'm going to assume I'm on a beach that is not in the UK in the middle of winter. Just for clarity's sake, I'm going to go ahead and say that my beach is in the Caribbean. I mean... it's 6C, raining and blowing a gale out there. This is not optimum sandcastle building weather!
Not that the prompt is asking this, or that it's anything do to with the prompt at all. Just saying.
It's probably testament to the kind of sci-fi and horror that I adore that in my mind, the message says something along the lines of opening this bottle has freed an evil spirit. You have 24hrs to capture him and cast the spell that returns him to this prison or he will take over your body.
Orrrr that opening the bottle has unleashed a plague upon the world that shall cause the population to be decimated. You are now Patient X. It would probably also say that even if you killed yourself you would still cause the virus to spread.
I'm quite fond of this second one actually because then you could have the CDC kicking into gear, quarantining the area, trying to use anything left in the bottle in conjunction with my blood/cells/what-have-you to find out what kind of virus/plague it is, to synthesise a cure or a vaccine...
Not that I've been wtching things like 12 Monkeys, Helix, The Strain etc recently... no, not at all. It also make me want to watch that early NCIS episode S.W.A.K - y'know, the one where Tony got pneumonic plague. That was fun.
Yes, I'm sure 'fun' isn't necessarily the correct word.
What can I say - I'm bloody weird!
And, of course there's always the good old "Good morning, Mr. Phelps.... Your mission... should you decide to accept it, is to [mission of the week described]. As always, should you or any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds."
Now how am I supposed to fit all of that in that little box the book gives me? Hah!
charlies_dragon was a writing prompt book called '642 Things To Write About', and Dragon being Dragon she got me the 'Young Writer's Edition. Or, to put it much plainer, the kids version. *grins* Thanks Dragon.
And so this, the first day of 2016, seems like a good time to crack open the spine and take a look at my first writing prompt:
You're enjoying making sandcastles at the beach, when the ocean waves wash up a message in a bottle. You pull out the message. What does it say?
Firstly, I'm going to assume I'm on a beach that is not in the UK in the middle of winter. Just for clarity's sake, I'm going to go ahead and say that my beach is in the Caribbean. I mean... it's 6C, raining and blowing a gale out there. This is not optimum sandcastle building weather!
Not that the prompt is asking this, or that it's anything do to with the prompt at all. Just saying.
It's probably testament to the kind of sci-fi and horror that I adore that in my mind, the message says something along the lines of opening this bottle has freed an evil spirit. You have 24hrs to capture him and cast the spell that returns him to this prison or he will take over your body.
Orrrr that opening the bottle has unleashed a plague upon the world that shall cause the population to be decimated. You are now Patient X. It would probably also say that even if you killed yourself you would still cause the virus to spread.
I'm quite fond of this second one actually because then you could have the CDC kicking into gear, quarantining the area, trying to use anything left in the bottle in conjunction with my blood/cells/what-have-you to find out what kind of virus/plague it is, to synthesise a cure or a vaccine...
Not that I've been wtching things like 12 Monkeys, Helix, The Strain etc recently... no, not at all. It also make me want to watch that early NCIS episode S.W.A.K - y'know, the one where Tony got pneumonic plague. That was fun.
Yes, I'm sure 'fun' isn't necessarily the correct word.
What can I say - I'm bloody weird!
And, of course there's always the good old "Good morning, Mr. Phelps.... Your mission... should you decide to accept it, is to [mission of the week described]. As always, should you or any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds."
Now how am I supposed to fit all of that in that little box the book gives me? Hah!