Archive Sticky: Fic Memes Collection
Need a writing prompt to get your creativity buzzing? Want to give your F'list a chance to challenge your fic writing abilities? Here's a list of fic and fic-related prompts for your to choose from. I'll try to update this whenever I run across good new memes, and if you have any that you'd like added to the list, comment here.
A. Timestamp meme: Give me the title of one of my own fics and a timestamp -- either a future moment in time after the story's conclusion, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll tell you what happened. For example, you could choose a timestamp of five minutes before the story began, or a timestamp of ten years in the future.
B. Pimp My Fic meme: Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
C. More Fic, Bigger Fic meme: List five fics that you'd really like to read but that haven't been written yet. It doesn't matter if they are fics you've tried to write yourself at some point, or if they are just fics you think could make a fun read. Share as many details as you'd like. It could just be a pairing or an outline of a whole multi-part, it doesn't matter, whatever comes to mind will do fine.
D. Commentary meme: Write a DVD commentary for one of your own fics.
E. Never Will I Ever meme: Name three fics you think I will never, ever, ever write. In return, I will attempt to write a snippet of one of them.
F. Title meme: Make up a title for a story I didn't write, and I will respond with details of those non-written stories. You may if you like include details, such as pairings or fandom or whatnot.
Variation 1: Give me the title of one of your fics and a character/pairing (not necessarily one present in the original), and I'll write an unrelated ficlet.
Variation 2: I'll list the titles of all my fics; pick a title and write a ficlet unrelated to the original.
G. WIP meme: Post snippets of your Works in Progress on your journal.
H. Music meme:
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabblet/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
I. Prompt meme: The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request a drabble/ficlet of any pairing/character of their choosing from me. In return, they have to post this in their journal.
J. Not Going There meme: Everyone has things they write about. Everyone has things they don't write about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't write about, but you'd like to hear about.
K. Book meme:
1. Grab the book nearest you.
2. Turn to page 56.
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
5. Remove/replace character names if necessary. Use it as the first sentence of a ficlet.
L. Microfic meme: write 10 different categories of fic, each in 10 words or less: Angst, AU, Crackfic, Crossover, First Time, Fluff, Humor, H/C, Smut, UST
M. Alphabet meme: Ask for prompts for each letter of the alphabet and write a ficlet for that prompt.
N. Enslave the Writer meme: If you could force me to write anything, what would it be?
O. Crossover Madness meme: You have 15 words, no more, no less. Write a crossover and make your readers guess what fandoms you're crossing.
P. Icon meme: Pick one of my icons and I'll write you a ficlet based on said icon. If you choose a stock/text only icon, feel free to choose a fandom or characters you think I might know.
Q. This Has All Happened Before meme: Take the last line of one of my fics and use it as the first line of a fic or ficlet.
R. Mini WIP Preview meme: Post a single sentence from each WIP you have, or as many as you want. No context, no explanations, and no more than one sentence.
S. High-Concept meme: Summarize the plot of a favorite book, movie, short story, etc., in one to two sentences. Write a fic to which that crude, basic plot summary could also apply.
Example: Graham Greene’s “The Blue Film”: A man and his spouse watch an old porno, and he is surprised to discover he was in the film. Resulting Ficlet: “The Blue Film,” Hotdog/Gaeta, PG-13, trovia’s “How to Live and Love…” ‘verse
T. Word meme: Ask for as many prompt words as you like. Use one of those words in the first sentence of each paragraph of a fic until you’ve used all of them.
Variation: Instead of asking for prompts, open your dictionary to a random pages and point to a random entry to get your words.
U. OOC meme: Give me a character and something that would be completely out-of-character for him or her to do under normal circumstances. I’ll write a ficlet in which the character does that action, and the situation makes it at least somewhat in character.
V. Silence meme: Give me a character or pairing and a prompt, and I’ll write a completely dialogue-less ficlet about it.
Variation 1: Give me a pair of characters and a prompt, and I’ll write a ficlet about it that’s entirely composed of dialogue.
Variation 2: I’ll write a ficlet entirely composed of dialogue, and readers have to guess which characters are speaking.
W. Pet Characters meme: Give me a character that I love and that I usually think is right, or that I tend to write as being in the right. I’ll write you a ficlet where they’re wrong.
Variation: Give me a character that I usually think is wrong, and I’ll write you a ficlet where they’re (grudgingly, I’ll admit) right.
X. POV Switch meme: Give me the title of one of my stories and a character other than the original narrator or POV character, and I’ll write the fic or a portion thereof from his or her perspective.
Y. Voyeurism meme: Give me three characters: two who are doing something they don’t want to be seen doing, and one who sees it. I’ll write a fic about the one person walking in on the others.
Variation: You can ask for a broad prompt for the hidden activity, but I think it might be more fun just to get the characters and let the writer decide what’s going on.
Z. Eavesdropping meme: Give me two characters. I’ll write you a ficlet comprised of a conversation between these two characters, but only of one side of the conversation, like you were listening to one side of a telephone conversation. Then it’s your turn to guess what the conversation is about.
AA. Cliché Fic meme: Give me a character or pairing and a fic cliché. I’ll write a ficlet incorporating the character(s) and the cliché, but taking the cliché in an unexpected and very un-cliché direction.
BB. Dust Bunnies meme: Post your bunnies that aren’t progressing into fics. You may or may not offer them for adoption/set them free as you so choose.
CC. Mini-DVD Meme: Pick a paragraph or any passage less than 500 words from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet of what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the fic, and anything else you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.
A. Timestamp meme: Give me the title of one of my own fics and a timestamp -- either a future moment in time after the story's conclusion, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll tell you what happened. For example, you could choose a timestamp of five minutes before the story began, or a timestamp of ten years in the future.
B. Pimp My Fic meme: Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
C. More Fic, Bigger Fic meme: List five fics that you'd really like to read but that haven't been written yet. It doesn't matter if they are fics you've tried to write yourself at some point, or if they are just fics you think could make a fun read. Share as many details as you'd like. It could just be a pairing or an outline of a whole multi-part, it doesn't matter, whatever comes to mind will do fine.
D. Commentary meme: Write a DVD commentary for one of your own fics.
E. Never Will I Ever meme: Name three fics you think I will never, ever, ever write. In return, I will attempt to write a snippet of one of them.
F. Title meme: Make up a title for a story I didn't write, and I will respond with details of those non-written stories. You may if you like include details, such as pairings or fandom or whatnot.
Variation 1: Give me the title of one of your fics and a character/pairing (not necessarily one present in the original), and I'll write an unrelated ficlet.
Variation 2: I'll list the titles of all my fics; pick a title and write a ficlet unrelated to the original.
G. WIP meme: Post snippets of your Works in Progress on your journal.
H. Music meme:
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabblet/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
I. Prompt meme: The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request a drabble/ficlet of any pairing/character of their choosing from me. In return, they have to post this in their journal.
J. Not Going There meme: Everyone has things they write about. Everyone has things they don't write about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't write about, but you'd like to hear about.
K. Book meme:
1. Grab the book nearest you.
2. Turn to page 56.
3. Find the fifth full sentence.
4. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
5. Remove/replace character names if necessary. Use it as the first sentence of a ficlet.
L. Microfic meme: write 10 different categories of fic, each in 10 words or less: Angst, AU, Crackfic, Crossover, First Time, Fluff, Humor, H/C, Smut, UST
M. Alphabet meme: Ask for prompts for each letter of the alphabet and write a ficlet for that prompt.
N. Enslave the Writer meme: If you could force me to write anything, what would it be?
O. Crossover Madness meme: You have 15 words, no more, no less. Write a crossover and make your readers guess what fandoms you're crossing.
P. Icon meme: Pick one of my icons and I'll write you a ficlet based on said icon. If you choose a stock/text only icon, feel free to choose a fandom or characters you think I might know.
Q. This Has All Happened Before meme: Take the last line of one of my fics and use it as the first line of a fic or ficlet.
R. Mini WIP Preview meme: Post a single sentence from each WIP you have, or as many as you want. No context, no explanations, and no more than one sentence.
S. High-Concept meme: Summarize the plot of a favorite book, movie, short story, etc., in one to two sentences. Write a fic to which that crude, basic plot summary could also apply.
Example: Graham Greene’s “The Blue Film”: A man and his spouse watch an old porno, and he is surprised to discover he was in the film. Resulting Ficlet: “The Blue Film,” Hotdog/Gaeta, PG-13, trovia’s “How to Live and Love…” ‘verse
T. Word meme: Ask for as many prompt words as you like. Use one of those words in the first sentence of each paragraph of a fic until you’ve used all of them.
Variation: Instead of asking for prompts, open your dictionary to a random pages and point to a random entry to get your words.
U. OOC meme: Give me a character and something that would be completely out-of-character for him or her to do under normal circumstances. I’ll write a ficlet in which the character does that action, and the situation makes it at least somewhat in character.
V. Silence meme: Give me a character or pairing and a prompt, and I’ll write a completely dialogue-less ficlet about it.
Variation 1: Give me a pair of characters and a prompt, and I’ll write a ficlet about it that’s entirely composed of dialogue.
Variation 2: I’ll write a ficlet entirely composed of dialogue, and readers have to guess which characters are speaking.
W. Pet Characters meme: Give me a character that I love and that I usually think is right, or that I tend to write as being in the right. I’ll write you a ficlet where they’re wrong.
Variation: Give me a character that I usually think is wrong, and I’ll write you a ficlet where they’re (grudgingly, I’ll admit) right.
X. POV Switch meme: Give me the title of one of my stories and a character other than the original narrator or POV character, and I’ll write the fic or a portion thereof from his or her perspective.
Y. Voyeurism meme: Give me three characters: two who are doing something they don’t want to be seen doing, and one who sees it. I’ll write a fic about the one person walking in on the others.
Variation: You can ask for a broad prompt for the hidden activity, but I think it might be more fun just to get the characters and let the writer decide what’s going on.
Z. Eavesdropping meme: Give me two characters. I’ll write you a ficlet comprised of a conversation between these two characters, but only of one side of the conversation, like you were listening to one side of a telephone conversation. Then it’s your turn to guess what the conversation is about.
AA. Cliché Fic meme: Give me a character or pairing and a fic cliché. I’ll write a ficlet incorporating the character(s) and the cliché, but taking the cliché in an unexpected and very un-cliché direction.
BB. Dust Bunnies meme: Post your bunnies that aren’t progressing into fics. You may or may not offer them for adoption/set them free as you so choose.
CC. Mini-DVD Meme: Pick a paragraph or any passage less than 500 words from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet of what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the fic, and anything else you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.