Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Prompts for Autumn 2017

Have a lovely Autumn Equinox, how ever you celebrate it. Celebrate it, though.
Why?
Now, that's a prompt for you.
Study the traditions and beliefs associated with equinoxes. I believe in synchronicity and I believe there's a reason why people noticed the fact that the day and night were equally long twice a year. (And every other day on Equator :-D)
Which consequences does this phenomena have? How does it show in your life?

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And what about Autumn? Study the traditions and beliefs about Autumn and Autumntide. Why is it called "Fall"? Fall into what? From where?
What is it called in other languages and why?
In Germanic languages the names come from the same root as harvest.

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"Ruska" is related to words like "aamurusko" (the lovely colors of sunrise), "ruskea" (brown, color of copper) and "rusottaa" (bloom, flourish, blush - it has nothing to do with roses, though, unless "rose" is a Finnougric loan to Indo-European languages.)
(It is pronounced "rouss-kah")

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Here's a reminder of an old site with Pagan prompts. Even less frequented that my site... *blush*
If you have already written yourself through it, take a second round.

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20 myths to use as writing prompts
Write a myth to explain Autumn
Create a religion, mystery play and ritual around this myth. Write your own Eleusinian mysteries.

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Here's September Writing Prompts for 2016 and 2017
and October Writing Prompts for 2015 and 2016
GO THERE AND READ THE "HOW TO USE PROMPTS"!!!
1. Write every day. Keep paper and pen with you at all times so that you can write any time.
2. Write by hand. And keep paper and pen with you at all times.
3. Set a timer and write AT LEAST 10 minutes. (Or 5 minutes or 15 minutes or what ever time suits your circumstances.)
4. Don't think. Write. Write without stopping. Just puts words on paper. After the 10 minutes (or 5 or 15) have gone, THEN you can start thinking and speculating and wondering and wandering and researching and letting that research lead you to other ideas. But the 10 minutes of prompt writing is just that. WRITE!
5. Don't start thinking what you feel about the prompt or if it's interesting or anything like it. Don't try to find alternatives you'd like better. See it as a chore. You have to write 10 minutes of this thing. To be able to write about anything, you have to write about anything. Even the boring and uninspiring and unlikable stuff. You are a writer. Writers write. Write!
6. Keep what you write for milking other ideas.
7. Write prompts even when you are working on The Next Big Novel. It works as recreation while upkeeping your writing skills.

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The following 10 prompts (marked in cursive) are from 1,000 Awesome Writing Prompts by Ryan Andrew Kinder 

Describe an important item from your childhood. Why was it important and where is it now?

Describe an event that happened in Autumn and that you think of every Autumn. If you don't have any such events, DO SOMETHING TO GET IT!
But... you don't know what that could be!
Well... you thought about something... there was a fleeting thought, a hint, a touch, a scent of a thought, when you read that prompt. It might have been your memory, it might have been someone else's memory, it might have been a book you read or a movie you saw... but it was something. Catch it. 
(BTW, I was thinking about Stand By Me.)


You find out that you will die in five years or less. How did you find this out? What would you do in those five years?

You receive an unmarked envelope with a check for $5,000,000 inside. It's a legitimate check, what do you do with it? Do you ever find out who it is from? How does it change your life?

You are granted one super power. What is the power and what do you do with it?

For pagan witches this can be adjusted a little. All the fantasy witch descriptions are true. Which ability would you choose to have and what do you do with it?

Most everyone has had a near death experience, describe yours. If you've never had one before, create one. Embellish as much as possible.

17 Near-Death Experience Accounts from "Beyond the Light" 

Describe the perfect home. Make that home come alive; put yourself in your mind in that place. How large or small is it? Where is it located?

Practical Magic: A Victorian House Fit For A Witch

How were you named? If you feel that your name is boring and the story behind it equally so, make up a name and come up with an interesting story behind that.



How'd you get that scar? Most everyone has a scar. Talk about it as if it you were about to get that scar for the first time. 
Scar free? Then you need to invent one! 
Or talk about another person's scar as if it was your own.

"I remember a much watched video tape with Nureyev on the Dame Edna show, where he explained that the scar on his lip came about when he was a child and was so thin that he looked like a bone, so a dog tried to eat him"Chirayliq: Rudolf Nureyev
I remember that he used to jokingly tell it was from a duel with swords :-D

You've awoken as the opposite gender. What do you do with this newfound switch? If you don't identify as any sort of gender, pretend that you are forced by the government to identify. What is your life like?


You are given the option for immortality. Do you take it or do you decline?



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The tarot as writing tool 
Now, there are dozens of divination methods, and you can use them all. BTW, I just found out about this new (to me) divination method called "junk oracle". It's based on bone oracle, you collect small things in a bag, and throw them on a cloth, and read what you see... one could make such a bag with the characters of your latest novel, and some symbols of events, happenings etc. and cast this on a cloth to get new ideas about what might happen in the book. Remember to throw in some ninjas ;-)

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Take your favorite Pagan themed book, open it in random and use the first sentence you read as your prompt.

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Choose Your Own Adventure: Chris Van Allsburg’s “Mysteries of Harris Burdick” 

"and there is Van Allsburg’s own nifty contribution, a tale of two caterpillars who know the secrets of the universe and how to communicate them but are a bit pressed for time."


What if... the secrets of the universe are written on the wings of butterflies, and we just have forgotten how to read?