First, grab a d20. What do you mean, you don’t have one? Fine. Grab a deck of cards while I roll my eyes.

Teacher’s Note: God does not play with dice, according to Niels Bohr, but we do. Rolling dice and using shuffled decks to prompt writing is a wonderful way to promote flexibility of thought and enhance one’s creative prowess. This does not allow the brain to plan. Creation, at its core, needs to be instinctive, soulful, passionate. Michaelangelo saw the angel in the marble; allow yourself to see the miracles in your mind.

Teacher’s Note: These are meant to get the juices flowing. You should spend no more than five minutes on any one of these, or I swear to all that is holy. Do yourself a favor: set a timer and just get let the pen connect to your soul. Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down on a typewriter and bleed.” Now, fellow purveyors of the pen, don’t take this too literally. It’s a metaphor. Hemingway definitely didn’t bleed to death. Although I wouldn’t suggest following him and riding shotgun into the afterlife, either…

So just go. Just write. Get out the things you never knew you needed to. Five minutes, that’s it.

Or I’m coming to your house and destroying your new ‘vette with a tire iron. This is what happens, Larry. This is what happens when you foul up a stranger’s writing prompts.

Prompt 1: The Twelve Months

The twelve months are sitting around a fire, warming their feet and exchanging tales (thank you Neil Gaiman). Roll a d20 or pull a card until you land on a month of the year

The God of ______(month) begins to tell a story about his childhood to the rest of the months. Describe your month as fully as possible, and describe physically at least three others. (Write until you have 250+ words)

Prompt 2: Workplace Drama

You are at work (your real job). Someone walks in and hands you a piece of paper, makes eye contact, and walks away without saying a word. This piece of paper simply states, “They’re Going to Die Today.” Describe the stranger. Who do you have to save? How do you save them? (250+ words)

Prompt 3: Consider Adopting a Rescue

You adopt a pet dog (describe it). You have it for a week and it’s remarkably well-behaved, and seems to listen, really listen, better than most. After a week or so, one morning, before breakfast as you’re making the coffee, he looks up and says, “Could you please save me? Please change me back.” (250+ words)

Prompt 4: What’s in a Name?

Make a list of 20 random names (This may take a moment, but this is a wonderful writing resource and can be used almost infinitely), and get a timer ready. The timer must be followed strictly or the exercise is not as effective

Roll a d20 (or use cards). You have 15 seconds to write down First Impressions of that name. Keep rolling until you hit the same number twice. Then:

Set a timer for two minutes. Examine the First Impressions you made for that character’s name. Give yourself one minute to try to visualize that character (who does it remind you of in real life, for instance?) Then, roll a die. Write for 3 minutes about that character trait

Go back to other characters until the re-roll-situation happens again, then repeat the above process

You can keep this exercise going as long as you want, or it can be a sort of foundational exercise you return to here and there to keep your juices flowing while establishing a subconscious routine of continuity and connective progress. After a while, you will have a catalogue of fully-fleshed out characters that may be of use in potentially any of your works

Teacher’s Note: This also works for existing characters belonging to a novel you’re working on. Sometimes, it feels like the characters don’t want to talk to you; consider this a little bit of good-cop/bad-cop for your stubborn characters

Prompt 5: The Goddess of Sorrow

The Goddess of Sorrow comes to you in a dream. Where does she visit you? What does she look like? What is she wearing? What does her voice sound like? (Dry, rustling leaves? Millions of worms working through the frozen ground at once?)

Most of all, why is she visiting you?

Set a ten minute timer and write until you reach 500 words