I don’t know about you, but as summer wanes into autumn and the greens begin to turn rust-red, I grow increasingly aware of the passage of time. While other people may feel this at New Year, for me it’s now that I start to look at what I’ve done with the past nine months of 2021, and what I need to cram into the next three.

This mantel clock left on a wall for any stranger to claim is a great representation of that. Who might happen across this spare time, and what might they choose to do with it?

The other option is to imagine a world set at 3pm. I know a few school pupils who would love that idea! What wonders would tie in with being eternally at that time of day, and what monotony or danger might creep in.

Plus there’s always the chance that occasionally the protagonist could stir from the lethargy of an endless afternoon and realise that somehow 3pm has morphed into 3am – a very different prospect!

What creative works could you muster from these ideas?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Neighbourhood Facebook groups often serve as modern-day classifieds pages. A recent post on one in my area offered a wealth of story ideas.

A local helpful person wrote: “Just retrieved a rucksack from the bushes. It doesn’t look that old and was completely empty apart from a photo that may have sentimental value. Please contact me if you think this may be yours.”

She then adds: “Photo is dated 1978 and has a hand written message on the back if that helps.”

This actually gave me shivers! What might the photo show? Who could the backpack belong to? How do you think it ended up in the bushes? If it was stolen, was anything taken from it? Or is this all a red herring?

Soooo many questions! Now, your task is to write the story that answers at least some of these.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Some of the most unlikely places have a kind of beauty about them that’s hard to explain. This strange slice is an example of that for me. Photographed between strips of metal, with tangles of weeds and rubble, it has a grandeur that you yourself may not see.

Imagine a spot that one person views as a wasteland, and another regards as a realm of untold possibilities. What informs their different responses? How does their state of mind impact their viewpoint? What transforms a site into a sight?

Can you build this into a story where one character captures the other’s intrigue and changes their mind about the beauty, or ugliness, of the space?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

If you write flash fiction, I suspect you already know the six-word story famously attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

As disconcerting micros go, it’s pretty powerful. It popped into my head when I saw these child’s shoes on a wall in my neighbourhood. With Hemingway’s ultra-micro in mind, can you devise an unsettling tale that explains why these cute blue t-bar toddler-sized shoes are no longer needed? And why are they in such pristine condition?

How low can you keep the word-count without losing the impact and heart of your tale?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

The mystery of how holes were appearing in my kitchen windowsill basil plant was solved when I discovered a trio of uninvited lodgers. As beautiful as these hairy caterpillars are, I thought I should re-locate them outside before they a) ate me out of house and home, or b) metamorphosed and sprouted wings!

It made me ponder how much more dramatic this tale could be if the small guests who’d blundered in were likely to transform into fire-breathing dragons or some as yet uninvented magical beasts rather than moths or butterflies.

This is one to let your imagination race away with. What can you come up with, using this scenario as your starting point? What clues might give away the creature your character is inadvertently sharing their home with?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Building work is taking place all over my neighbourhood, and yet builders tell me that thanks to Brexit, there are far fewer competent construction contractors available than there were a year ago. Hardworking, skilled have gone home to their countries, leaving us with a terrible skills shortage.

This heap of bricks is a wall in all but execution. It makes me think of the fairytale of the Three Little Pigs, shoddy cut-price choices and, frankly, the difference between what we’re promised and what we sometimes actually get. In fact, instead of a pile of bricks, a big mound of something else might be more fitting in this case!

Can you build this into a cautionary satire or tale?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I glanced up during a stroll to find the sky full of wheeling gulls. It’s a sight that local folklore attributes to storm at sea, or, conversely, a spillage of chips.

I was unsure what had prompted this tumult of excitement until I lowered my gaze and spotted the winged ants scurrying and taking flight.

Passion for the ants equals feasts for gulls and other ant-munchers.

There are two details I love about this, which could prompt a tale:

1. To deduce the cause and effect, I had to look both up and down
2. Nature behaves in its wild ways even deep in the city’s urban reaches.

Of course, there’s a level of assumption in my extrapolation, which leaves plenty of room for something else to incite the frenzied birds. What story could you spin from this moment in time?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Imagine the person peering over this hedge to see a new construction taking shape. Might they be intrigued, perturbed or annoyed? Now imagine that the owner of the house being renovated is a rival of the witness. How might their history colour responses?

Now broaden your viewers’ understanding of what they’re seeing, based on earlier conversations or arguments. Rather than an extension, could the item being built be a spaceship or time travel machine? Remember that in the realms of fantasy, these can be constructed any shape and from any material.

Or could the builders be the focus of the witness’ attention? Is there one of particular interest? Why?

Can you weave in the emotions and backstory through your protagonist’s reactions and behaviour rather than telling your reader?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I love attempting to photograph the natural beauty that crops up in my surroundings, though the shots often have more to do with luck than skill.

One of my best butterfly pics is also one of my most absurd, as I happened to snap this beauty as it alighted on a pair of white satin smalls, on a washing line.

The butterfly has no idea of the absurd elegance of its sunspot choice.

It brings to mind an art exhibition I saw over two decades ago, which appeared to show rows of taxidermy pinned butterflies, which on closer inspection turned out to be exquisite pairs of miniature knickers.

Can you turn this into a story that is comical and poignant, perhaps examining the disappearance of our butterfly species in favour of fast fashion fixes?

Thank you to John Jackson on Twitter who told me this is a Painted Lady butterfly (not Tortoiseshell as I mistakenly believed). How perfectly absurdly poignant!

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

This mouse and cat weathervane sits on top of a primary school in my neighbourhood.

It’s been a strange year for schools, pupils and parents, with daily routines as changeable as the weather. There’s been a global sense of uncertainty that’s led to some feeling more like prey than humans are accustomed to!

Can you use this thought as a jumping off point to create a tale or artwork with themes of peril, daring and triumph?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to judydarley (at) iCloud.com to let me know. With your permission, I may publish it on SkyLightRain.com.