Incongruous pairings make great writing prompts, and this cyclist framed by a viaduct on Sao Miguel, The Azores, is the perfect match of old and new. This blend makes me think of ancient myths in modern settings, or time slip tales, while the bumpy track and lush greenery of this volcanic isle adds to the backdrop.

Who might the cyclist be? What made them choose this route so far from the mainland? Who or what might they be running from or towards? What historic travellers have passed this way before? Why not turn it into a story with adventure at its heart?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

What a curious sight! A simple wicker and metal chair has become part of the Devon coastline, inviting weary swimmers, seabirds, and perhaps Poseidon, to take a load off.

Who could have placed it here, how and why? What were they hoping to achieve, other than some anonymous notoriety (if that’s not a total oxymoron)? How will the chair be impacted by incoming storms, and with what results?

Using this as a springing off point for a comical or poignant tale.

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

At a beautiful local pond called Abbots Pool, I was struck by the tranquility of the foreground, the lily pads and sun-drenched green and purple reflections, while in the background a group of teens are planning to jump in and disrupt the calm.

As I sat enjoying the scene, a grey heron flew in, waded for a while, and then flapped away.

This clash of natural idyll and human nature seems at first an affront, but this pool is far from wild – it was used by medieval monks from St Augustine’s Abbey as a spot to farm fish, and has been landscaped in the 1920s.

And yet, wildlife, including humans (and dogs) loves to splash here.

Can you turn this juxtaposition of rural and landscaped, wild and domestic, into a tale?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Occasionally I glance up and feel awed by the beauty of the trees and the sky above me. It’s as though I’ve stepped into another, possibly far away, world. The extreme beauty can be dizzying.

Other times I glance into the heart of a flower, and feel the same.

With natural world flourishing in the summer sunshine, it seems there are multiple worlds of all different sizes and complexities all around us. This offers the perfect opportunity (and perhaps excuse) to dive headlong into fictional world-building.

How can you build up textures, smells, sounds and sights to create an imagined space that feels authentic? What details have you chosen to notice, or invent to include?

Now, who or what will you devise to populate the world you’ve built? Are they peaceful or warlike? Petty or magnanimous, or as varied and strange as human beings?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

A Bristol landmark blazed into headlines in May when a local arsonist set Underfall Boat Yard alight. The beautiful harbourside business lost boats and “a lifetime’s collection of tools” in the fire. This boat was dragged out burning in an effort to save ships moored nearby. Sooty remains of historic vessels languish in the water.

It’s a terrible loss, but could have been far worse if it had happened a few weeks’ earlier when the city’s ferries were undergoing their annual survey by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Bristol Ferry Boats workshop was destroyed.

Naturally, Bristol residents are outraged and busy fundraising to help rebuild.

Can you write a story where a single criminal act disrupts a city’s day-to-day activities? Might it bring people together in surprising ways?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Few gardeners are fans of slugs. Their voracious appetites are far from made up for by their oozing bodies. And yet… And yet this curiously pale specimen caused me to stop in my tracks for a closer look, and then google ‘albino slug’.

I found this page, with the statement: “Emphasizing its spooky nature, we gave the species the scientific name Selenochlamys ysbryda, based on the Welsh word ysbryd, meaning a ghost or spirit. The common name “Ghost Slug” soon became popular. Identifying it with the obscure genus.”

Intriguingly, the page also state: “The bizarre Ghost Slug made headlines in 2008 when described as a new species from a Cardiff garden.”

Where were these slugs before then, and if they didn’t yet exist, why did they evolve? What evolutionary advantage could their white skin have, given that they’re most often discovered in dark, damp spaces, rather than snow?

Incidentally, I spotted this one in Arnos Vale Cemetery, which is very apt given the name.

My searches also informed me that slugs and snails are more closely related to octopuses than insects, which is a detail I love.

Can you turn this into a tale of evolution, oddities and unexpected beauty?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.