As a child, I thought there was little that could match the magic of a beach brimming with rock pools. Each one cradled a world that promised countless living treasures.

Why not give your character, whether they’re an adult or child, a chance to investigate their local shoreline and discover something unexpected? Could they encounter a chatty brittle star, for instance, or something far more sinister?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

There’s something delicious about a fictional character riddled with uncertainty. Deja vu can be a great trick for introducing a bit of second-guessing that could lead in a multitude of directions.

Take the view above, for example. The moment your protagonist sees it, they know they’ve been here before. But when, and why? Or have they seen a photo of it, or even a painting? It’s a seemingly tranquil scene, so why has it unsettled them so thoroughly?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I took this photo the day after Festas do Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres on São Miguel Island, the Azores. 

Just hours earlier, the streets were carpeted with pristine flowers and evergreen fronds. Now it resembles crushed confetti.

What else might have been altered almost beyond recognition during the mayhem of those religious revelries?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Have you ever found a key and wondered what it could possibly open? Have you ever lost a key and wondered where it could have gone?

Imagine that this is the key your protagonist has found. Where did they find it? To what adventures or discoveries could it lead?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Following on from last week’s Specimens writing prompt, imagine if familiar 21st century means of travel no longer or had never existed, perhaps because of a lack of fossil fuels. No more trains, planes or automobiles!

How might your characters reach a crucial location? What challenges and perils might they face?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I spied this daisy chain on the footpath near my office, curling over the grey flagstones. The petals are already closing up as though nightfall in on its way.

I love that it’s a reminder of nature in the midst of the city, and of childhood in a drearily grown up setting.

Who might have linked these flowers stem by stem? What moment of hurry caused them to drop it? Where might they be now?

And who might find the chain? What thought and action might it prompt in them?

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Imagine waking to find an expected delivery in your living room – an egg so beautiful and speckled it seems to glow with light and colour.

Could something have crept into your home to lay it? What might hatch from that exquisite shell?

Now hype up the intrigue by expanding the egg to at least the size of your sofa.

By the way, this particular eggs-ample (sorry, couldn’t resist!) is a white chocolate confection apparently resembling an albatross egg.

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Do you ever find it hard to believe that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable? By this logic, how can we know that a dog is a dog, a pigeon is a pigeon or that a rock is a rock (and not a tortoise)?

Take this idea further and question all of your surroundings, piece by piece. Or consider this rather beautiful tomato and imagine it being extremely large, or yourself extremely small, and see where your mind carries you. If you want to go the other way and picture yourself being extremely large instead, go ahead. I won’t judge, promise.

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’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.