Animal Wall Lioness photo by Judy Darley

On a recent visit to Cardiff’s Castle Quarter, I strolled along The Animal Wall, an impressive series of sculptures depicting fauna from across the world. These include an anteater, a seal and a hyena. My favourite is the stately lioness, pictured above with the Castle Clock Tower.

Designed by William Burges, the first nine were sculpted by Thomas Nicholls in 1890, with six more added by Alexander Carrick in 1931.

I love the idea of making one or more of these statues the site of a clandestine rendezvous – “meet me beneath the pelican at 9.15…” Or could the animals themselves have a secret other life?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

This week’s writing prompt comes early, in honour of the date.

Imagine a dawn full of frost and fogged breath. Your protagonist has been thwarted in love  and has no interest in Valentine’s Day. On their way to work they spy something that reminds them of the date.

What follows? Is it something that softens their frozen heart, do they feel alienated enough to commit a terrible act, or is it something far subtler?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I encountered this rather exceptional Atlas Moth in the Butterfly House at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. It’s not only his snakehead markings on each wing that are impressive. This beauty is the female, with a wingspan of more than 25cm (9.8in).

I asked a horticulturalist what they eat, and he told me they don’t. After metamorphosis they’re re-born without mouthparts, with their only motivator the drive to mate and reproduce in their five-day lifespan.

January seems the perfect time for a metamorphic tale. This week imagine your protagonist has been a joyful glutton, feasting their way through their youth until strange urge to tuck up and sleep takes them over. After a series of strange and painful dreams they wake to find themselves transformed, sans mouth and an overwhelming desire to fly, seduce and procreate.

Not a bad premise for a Kafka-esque nightmare!

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

I have a minor obsession with photographing park benches. I love imagining the people who might pause there for a moment to rest their legs or admire the view.

These three frosted seats intrigue me all the more for being winterly frosted up. Who might take a moment to clear the ice crystals so they can sit more comfortably? How might three very different people on these three benches interact? How could this develop into a narrative?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

One of the many things I love about living in Bristol is the random ways people choose to brighten our surroundings. This vivid starburst of plastic yellow pipes appeared on an otherwise serious statue a few weeks ago.

The equestrian statue of William III stands in the middle of Queen Square and is, quite frankly, wonderfully improved by this act of irreverence. Who might have done this, and why? What could it possibly mean? Or is the meaninglessness the very point of it all?

Make this the starting point of a story, and see where it leads you.

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.

Some of my eeriest and most surreal works of fiction have been prompted by the almost but not quite seen, when the over-imaginative mind fills in the information your eyes failed to provide.

Peer through the corridors into the room at the end. What’s down there? What casts those shadows? Is there a figure in there? Are they looking back at you?

If you write or create something prompted by this, please send an email to Judy(at)socket creative.com to let me know. With your permission, I’ll publish it on SkyLightRain.com.