Writing Prompt / Story Starter 37

“You can’t believe everything you hear,” said Sally. “Especially from the dead.”

“I didn’t say I believed him,” Ben replied. “I just think it’s worth looking into, that’s all.”

Sally looked a little disgusted.

“Him?” She said. “They aren’t hims or hers, they’re its. Do you even know what ghosts are? I mean what they really are?”

“Of course, they’re people who’ve died and can’t move on. They’ve got – “

“Wrong. They’re all the nasty and spiteful bits of the soul that can’t get into Heaven. They’re just so much slighted ectoplasm with a long memory and a complete inability to forgive. Next time one of the wretched things starts shooting its mouth off, do yourself a favour: stick your fingers in your ears and start whistling the theme tune from Laurel and Hardy. They hate that.”

Writing Prompt / Story Starter 36

An exercise.

Get hold of a volume of poetry, preferably an anthology rather than a single-author collection.

Turn to the Index of First Lines.

Ignoring anything obvious or well-known, scan down the first lines until something jumps out at you.

Use this as the title or first line of your story, and take it from there.

Writing Prompt / Story Starter 35

"It's my favourite toy," Miranda whispered. "At night, it sings to me."

"What does it sing, Miranda? What songs does it sing?"

"Oh, they're not really songs. They sound all wobbly and sort of, I don't know, backwardy?"