# Must Write! Need Help! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796 "2008-05-02T19:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/1 "2008-05-02T19:20:05Z")
I really want to crank out a short story this weekend, but the muse is off on a sightseeing tour of Paraguay and can’t be arsed to move my hand. So I need a kickstart. I work out a lot of tension when I write, and right now I really need to sort a few things out IRL. I wonder if anyone could give me three or four elements to work with? Example: I once did a nice little piece based on Sweat, Surgeon and Leather that I rather like, but which I hope will not be found while I’m alive (I’m pretty shy off paper). ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/2 "2008-05-02T19:39:07Z")
OK, how’s about this: Birkenstocks [AMC Pacer](http://www.allsportauto.com/detailphoto.php3?zl_id=4576&zl_idMD=667) a crow with a cloudy eye a bow for a fiddle but no fiddle Probably too weird but they’re the first things I came up with. Good luck writing, whether you choose these or not. Hope your real-life stuff straightens itself out soon. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/3 "2008-05-02T19:40:53Z")
A cat full of houses. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/4 "2008-05-02T19:53:32Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] A cat full of houses. [/QUOTE] Bad idea! I’m reading Lovecraft this month. then again, maybe not so bad. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/5 "2008-05-02T20:02:39Z")
At the risk of turning this into a variation of the game “Name three things that would raise the eyebrows of the 7-11 clerk at 3am”: A room with nothing in it but a table and two chairs A bloody glove A very confused man A bracelet ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/6 "2008-05-02T20:30:32Z")
A tax refund check. A six-pack of Guinness. A looming tropical storm. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/7 "2008-05-02T20:53:21Z")
The oven is still hot The bread is not warm, though, and there is one slice cut away, no knife, no crumbs, nothing. A note that says _“I’ll pay you back!”_ That could be taken a lot of ways. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/8 "2008-05-03T04:53:48Z")
I love these prompts; what fun. When I need to kick-start writing, I try and write flashers–100 word stories. (I like them to be exactly 100 words, too.) What I do is click “three random words” ([http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~johnbent/randomWords.xcgi](http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~johnbent/randomWords.xcgi)) and whatever the three words are, I have to use them. (They may end up disappearing in the re-write, but at least it gets me going.) ---
**Author:** ![Ducktail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@Ducktail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ducktail)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/9 "2008-05-03T05:58:04Z")
Well, right now I’m working on pulling together… The breakup of the Soviet Union Ghosts Modern-day descendants of the Incas …into a common story line. Feel free to share the absurdity. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/10 "2008-05-03T07:12:09Z")
I shall share a tool I use. Fortunately, I’ve already got this all typed up, so I don’t have to worry about being coherent at midnight. Taken from my LJ: > [@](#): > > This is something I use. I’ll put the list in the next entry, but its a list of prompts like Depression, Attack, Sex, etc. that are good for, well, a lot of things. They do have a scifi slant but can be used for anything. Some of the card definitions overlap, but that keeps you from having to shuffle so often. They work best if you write them on playing cards, because they’re easy to shuffle, but it takes a little more than one deck. > > Uses: > > - Pull a card from the deck to discover a theme for your next story > > - Deal out cards to plan out events. For example: Lessee… God, Feud, Body, Electricity, Division, Depression. Alright, ummm… this guy is at church and there’s a fight because he refuses to agree with something that most of the rest of them agree with. Then the power goes out and people are going off in groups and getting killed. We find out the guy is doing it and he ends by killing himself. There, the skeleton to a slasher story. > > - Deal out cards for inspiration and to recover from writers block > > - Use as random choices between ideas. For example, for one of my stories I was trying to decide if I wanted the bad guy to be a monster or mentally control animals or a robot. I pulled out Monster, Spirit, and Iron, and drew one randomly. Bingo, instant decision. [The list of prompts](http://silvercat17.livejournal.com/2358.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/11 "2008-05-03T08:03:17Z")
a mojito a box of Cohiba Lanceros cigars a book by the Dalai Lama ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-write-need-help/447796/12 "2008-05-03T22:58:37Z")
It seems like a match made in heaven. I’m a muse seeking a writer it appears. Try one idea i found in my notes from one of many 3am wakeup calls: 1. Identical twins, one blind, one deaf 2. A renounced Catholic Dick 3. St. Peter’s Key to the pearly gates