We often think of settings as discrete things: this story takes place in a city or in the countryside or on a boat, etc. However, it’s interesting when various settings are blended together. One that fascinates me is the post-apocalyptic city, where nature is starting to reclaim the city and trees are growing up out…
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Muse on Monday – September 8, 2025
It is common in a story for a character to have an epiphany or realization about their life at the end of the story. For instance, maybe they realize that after a year of struggling through med school, they really want to be an actor (or vice versa). After all, a story is a journey,…
Muse on Monday – September 1, 2025
There has been a trend in the past few decades of retelling fairy tales or other old stories. This could mean putting them in a modern time period or in another setting or changing other details about the story. This is an effective technique since fairy tales tend to be universal stories that many cultures…
Muse on Monday – August 25, 2025
Darkness falls. Color fades. All that is left are shadows and silhouettes. Sounds become sharper, smells take on new meaning. It can be a challenge to write a story that takes place in darkness, similar to the challenge of writing from the perspective of a character who is blind. For one thing, the conflicts are…
Muse on Monday – August 11, 2025
Writers, almost by definition, love books, and so a lot of story characters love books by extension. There are probably more stories about libraries than, say, dentist offices. I don’t have the stats but it’s a good guess. Story Prompt: August 11, 2025 Write a story that takes place in a library. There are a…
Muse on Monday – August 4, 2025
The movie version of Wicked came out this year (well, Part 1, at least) with huge success. This is based on the musical of the same name, based on the book of the same name by Gregory Maguire, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Clearly it’s okay to borrow ideas….
Head Monsters
This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for May 19, 2025: A figure in a black cloak and sword approaches you and tells you not to be afraid. Head Monsters I had a list of people to see that day. A figure in a dark cloak wasn’t one of…
Muse on Monday – July 28, 2025
If you look at the cover image above for this prompt, you see a peaceful road in the countryside in the fall. However, if you look closer, you see a small Do Not Enter sign in the distance. Maybe this is at the beginning of a side road that is hidden at this angle, but…
Muse on Monday – July 21, 2025
Certain locations are great for stories about isolation, such as lighthouses, watchtowers, space stations, mountaintop observatories, and so on. This is because they exist on the edges of where people live. This has to do with a concept called liminal space. These are places that are transition places between places where people live. Hallways and…
Muse on Monday – July 14, 2025
There seems to be a hidden divide, at least in my culture, between coffee and tea people. Not that there is any fighting, but people generally prefer one over the other (I like both, but I am definitely a coffee person). Then there are those special cases who only drink hot chocolate or something else….
The Green-Walled Treehouse 