It’s getting into the fall when I usually start traveling for work again. This week, I thought I would look back and take a picture from one of my trips to Mongolia a few years ago. This is from the Chinggis Khan museum near his birthplace. Story Prompt: September 16, 2024 Write a story based…
Tag: muse
Muse on Monday – September 9, 2024
Normally for Muse on Monday, we give you a general topic or challenge to write a story around. However, this week’s prompt is what I call a super-specific one. Story Prompt: September 9, 2024 Write a story where the main character is running a business whose only employees are monkeys. It’s kind of a silly…
Muse on Monday – September 2, 2024
A few years ago, one of the Muse on Monday story prompts was to write a story that was nothing but dialogue. Today’s is similar but it is combative dialogue: an argument, a fight of words, an attempted persuasion, perhaps. With this kind of dialogue, the conflict is obvious. It is like a fencing match…
Muse on Monday – August 26, 2024
What is the most alone you have ever been? I remember one day when I hiked up a snowy mountain in Korea and did not see another person the whole day. This is not loneliness, just being alone. Ironically, the loneliest I have every felt is when I was in a crowd of people where…
Muse on Monday – August 5, 2024
The bedrock of a story is conflict. In a lot of stories this is something external like someone trying to kill the main character, or the characters trying to find some object or other, etc. However, conflict can also be something that no one can see. A few weeks ago, I left work to catch…
Muse on Monday – July 22, 2024
I remember when I was young, I got lost in the woods. It was probably only for 10-15 minutes, but it was one of the most terrifying experiences I had ever had. Being lost in the wilderness is a great plot for a story (Lost in the Barrens, by Farley Mowat was my favorite book…
Muse on Monday – July 15, 2024
It is interesting, although not surprising, that one of the most common professions of characters in stories is a writer. This is because writers often write about what they know, which is themselves and what they do. Beyond that, there are also many stories about writing itself, either about magical books or story itself (see…
Muse on Monday – June 24, 2024
Do you like dreaming? I have had dreams that I was so sad to wake up from and others where I was so relieved to find it was a dream. A few times I have realized I’m in a dream, although not often. Dreams in stories usually start out normal and then as things start…
Muse on Monday – June 17, 2024
Have you ever read books like Black Beauty, Charlotte’s Web or Where the Red Fern Grows? Books about pets and animal friends are very popular and very powerful because animals tend to be very pure and love unconditionally. It’s much easier to have a relationship with an intelligent animal, of course, which is why there…
Muse on Monday – June 10, 2024
One thing that you usually don’t want to put in your stories is daily tasks. If you write a page or two about someone’s morning routine, the reader will get impatient for you to get to the important part. The difference is if something is different, especially if there is some point of conflict. For…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 