TASWG assignment: Write ten plots in a few sentences along the lines of Brian A. Klems. Go to www.writersdigest.com/prompts.
1 Unwelcome Guests
You wake up in the middle of the night and hear noises from below. You creep downstairs and hear laughter from the lounge. Summoning up courage you open the door to find a group of strangers, sitting drinking your wine. You challenge them but they seem to neither hear nor see you…
2 Postcard from China
You go to the mail box, eagerly expecting a book you’ve ordered. Instead, there is a postcard from China, postmarked two weeks earlier. You recognize your father’s hand writing. Only thing is, he died a year ago…
3 The Healer
One day you learn that a friend is seriously ill with an incurable disease. You visit her at home where she suggests that you try some “faith healing” on her. To your great surprise it works and you discover that you have an amazing talent to heal. Soon people come from far and wide to see you. The numbers keep growing though and then one day you decide you’ve had enough…
4 Metamorphosis
You wake up and go into the bathroom where you look in the mirror. Shocked, you find you have turned into a giant moth…
5 Talk to the Animals
You go into the kitchen to get some breakfast and hear a small voice say “Hey, hurry up with my food!”. It’s your cat (or dog)…
6 Time to Lose
You go into your study and glance at the clock – 2.35 p.m. You sit at your desk and write a letter. Then you notice that the clock hands haven’t moved. You go around the house and every clock is showing 2.35. Time seems to have come to a standstill…
7 Fly Me to the Moon
You wake up in the early hours and gaze outside. The moon looks enormous and you notice that it is very much closer to the Earth than normal. Then you look into the garden and see a small spaceship waiting to take you there…
8 Mission Impossible
As a leading psychiatrist, you receive a call from a mysterious government department.
You are taken to an institution where, with the assistance of a sign language interpreter, you are invited to explain what music is to an inmate who has always been profoundly deaf. Should you accept this challenge you would then describe a rainbow to someone blind from birth. Finally you would explain what love is to an artificially intelligent computer. You would be given one hour and are offered a large sum of money (which you are badly in need of right now), but only if you are successful at all three assignments!
9 Jump for Joy
You go into hospital to have a minor operation and are given a general anesthetic. However, when you wake up you are no longer in the hospital but at the top of a steep ski jump, clad in full ski gear. At the bottom is a large crowd and you feel the jump icy under your skis. Only problem is you’ve never skied in your life before! Suddenly you feel a shove from behind and you’re on your way…
10 Stripogram Girls
You get a call from your girlfriend who tells you to come to her house urgently. When you get there she is dressed in high heels, fishnet stockings and a basque.
She tells you she has an assignment as a Stripogram girl but that she had been booked with a partner who has let her down. You need the money so agree to go. When you get there you discover it is your boss’s house…
