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The villain in our stories is important, right? No conflict without a villain.
The dictionary defines "villain" as "a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot."
Sometimes it's easy to spot the villain. He or she is the horrible classmate who does something nasty, the guy who wears the black hat (think Darth Vader), or the bully who torments every kid in the third grade.
But what if your villain was a cupcake? Even better, a cupcake with sprinkles? Huh?
My point is, what if your villain comes disguised? What if your villain is the best friend who turns on your character? Or the wonderful teacher who seems sweet, but who has her own evil plan? In other words, what if your villain is a cupcake?
Write about a villain who appears to be sweetness and light, a person who seems to be made out of fluffy frosting and sprinkles, but who is really out to make your character's life miserable.
A sweet cupcake on the outside; a villain on the inside.
Use your imagination. Then have a cupcake with sprinkles.
Last week an asteroid came within 17,000 miles of Earth, and a meteor exploded above a city in Russia.
This news from the scientific world sparked my imagination. What if aliens were sending asteroids to Earth? What if a family on Planet X aimed meteors at Earth as a warning? Or as a plea for help?
Wondering about creatures on other planets has spurred some classic science fiction stories, of course. Now it's your turn to have fun with space.
Write a story using your ideas about asteroids and meteors. Be silly and creative. Or serious and thoughtful. Or somewhere in between. Set your story in the future, the past, or right now.
You're the author, and outer space is your canvas!
Last week I wrote about blue trees. Today I'm writing about Orange Place.
Orange Place is in Seattle. I don't know how the street got its name. When I was there I didn't see any orange trees, orange houses, or orange leaves (because it's February). But I think Orange Place is a great name for a street.
If you were writing a story set on Orange Place, who would live there? Orange people? Orange cats? Or blue people who think it's funny to live on Orange Place?
Set a story on Orange Place. For fun, make the cross street Purple Way, Crimson Drive, or Turquoise Boulevard. What color are the sidewalks, houses, stores, mailboxes, and cars?
For extra deliciousness, eat an orange while you write your story. And ponder this question: did you know no word in English rhymes with orange?
What's your first thought when you see blue trees? Cool! Weird! Or--huh?
Your eyes aren't tricking you. These honey locust trees in Westlake Park in Seattle do indeed have blue trunks. The trunks make you want to stop and look, don't they?
Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos colored the trunks blue as part of his international art exhibit, "The Blue Trees." He wants to draw attention to the cutting down of forests worldwide. The purpose of the exhibit is to make people think about trees and how important they are to our world.
Don't worry. The blue color doesn't hurt the trees. The color isn't paint. It's made from azurite--a vibrant blue rock--and water.
For a fun writing prompt, create a setting for a story with blue trees. Who lives among the trees? Or in the trees? Are the characters human or another type of creature? Where are the blue trees? Are they on planet Earth or somewhere entirely different?
When you're done writing, don't forget to thank a tree.
