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To all the writers and readers of Bored Panda! Post a prompt/plot base for us to write a short-ish story on, and once this closes, I will post a challenge asking you what you came up with!
Here are the rules:
1. No discriminating prompts. Please don't give prompts that include supporting homophobia, transphobia, racism, or any discrimination.
2. Make a plot that can be made into a short story. Nothing that might take an entire book, and if you do insist on making one, start your entry with "Long Book Prompt".
3. Nothing with 18+ material. It can include blood/gore, but please no mature things (you know what I'm talking about here).
I can't wait to see what you come up with! This post probably won't get much attention, so I don't know if it will get any responses at all, but here's a hope!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Your a ghost haunting an old house you used to live in before you died. There is a new family who moved in and you seem to find yourself platonically/romantically interested in one of the new arrivals. You sing sweet lullabyes at night and leave them cool trinkets and things you found in the hopes that they might one day notice you.
Final score:
4points
Deutschland Mädchen 3 years ago
Something was very wrong with me and it was all because of that girl, Rosemary. I was filled with a neverending sense of hopelessness and I was drowning in sorrow. How could I ever get her attention if she couldn't see me? My wails filled the house at night but she blamed it on the wind. I called her name from three inches away but she looked right through me. ___ Ever since Rosemary and her family had moved in to my old house and current haunt, I'd been trying to get her attention with no avail. She was pretty- extremely- and I thought that I would die a second time if I couldn't reach her. ___ At night, I sat on the end of her bed and sang to her, though I knew she couldn't hear me. I could no longer cry but I wanted to.
#2
Ten years from now, scientists figure out how to stop human aging and extend life indefinitely—but every time someone qualifies for that boost, someone else has to die to keep the surplus population in check. Oh, it’s all very humane; one’s descendants get a huge paycheck. But does it really seem that way to a 15 year old girl who has just gotten a letter in the mail that SHE has been randomly chosen to die? (Taken from internet and changed slightly)
Final score:
4points
Deutschland Mädchen 3 years ago
The letter came in the mail today. My heart almost stopped of its own accord when I saw it. Before I even opened the envelope, I knew what it was going to say. Everyone dreads these letters, the ones that inform the unlucky recipients that it is their turn to die. _____ Tomorrow morning, I will be expected to report to the BOSAR (Building Of Science And Research) to be injected with the infamous black liquid that will kill me before my body can even register the pain from the needle. Many people before me have met this fate. My best friend, Kira, among them. I am determined not to go the same way. I want to die naturally. I won't let the Scientists and Government control me. I don't want them to unnaturally extend my lifespan but I also refuse to let them kill me. ____ Tonight, just as the first stars peek into the dark sky, I will run. Where? I don't know yet. Somewhere. Somewhere where I can be alone. Somewhere where I won't be murdered for the 'greater good'.
#3
A young girl is exploring the basement of her house when she comes across a mysterious door. When she opens it, she gets sucked into an inter dimensional portal.
Final score:
2points
GaeFrog 3 years ago
I hear them shouting my name from upstairs as I crawl deeper into the seemingly endless pile of boxes and cobwebs in the storage room of my basement. As the hide and seek champion of my neighborhood friend group it feels as if its my duty to find all the nooks and cranies that I could squeeze myself into. I push away the uneasy sensation I get when being in spaces like this one. Usually I get a bit freaked out which is a typical human response to being in a small, dark spaces but this time it was different. It smelled of rotting wood and I could hear the scurries of insects across the floor. The feeling of worry expands inside of me but I shove it deeper because what could go wrong? Its just my basement and we have been living here for 3 years. My gut tells me I need to get out but I cant risk getting found, I might lose my reputation! I remember I have my phone in my back pocket and I can use the flashlight to illuminate the eerie room.
#4
I’m writing this as I go so… yeah.
A boy has a crush on a girl, but she likes his brother. He confesses to her, not knowing about it. She publicly humiliates him, and he loses all of his friends. But suddenly one day, the girl is gone, and everyone is his friend again. He looks in the mirror to find out that they have swapped bodies. He needs to find her before she hurts his body. The boy soon realizes he can do the same. Will he take revenge? Or have mercy?
Final score:
2points
#5
Fantasy: a girl from our regular world transported into a fantasy world. Enlisting the help of a wizard, a banished prince and an immortal (fae or elf). She tries to get home.
Final score:
1point
#6
I do best with fantasy prompts, so please bear with me because I actually have an entire Google document full of these lmao
A girl wakes up in a field with no memory of her past life, and meets an aspiring wizard, a baby gremlin, a goblin, and an enchantress on her journey to find out what happened to her memory.
While walking in the forest one day, you find an abandoned library. You explore it, and upon opening one of the books, you are transported into the world within and have to help save the kingdom while trying to find the librarian who can restore peace to the library.
A boy is unhappy in his simple life in a small village, and runs away in the night. He comes back in the morning out of guilt to find that his entire village has been turned to stone. Upon more exploring, he finds that all of the other villages have been turned to stone too. Lost and alone, he enlists the help of the daughter of the king (who was somehow spared) and a tiny giant to return the kingdom to normal, and to try to figure out why he and the princess were the only ones spared from the curse, all while dealing with immense guilt that this whole catastrophe may be his fault.
It's almost 3am so please forgive any spelling errors 🙃
Final score:
1point
#7
Good student x Bad student/jock, but you're transported into the story. You can change the storyline in anyway you want by being the good student.
Final score:
1point
#8
Earth is under control of an evil third party. The third party believes that the earth has become so awful that they plan on taking the humans off the earth and completing destroying everything on it. Then, they would let nature take over and return the earth to what it was before it was civilized. The third party fakes a huge catastrophic disaster or something is going to kill everyone on earth so a huge tech company (equivalent to like apple or google etc. but instead of web browsers and smartphones exclusively it’s big machinery and spaceships as well as guns and armaments etc.) then loads everybody up on ginormous space pods and send them up to space. Everybody thinks they will return home once the threat has cleared, but they “accidentally” get lost in space and are forced to seek out a human supporting planet because the rations and supplies on board the pods are becoming obsolete. Soon people begin dying on board the pods due to the length of not finding a suitable planet. Eventually one is found and they land their pods down. After getting the dead they begun building a civilization and soon a new city is built. People begin to forget about their original planet after days turn into weeks turn into months and eventually decades past. New children are born upon the planet and time passes long enough that nobody even remembers earth. A few old people left on the original generation still faintly remember but nobody believes them. Soon things begin falling apart on the new planet. The native humanoid species living on the planet that had coexisted with the humans gets angry when a trading company between humans and the aliens breaks a treaty they had maintained for years. War is declared. Soon young men get drafted into this new war, and thousands begin dying on both sides. Cities get ravaged in the war and factions on both sides strive to make peace between the two parties. That is when a group of humans remember the old planet. A new deal is struck up that if the old planet is still in good shape that the humans would move back and the alien natives would regain their land. An adventuring party is sent out to scout the new land. They board a pod, and are put into a induced sleep to survive the long journey. Time passes and the people eventually reach earth. Earth has now become a large wilderness and new species of animals roam the earth. Large swathes of radiation still remain in wastelands around the earth, a clue to what might have happened to the earth during the long stretches of time it was vacant. Worse, animals have mutated into horrific creatures because of this radiation, and new terrifying monsters never seen to humans lurk in the tall forests and grasslands of earth. The adventuring party then approaches earth, but a ginormous, winged radiation mutant pulls the ship from the sky and crashes it to the ground. A large number of the crew dies from the collision, but some survive. The small number of survivors then flee into the dark forests with what supplies they could grab while the creature chases them. Once they lose the creature, they realize they have to get back to the spaceship. But night is almost upon them, so they make a quick camp. They then plan to return to the spaceship and make it back to earth. But in the morning they find their camp surround by odd looking humans. Apparently, some people stayed behind when the pods left. These became the last remaining people of earth, and have formed a tribe. Due to the radiation, the people are not normal. Some have unnatural abilities, like heightened strength or speed, or some gain an extra head, multiple arms. The worse is the people who have somehow fused with an animal, and have become a bear, or a lion, or a wild cat or some other type. Villages of the survivors are scattered around the globe, all part of one tribe. They use primitive technology, as nothing technological or automated remains. The people that stayed behind have mutated over the generations. The water of Earth is all polluted, so the villages are the only way to get clean water since they have devised a method to clean it. They also know which food is safe to eat and which is filled/corrupted with radiation. The people of the tribes want the people on the new planet to come back, and bring their technology with them to advance the technology on Earth. The people know of what Earth used to be like due to stories and books written by the older generations, and they don’t like being stuck using primitive materials. Due to the lack of technology, they could not repair the spaceship. But, if they made the difficult travel to the main central village, they could use the one last remaining long range communicator. Scraps of technology were found on earth by the older generations, and they managed to build and communicator station. They wanted to communicate to the people that left, but they did not know where they were. Thus, the generations have tried over the years to reach them but they could not find them. In the villages, only the highest officials could operate the station as it was considered sacred to the people. The adventuring party then makes the difficult journey armed with supplies from the village. They go through the tough wild terrain and battle off the monsters hiding there. After some people die through the long journey, they eventually make it to the main village. They tell the coordinates to the station head, and make communication contact with the new planet. They then have to wait while the new people come. The adventuring crew then settle down in the village and make a life for themselves there. Some marry people, some build houses, and some go off into the wilderness to find whatever they were looking for. But at last peace is restored to the human race.
Final score:
1point
#9
A deadly virus has broken out in the future and you’re a young child trying to survive alone because you’re the only one in your clan who is immune and the others have died including your parents and grandma who you have lived with your whole life. The government is collecting survivors to investigate them and try to find a cure in their blood to save humanity but their intentions for the survivors and the future of the human race are more sinister than you thought…
Final score:
1point
#10
For a fantasy book: A girl who bursts into flame every three minutes and she tries to find out why (idk)
For sci-fi: Aliens invade earth but an army of Karens and Flat-Earthers explode their brain cells with sheer illogicalness and annoyance.
Post stories in the comments I think?
Final score:
0points
#11
You receive a package in the mail from an unknown sender. You open it up to a mood ring inside. You think nothing of it. It's just a boring old mood ring.... right?
Final score:
0points
Deutschland Mädchen 3 years ago
The package came in the mail last Friday, addressed to me in blue ink. It had contained only a vintage mood ring which I had stupidly slipped onto my finger. My life had gone terribly downhill since that day. When I had put it on, a migrane suddenly overtook me and I was in too much pain to try and do anything but go into a dark room and try to sleep it off. When I woke up, the migrane was gone but it had been replaced by a severe cold. Coughing heavily, I tried to slide the mood ring off of my finger so that I could sleep more comfortably. To my surprise, it seemed to have shrunk and I couldn't get it off. I heard a crash from downstairs and a man's voice swearing. On his third 'dangnabbit', I managed to stumble down the stairs and arrived just in time to watch him shove the last of my valuables into a bag and jump out the window with it. I was too groggy and sick to chase after him. I slumped onto the floor. Why was my life suddenly going terribly? I hadn't really had any _
What do you think ?
Callista pierce (Post author) 3 years ago (edited)
it was so fun seeing what you came up with! (thanks for the funny ones!) Now i shall go eat ramen and watch an anime i've already watched like 20 times.
Callista pierce (Post author) 3 years ago
100% agree. some were funny, some clever, some both.
Load More Replies... Callista pierce (Post author) 3 years ago (edited)
it was so fun seeing what you came up with! (thanks for the funny ones!) Now i shall go eat ramen and watch an anime i've already watched like 20 times.
Callista pierce (Post author) 3 years ago
100% agree. some were funny, some clever, some both.
Load More Replies...
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