History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Fun for Friday: Images of the Coming Spring

| February 12, 2021

Today, we’ve got some images around a theme of spring, though in a variety of different ways to make them inspire writing that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the change of seasons. (Images deleted.) The first image is of a castle in Prague, though the castle is in the background and intentionally blurred, to […]

Fun for Friday: Story Starters

| February 5, 2021

When I’m writing a story, I have to start at the beginning. I have to come up with a first line that I like, and then I can get started writing the rest of it. If you’re stuck on finding a first line, check out these story starters for some ideas! If you want to […]

Fun for Friday: February 2021 Prompts

| January 29, 2021

For February’s writing prompts, I’ve got a collection of randomly generated words, put into a random order. Don’t feel like you need to use the specific word I’ve listed in your piece (though you can if you like). Feel free to play around with word association, or just use these words as a jumping off […]

Fun for Friday: Biopunk Ideas

| January 22, 2021

If you’re not familiar with biopunk, start with this article on biopunk and utopias. But if you’re ready to launch into some biopunk writing, check out this prompt and see what ideas it sparks in you! (darkliquid has additional prompts here on different themes. I haven’t read through all of them yet, so I’m not […]

Fun for Friday: Three Images of Renewal

| January 15, 2021

For this Friday, we’ve got three images on a renewal theme, but as you use them as inspiration for your writing, feel free to take them in different directions. (Images deleted.) The first image is thin, brightly colored curved lines that look like they could be a close-up image of a Slinky or curled tinsel. […]

Fun for Friday: Writing Prompts for a New Year!

| January 8, 2021

If you’re looking for some writing prompts that consider the beginning of a new year, check out this list! Some of these are celebratory, while others are more introspective, but while all of them are rooted in reality, they could make interesting fiction writing prompts as well!

Fun for Friday: January 2021 Writing Prompts!

| January 1, 2021

Happy New Year! With a new year comes a new month, which means writing prompts for the first month of 2021. This month’s prompts are fairly random, with a few winter and New Years words tucked in there! Check back on the last Friday of each month (or occasionally the first day of a new […]

Fun for Friday: Seeing Things in Clouds

| December 25, 2020

This week, I’ve got some images of clouds for the photo prompts. People have long been seeing other things when they look at the clouds, so see what you see in these clouds, and base your story or poetry on that. (images deleted) The first photo is of Foehn clouds, which are also known as […]

Fun for Friday: Writing Games for Long Nights

| December 18, 2020

As we make our way into the part of the year with long nights, sometimes you’re looking for a new game to play with your household (or online with friends). Why not make it a writing game? This website has several writing game ideas that you can try out! Poke around and see which ones […]

Fun for Friday: All a Simulation? (Image Prompts)

| December 11, 2020

It’s time for some more image prompts, and today’s seem to be along a theme of a simulation … or are they? (Images deleted.) The first image is a detail photo of a gray stone castle with colloquially called “murder holes” on the wall, against a mostly cloudy sky. The second image is an illustration […]