History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

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 […]

Fun for Friday: A Twist on Santa’s List

| December 4, 2020

It’s the time of the year when kids are thinking about the holiday gifts they’d like to receive from Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, or any of the other names their holiday gift giver might go by (including members of their family). For a fun twist on Santa’s list, here are a handful of […]

Fun for Friday: December 2020 Writing Prompts

| November 27, 2020

It’s hard to believe we’re already creeping up on the beginning of December, as it feels to me that November just started! Nevertheless, here we are! With these prompts, the winter holidays are in full swing. I’ve tried to arrange the words for each date in interesting ways to suggest some themes. But it’s always […]

Fun for Friday: Autumn Writing Ideas

| November 20, 2020

If you’re looking for some fun autumn writing prompts, for either kids or adults, check out this page for some neat ideas. While they are geared more toward creative writing than speculative fiction, there are always ways to twist things to a more speculative bent if you prefer. And there are a couple of prompts […]