History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

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 […]

Fun for Friday: Dark Fantasy Images

| November 13, 2020

This week’s images might lend themselves well to a dark fantasy story, but perhaps you’ll see them in a different light! The first image is a moonlit night with a misty forest backdrop, and a wooden cabin with cobblestone chimney on the edge of a body of water. There is one light on in the […]

Fun for Friday: Writing Games!

| November 6, 2020

If you’re stuck in a rut, sometimes playing a game can help get your writing flowing again. Here are 20 games to play with writing! This list is a lot of fun because it’s a mix of poetry, writing from scratch, and revision games. So you can pick and choose which ones work best for […]

Fun for Friday: November 2020 Writing Prompts

| October 30, 2020

Here comes November, with autumn and winter temperatures and holidays in their wake in most of North America! This month’s prompts reflect the late autumn/early winter nature of November, and also include some holiday-related words and also some random words. If you’re doing NaNoWriMo in November, you could use the words to push you forward […]

Fun for Friday: Architectural Images?

| October 23, 2020

This week’s images are mostly based on architectural things, except maybe that last one. The first image is a tall, slender white building atop a hill. The structure of the building looks as though it is twisted in a counterclockwise direction when facing it, and it gives the impression of a unicorn’s horn emerging from […]