History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Fun for Friday: Panlexicon

| September 14, 2018

Sometimes, you need just the right word to make your story sing. Some might turn to a thesaurus, but thesauruses don’t always help you find the best word for what you want to convey, and sometimes they can actually lead you down the wrong path. A useful tool that I had pointed out to me […]

Fun for Friday: Sepia-Tone Photo Prompt

| September 7, 2018

For today’s Fun for Friday, I thought I’d go with an old photo–this one is from 1895, and features a seated man and a standing woman, both dressed in the fashions of that time. The woman appears to have a book in her hand … wonder what it’s about? While this couple most clearly fits […]

Fun for Friday: September Writing Prompts!

| August 31, 2018

It’s already September, and I hope that my readers in the Northern Hemisphere are seeing cooler temperatures after the scorcher of a summer than many of us had. I’m sure the parents among you are looking forward to the kids going back to school. This month has some prompts inspired by the back-to-school time, some […]

Fun for Friday: Sci-Fi Writing Prompts!

| August 24, 2018

I typically have an easy time coming up with fantasy story ideas, but I’m rubbish when it comes to sci-fi story ideas. Luckily, Mandy Wallace has 58 sci-fi writing prompts on her blog. There’s a wide range of ideas here, so you’re sure to find something that sounds good. In the meantime, I’ll definitely be […]

Fun for Friday: Writing without a Letter

| August 17, 2018

Not too long ago, I mentioned pangrams, which are sentences that use every letter in the English language. But what about NOT using a specific letter in a story, or even a novel? It’s called a lipogram, it’s most commonly done with the letter “E,” which seems really difficult! My last sentence had 8 instances of […]

Fun for Friday: Sci-Fi Photo Prompt

| August 10, 2018

This image (deleted) is just so chock full of promise, I don’t even know where to begin! There’s the gorgeous sci-fi city in the background, of course, but the girl in the foreground is what draws my attention. Is she a robot? Is she a cybernetically enhanced human? I think it could go either way, […]

Fun for Friday: 365 Writing Prompts!

| August 3, 2018

It may be past the midpoint of the year, but that’s no reason why you can’t get started on writing every day. This list gives 365 writing prompts, so you could start at the beginning and work your way through, or you could start on the number corresponding to the day of the year (today […]

Fun for Friday: August Writing Prompts

| July 27, 2018

August is just around the corner, so it’s time for the August writing prompts! This month, we’re back to having some prompts based on the letters in the word August, some based on August holidays, some based on summertime things, and some toward the end getting into the next thing on the agenda, back to […]

Fun for Friday: Interesting Words

| July 20, 2018

Writers thrive on words, and sometimes we want to use less common words rather than ones that everyone knows. While the words on this list may not be super uncommon, they’re still some fund words to use. There are two for every letter of the alphabet, which could also make for a fun writing challenge: […]

Fun for Friday: Creepy Photo Prompt

| July 13, 2018

While not everyone will find this photograph of an abandoned bus in the woods creepy, I think this photo prompt is a horror story waiting to happen! Take a look, and see what it inspires in you!