Cheryl Burman's Blog: Blog posts for readers and writers, page 31

Welcome back to the daily prompts. The third for this wee...

Welcome back to the daily prompts. The third for this week.

Heart, lock and key: Picture prompt

The heart-shaped stone was clean, the scratched markings clear if unintelligible. The ornate, patinated key shone, as did the separate, unattached-to-anything lock. A silver ribbon loosely tied the three objects together.

The sigh of a memory breathed at the back of the antique dealer’s mind, and died again. He looked at the young woman who had laid the heart and its fellows on the glass counter ...

Heart, lock and key: Picture prompt

Welcome back to the daily prompts. The second for this week.

Heart, lock and key: Picture prompt

The heart-shaped stone was clean, the scratched markings clear if unintelligible. The ornate, patinated key shone, as did the separate, unattached-to-anything lock. A silver ribbon loosely tied the three objects together.

The sigh of a memory breathed at the back of the antique dealer’s mind, and died again. He looked at the young woman who had laid the heart and its fellows on the glass counter...

All of it, tumbling …

Welcome back to the daily prompts. The second for this week.

All of it, tumbling …

Claire stepped back, ready to be pleased with her efforts. Yes, perfect. She puffed out her chest, despite there being no one to see, and called into the next room.

‘Come and have a look.’

‘Come and look at what?’ Churlish voice from beyond the half-closed door.

‘You know! I’ve been working on it all day, you remember what I was planning.’ Trying to keep frustration at bay.

‘I’ll see it later.’ Increased volume ...

He slipped into the line

Welcome back to the daily prompts. Two responses today …

More discussion about A,I and apparently at least one organisation has closed its competition because it can’t tell the difference between human written and AI written stories. So today I’ve done both. Which one is mine, do you think? (I’m ready to be humiliated here!)

He slipped into the line – story one

The soldiers came in the winter dawn with their rifle butts and shouts. He pressed his shivering body into the deeper shado...

They met once a year, at the same place

Last day of this week’s prompts. I suspect my current fantasy writing is showing through>

They met once a year, at the same place

For 364 days, their lives never touched each other. Their homes were scattered over the island. They knew which days each of them visited the markets and avoided them. They knew which beaches each others’ families preferred, and swam elsewhere. If by chance they passed on a cobbled trail on a hillside, the smell of thyme filling the air, they nodded, briefly, an...

Old photograph: pic prompt

Day 5 of this week’s prompts is a picture prompt.

Old photograph: pic prompt

You have a look of my son, so I guess that means we are related, somehow, somewhere along the genealogical tree.

The long, straight nose. The wide mouth. The oval face with a strong jaw. Not the eyes though. His eyes are bright, wondering at the world still – he is only eight, after all. Your eyes cry anguish, of stuff witnessed which plays again and again, a technicolour film in the days before colour.

Y...

Jane’s heart froze …

Back to just me writing today, no AI stories … although ….

Jane’s heart froze …

Jane opened her eyes, thick-headed from a night interrupted by distant thunder. She rolled over, squinted at her bedside clock. Blank. She touched the bedside lamp. The room’s darkness held. Damn, an electricity cut.

Blinking, pushing back the covers, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet grateful for the coolness of the wooden floor. She lifted her hair from her sweaty neck. The air was warm, st...

What the AI wrote

Today’s writing prompt response is a little different.

I came across a blog post by a successful (long time successful, I hasten to add) author which has encouraged me to explore ChatGPT as a means to stimulate ideas, think about book blurbs etc – a sort of brainstorming partner, take the pressure off my husband :D. While not brainstorming, I couldn’t resist asking the AI to write a response to today’s prompt. Hmm.

The prompt is: Use these four words – decision false ribbon plague

I asked for ...

Stone steps into a cellar: pic prompt

Today’s writing prompt and my response.

Prompt two for the week. Write a poem, a story. Link the prompts into a longer piece. Or simply read and enjoy. Stone steps into a cellar: pic prompt

She hesitated on the top step. Once she would have skipped down, unthinking, her way among the shadows well-practised since childhood.
Papa had brought her here before she understood the cellar’s purpose. Earliest memories of rows of dusty bottles in worn wooden racks; great barrels with tiny tap...

This was something new, something …

Today’s writing prompt and my response.

The first prompt for the week. Write a poem, a story. Link the prompts into a longer piece. Or simply read and enjoy. This was something new, something …

Claire strode out front as usual, her long, red curls blowing about her head. The path was muddy, steep. Ginny trailed behind, breathing hard, muttering about why she’d agreed to this far too long walk. She glanced up to the ridge, beyond Claire. Storm clouds were building, heavy with the bl...