Weekend Writer: April 2024 Prompt Share
Hey all, Sam here.
It has been a little while since we’ve had one of these posts, and that’s completely on me. I dropped the ball on my Weekend Writer blog posting in the month of May. I’ve been getting overwhelmed more easily this year, I’ve noticed, and that sometimes makes keeping up a reading, writing, or blogging schedule a little more difficult. But I’ll keep trying…I just might disappear for a little bit first.
Anyway, I did still manage to talk about my Weekend Writer craft book this month, which The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel’s Key Moments by John Matthew Fox, so you can check back on that post if you’re interested in my thoughts. And of course, since I’m covering my April Writing Prompts today, if you’re interested in participating, you can find all of the prompts here. I’m thinking I should have a page where I collate all the monthly prompts posts together, because this is my second year doing this which means there’s quite a few prompts to check out and use.
Let’s get started…
Deck of Worlds
Prompt: The Sundered Apothecary, home to a well of Nature Magic, lies in the Vale of Dreamers, shaped by the Fae and ruled by triumvirate. A strange enchantment seems to have fallen over the land.
A newer addition to the prompt generation is the Deck of Worlds by The Story Engine, and it works in a very similar way to the story deck, but it helps you think about and build either micro settings or small words or huge words with numerous countries throughout. It’s pretty cool.
Since I’m still new to using the Deck of Worlds for prompt generation I chose not to use the full deck. Instead I only used the Worlds of Sand & Story deserts expansion deck. These decks are designed so you can use an expansion deck alone or build it into the main Deck of Worlds. One upcoming month I will do a full setting instead of a micro setting, and give us a larger world that we can explore for a few months of writing.
There are many who speak of the Vale of Dreamers, ruled over by the Moon, the Star, and the Dark, but even more speak of the renowned home of one of the great wells of Nature Magic. This home is a shop called The Sundered Apothecary. To any who step inside the building, walls crawling with holly and ivy, the place looks more like an overgrown garden than any sort of shop, exuding a magical aura that is potent and awe-inspiring.
At least, most of the time.
Lately, rumors dance through the region, carried by gusts of wind, and the tidings they bear are concerning at best and deathly at worst. The winds speak of a shift in the Dark, one brought on by some change in the magical ecosystem, one only those with a specific sensitivity to the balance and whims of the weave of magic have been able to detect.
And it isn’t just the Dark that is noted to be affected by whatever is plaguing the region’s magic. The winds say that the Moon is likewise affected, though not at the same time. For the Moon the shift waxes and wanes, much like her namesake.
Most say that the news is distressing. What will the Vale of Dreamers do if these rumors are true?
“There was a flicker! I’m telling you that I was headed to The Sundered Apothecary and I felt a break in the flow, a fraying to the weave of magic. It was only for a moment but I’ve never felt such dread before. Chilled to the marrow, I was. We need to take this to the Star at once; they’ll know what to do.” The half-elf lad was clearly a bit frantic and frazzled, but most walked past without pause. A few had stopped to listen and perhaps to try and calm the boy down.
“Easy now, Valen. You don’t want ol’ Bell to hear that you’ve been causing a commotion out here. It isn’t good for an apprentice to be spreading rumors and building panic amongst the citizenry,” one of the onlookers, a catfolk, replied gently.
Valen spun around and grasped the front of the catfolk’s tunic in both hands. The grip was tight and his eyes were wide. “Who do you think sent me out here to get aid?”
All right, well that is all from me for today. Feel free to share your own writing from one of the prompts in the comments or in a post of your own. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
