HOME

There was a song years back that went along the lines of “Yackety yack – don’t talk back.” If you know the song, I apologize for your current predicament of singing “counting flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all…” and so forth.

I came up with the yackety yack theme when I wanted to pound my head on the desk after realizing just how long I have been sorting though junk mail and spam comments and other assorted things that make me want to scream “don’t talk to me!” at all the spammers out there.

So, your assignment: write a scene in which one of the characters uses “Yackety yack” in a phrase.

One of the first things that I saw this morning was an advertisement for some spa place with a lady leaned back, hair wrapped in a pristine white towel, fingers gently massaging her temple, and a red flower tucked behind one ear.

Ahhh the image of perfect relaxation. And what do my muses do? They start wondering on what kind of nefarious activity one might discover in a day spa.

Perhaps the best location for something strange to happen would be the sauna. Maybe someone is murdered in the sauna? Perhaps relaxing music has a subliminal message that is played to cause someone to do something? Maybe someone is putting hallucinogenic substances in the water that is sprinkled on the hot rocks? Maybe go way out there, like my muses did, and there is some sort of time travel effect where people that enter the sauna step out day, weeks, maybe years afterward looking the same as when they had entered it? Or step into an alternate universe when they exit the sauna?

Suppose your character got a call at a very early hour one morning. What might the call be for? Could it be a wrong number? What is someone was trying to call someone and warn them about some kind of danger, then hung up before they could be told it was the wrong number? How would your character react to that situation? Would they ignore it, think it was a prank, call the police or try to call the number back?

Maybe they walk around a bit, think it over, wake up. Then decide to double check the caller ID and call the number back. What happens?

What if someone different answered the phone when it was called back?

From Creative Writing Prompts – their prompt 115:

For 90 seconds write a list of everything you would find in a hospital room. Once finished, write a scene using everything you listed, but not set in or near a hospital.

Imagine your character wanted to really impress their loved one for Valentine’s Day, they cook a very nice romantic dinner, but something happens.

What might happen? Someone else shows up? The loved one is planning to break up with the one making the dinner?