Another Thursday, another photograph to inspire your writing. I found the lovely colors and texture of this photo of a Mardi Gras-style mask to be compelling. <img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-487" class="size-full wp-image-487 lazyload" title="mask" src="https://ericswyatt.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/mask.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /> A beautifully textured mask, green on a red back ground. Photo by Lauren Dahlhauser. If you are stuck with a story or charac

I selected Kerry McGovern’s photo of a woman, sitting on a bench, near a pond because of the reflective nature of the photo. The woman’s eyes are closed, her head tilted back, and she appears to be lost in thought. The pond provides another layer of reflection, a reflection of the physical world. I really liked how the two go together. Take a look at the photo and see if it triggers anything in your writing. Make up a story for this character. Who is she? Why is she there? Wh

I found this little darling while wandering the aisles of a flea market in Indiana a few years ago. I knew, at first glance, this is the sort of thing that could inspire some future Stephen King, but looking at it again, I think there are other ways a writer could go, using this doll as inspiration. Perhaps you will take the easy path and animate this gal into a murderous, demonic force, but that sort of ground has been covered before, so you’ll need an original slant. Maybe

Time for another photo-inspired writing prompt. <img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-386" class="size-full wp-image-386 lazyload" title="spin" src="https://ericswyatt.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/spin.jpg" alt="spin in the woods" width="500" height="332" /> Photo by Lauren Dahlhauser A hint of movement from the girl amid the trees. This writing prompt seems to ask you to write from this beautiful young woman’s perspective, though perhaps you will take up the role of the o

I don’t know how fiction writing works for you, but for me, a new location often spurs a story, or at least a story idea. I’ve been inspired on two different occasions to write a story about a Waffle House experience (well, one wasn’t a proper Waffle House, but why quibble?). So, for our second photo-based writing prompt, I selected a simple Waffle House scenario. Plenty of points of entry on this prompt: the waiter or cook, the patron in front of the photographer, the man lo

Sometimes, even a traditional writing prompt isn’t enough to get us through that writer’s block, so I’ve decided to start featuring some photographs to use as inspiration. The idea is to take the photo and write something–anything, really–about what you see. Build a scene or story around the photograph. Use characters that you are already writing about, and somehow put them in the picture. (Even if…ESPECIALLY IF…the picture seems to make no sense what-so-ever in the story/nov