Short Story Writing Prompts:
More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys

Your writing desk is the center of your creative universe, and if you don't have toys on it ... you're wrong.

Well, maybe that's a bit harsh, and maybe you're a crime writer, in which case the "toys" you might want on your desk are probably illegal.

For most of us, though, toys can help solve all kinds of writing problems.

Take the humble barrel of monkeys, for instance. This venerable gem can still be purchased at your local toy store for about $8 - a price even broke writers can afford.

Here are just a few of the literally endless "monkey" games and exercises you can dream up:

Use them to help you name characters. Hopefully you know that the object of Barrel of Monkeys is to try to get as many monkeys as possible out of the barrel by linking their arms together, thus creating a chain of monkeys. In this "name game" variant, each monkey you snag and withdraw from the barrel gets his or her own name. Go through the alphabet, free-associate, one male and one female name per letter of the alphabet, whatever. If you do this exercise every time you're sitting at your desk trying to think of something to write, you'll get a lot of practice dreaming up names. Write them all down in your notebook. You never know when you will need an Augustus Eugene for your story.

Use them as a plot generator. We're always looking for ways to make our jobs easier, right? From the Edgar Wallace Plot Wheel to the dozens of software "plot generators," we all want the quick and easy fix for our story problems.

Here's a little secret that will save you hundreds of dollars in software you don't really need: your own head is your best plot generator. But sometimes you need to trick it - come at it sideways - before it will work for you.

Make a list of ten plot twists that you might find useful in a story. Assign a number to each. Use general terms, so they can fit anywhere in any story you'd care to dream up. I'll give a few examples to kickstart your imagination:

1) An unexpected visitor arrives.

2) A terrible storm decimates your main character's home town.

3) Reversal - your protagonist turns out to be the antagonist.

If you're feeling particularly ambitious, count your monkeys and come up with one plot variation for each. When you're done, make little paper tags with those numbers on them and tape one to each monkey. Put the monkeys back into the barrel, shake it, open it up and select one at random.

Get as many monkeys hooked together as you can. When you're done, lay the monkeys out on your desk. Look at the numbers on them, left to right. The first monkey you selected will be the last number in the line.

Match the numbers to your list of numbered scenes, and build a plot outline based on those plot twists.

If these exercises seem arbitrary and silly to you, it means you really need to do them. You may be taking yourself too seriously, placing too much importance on the seriousness of writing and the act of writing. This is playtime, particularly if you're still working on a first draft.

"But this is not a game," you might think. "This is my life's work. It's serious business."

Fair enough. The last thing I want to do is make light of our art. But it is a game. It's imagnitive play. We need to allow ourselves to relax and flow. It's very difficult to do that when you're busy thinking about how life-or-death it all is.

Anyway, if this is your life's work, don't you want it to be fun? Work should be a challenge, but the challenge should be fun. I stole that line from somebody. For the life of me, I can't remember who. If you can, drop a message in the box so I can attribute it properly.

Let your kid (or your monkey) free. Writing is about joy, freedom, expression, fun and exploration. The more open you are to any ideas, wherever they might come from, the better.

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