Okay, I am inspired to add another prompt. This is a character building exercise for writers who need practice working on characters or who want to play with building characters that were created by other people.
Type: Scene, character centered.
Length: 500 – 2000 words
Goal: Take a character from mythology and put that character in modern times (anytime after World War II). Make the character belong in the time period you have placed him/her, but still be the character from mythology (personality quirks, abilities, etc.). Explain character quirks and abilities using modern sensibilities (such as "Hercules is bipolar"). The scene should be character driven, with external influences at a minimum. Similar to the POV type scene, this is an exploration of the characters needs, wants, beliefs, and rationalizations.
If you need a hint of what I'm talking about, look at the Percy Jackson stuff. Most people are familiar with Greek, Roman, Norse, or Egyptian mythology. If you want to really make things interesting for yourself, chose a mythos that isn't well known and hasn't had a million stories written about it (Native American, Australian Aboriginal, Tibetian, etc.).
If you choose to take to take up the challenge, I'd love to hear from you. And if anyone gets anything published based on these prompts, I'd really love for you to crow about it. Include a link to the announcement (or the story) and I'll go take a look.
