Wednesday, November 30th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…Vicky!
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I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story.
Now, I’d like you to tell me a story based on what you see on the cubes. Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some of the images or use all of them.
Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll…
To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…
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A fish, a turtle, and an alien were all sitting on a bridge. The stars came out and they started talking about the fun day spent together including a light rainstorm that produced a beautiful rainbow.
The conversation quickly turned into their bedtime rituals.
The fish said,” No matter how hard I try, sometimes I just can’t fall asleep. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve tried.”
The turtle laughed. “ Yeah, me too. I’ve tried just about everything.”
Shrugging the alien said,” Counting sheep works for me.”
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The world was safe from all forms of violence and apocalyptic world ending events. Sure there was the occassional terrorist attack of blowing up bridges and skyscrapers, but these were events dealt with by the governments of the affected countries.
One night though an event occurred that had the potential to change everything.
In the sky, among the stars, there was a streak of light that came closer and closer to Earth. Seen by many it was foretold to be an asteroid, or so people were told when they called to report seeing this event.
Somewhere though the exact location is unknown, an alien spacecraft landed. First contact by an advanced life form. They wore spacesuits that looked like blank faced characters in a play but were intended to protect the aliens from this new planet they had landed on. Not knowing if there were bacteria or flora/fauna that would be dangerous to them though their advanced science and medical knowledge would surely be enough, but better safe than sorry.
Wanting to make nice with the natives the aliens came upon a four legged furry native who had a limited vocabulary. Probably a language not known on their universal translater. “baaaa baaaa baaaa” is all they heard. An attempt was made to communicate but the peaceful native did little than eat the native grasses and produce a foul smelling scent.
Next the aliens came upon another four legged native who was wearing an armoured suit. Taking out their own weapons the aliens were ready for battle but felt the slow moving military native was only protecting their ground vs attacking. The aliens quickly distanced themselves and moved on.
Their next interaction occurred when they were testing the fluid that ran in linear fashions ending up in a great pool like structure. A legless native came to the surface of the fluid and produced bubble type speech which the aliens were unable to translate.
The aliens eventually returned to their space craft when repeated attempts at communication were fruitless. Sending a status report to their home planet, the aliens gave their conclusion.
“This is a planet with obviously advanced life forms and habitat. Peaceful but protective, the natives resist all attempts to make any sort of meaningful dialogue. It is our opinion that this planet be flagged as potentially dangerous and that all non planet lifeforms avoid the planet to entirety.”
And thus is the reason why aliens have failed to find me and whisk me away to be their goddess queen. All because of some sheep, turtles, and guppies.
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I made a wish on the shooting star to leave the city and move to a beautiful place where there is plenty of space… have a small lake with a bridge… see fish and turtles… enjoy stunning weather and see the occasional rainbow!
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alien walked across a bridge and saw a flying turtle
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The story cubes looked at me as if to say – “get on with it, you must be able to think of something”.
Nope!!
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The lamb, turtle and fish crossed the bridge looking for the end of the rainbow, but saw a shooting star and made a wish.
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I looked up and saw a rainbow over a bridge. I saw a sheep wearing a mask and a turtle entering a large building. Then I noticed the sheep also had a fish on its head. When a star landed in front of me I said “we’re not in Kansas any more”
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A blank mind, a blank face surrounding blank eyes. How to write a happy story about the rainbow bridge when all her pets were now on the far side. Grief, that’s the story. Write a poem for each pet, and pass it to the keeper of tales in the tallest building in town, pass it silently, reverently, and know it will go to the top of the building and turned to ash so the stars will pass the message of love and loss to those who have passed to greener pastures.
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Oh my goodness! The stories, y’all! I’m glad this turned out to be fun for you, and that it gave the old gray matter a workout!
The winner of the Amazon gift card is…Vicky!