What would happen if fish skin was used to replace burned skin? What if a mama bird built her nest, laid her eggs, and then raised her babies on your back porch? What if your town was terrorized by chickens? What if your two-year-old child’s paintings sold for thousands of dollars each? These writing prompts should keep you busy for the entire month of July.
July 1-7
Doctors are trying an unorthodox approach to treat burn victims — using fish skin
Surely nothing could go wrong using fish skin on burn victims, right? They do transfer collagen to the victims’ skin, and that is something needed for healing, so only good things will come out of doing this, right?
What if. . .
those who had fish skin infused over their burns started craving fish food?
those who had fish skin infused over their burns wanted to spend so much time in the water that they began to neglect their jobs and families?
the skin infused over their burns began spreading all over their body?
They are using the skin of tilapias, but what if the skin they used was that of a shark or a piranha?
What if. . .
those who had fish skin infused over their burns wanted to ingest blood, lots of blood? They would be fine until they smelled blood, but once the scent of blood hit their nostrils, they would become savage beasts.
those who had fish skin infused over their burns began to attack crowds of people and/or herds of animals?
July 8-16
When you go out the back door of our house, you walk onto our deck. If you walk all the way down to the end of the deck, you will find a tool shed that my husband built. My husband isn’t the only one who has made use of this tool shed though. A bird—I’m pretty sure it’s a Carolina Wren—has been building nests and hatching her babies in there for years. She normally builds her nests up high where you can’t see the babies, but this year, she built her nest right inside the tool shed, and it is right beside the doorway.
Her babies have now hatched, grown up, and flown off. At first, they were snuggled up so tightly in the nest we couldn’t always tell how many of them there were. The mama bird was camera shy and wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to snap a picture of her, but I have taken several pictures of the babies, which at first looked like fluffy black balls of fur with beaks and eyes, but they soon grew into super cute baby birds.
What if. . .
I do have an outdoor cat, but he doesn’t go into the back yard. But what if he hears the baby birds crying out for their mama and decides to investigate? What happen? Does the mama succeed in scaring him away?
My two dogs, Bella and Leesi, are in the back yard a lot. And the mama bird knew this when she decided to build her nest just inside the tool shed. Bella does chase other animals out of the yard, and this includes birds. She doesn’t even like them flying over the yard. Did the mama bird decide to build her nest here because she knew these things? Write about mama bird making this decision.
one of the baby birds—I’m pretty sure there are four of them—falls out of the nest? What if Bella finds it on the floor of the shed and does the exact opposite of what we expect she would do? Instead of eating it in just one gulp, she stares at it, sniffs it, and protects it until the mama bird returns. Write about a friendship developing between the Bella and the birds.
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July 17-23
For some reason, this story made me think about Chicken Run, only the chickens aren’t trying to find a way to escape the farm, they are intent on terrorizing people.
What if. . .
the chickens have terrified all the youngsters by mercilessly chasing them? They will no longer go outside and play.
the chickens are in the process of taking over the town?
there are chickens among them who want nothing more than to kill all the humans?
there are chickens among them who want their life to go back to the way it was? They want to be protected by their humans in exchange for their eggs?
July 24-31
This is one of those stories that show truth can be stranger than fiction. Write about a youngster whose paintings sell for thousands of dollars each.
What if. . .
the youngster is kidnapped? If the ransom isn’t paid, the kidnappers will cut off his fingers, taking away his ability to paint? Is the ransom paid, and if so, do the kidnappers demand more? What if it turns out someone close to him and his family arranged for him to be kidnapped?
his parents give him the money made from his paintings to spend now? What kind of things does he buy?
he buys a zoo? Let’s pretend he loves animals and wants to spend all his time with them. He buys a zoo and moves his whole family there. What is life like for them at the zoo? Does he leave the zoo open for others to visit?
he buys a circus and his whole family move around with the circus? How does this affect his painting?
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I think it’s cool baby birds are in your shed. We have chickens, a dog, and had several cats, but the cats have disappeared as of late. Sadly, this morning, we found out why. A neighbor’s dog has been coming around. It killed our smallest cat this morning. My husband chased it, but it was too late. Our dog just stood by.