Tag Archives: Riveting Writing Prompts

Original Works, Riveting Writing Prompts, Short Stories

Riveting Writing Prompts #9: People of the Deep

February 22, 2019 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

Hey guys, it’s been a while since I have done one of these, but here is another Riveting Writing Prompts:

Earth’s most intelligent species has been hiding in the vast unexplored oceans all this time. In fact they tricked us into looking to the stars for intelligent life to distract us from their existence.

The prompt was written by u/Crazy_ManMan on Reddit.

Without further ado, here is the story:

While it is true that humans have conquered the land, the oceans are a much different story. Far from the shores of any continent, and much below the view of any random passerby, at the intersection of the global west and the east, there lives a group much older than humans, and yet miraculously not yet seem by them. While the land above was being ravaged by war, poverty, corruption and the likes, these beings are living out a much more peaceful existence.

Known only to the land above in legends, the Aquiatic people live near the ocean’s floor, in specially built houses that allow them to stay perfectly still, even while underwater. During their long history, the group has also gained the ability to breathe underwater, as well as swim just as well as any other sea life. Just like the humans above them, of which the Aquiatic people are distant relatives, they enjoy a diverse range of food collected from various parts of the ocean. The society of Aquius is run in a fairly similar fashion to the great democracies of the human world, with an elected body, a president, and courts.

However, they developed this system long before humans ever realized a system like that was even possible. Around the time of the Alexander the Great was conquering much of the world, while Aquius was being transformed into a more democratic society, its rulers realized that the day humans discovered their society existed, that would be the day everything ended. So, as part of a plan to protect their great society, the ruler at the time, King Zarius, sent a group of trained spies on a mission: to infiltrate human societies all around the world and make them believe that the only intelligent life existed beyond earth.

Zacari, one of the spies assigned to trick the human population in Asia, became famous among the people of Aquius. Every day he would talk to hundreds and hundreds of people, working tirelessly to convince people that intelligent life existed beyond the stars. Eventually, though, the people he talked to became afraid. They came to see him as a dangerous outsider, corrupting the minds of their fellow citizens, and so they killed him. Soon after his death, Zacari became immortalized as a statue in the country’s capital city Ozium.

While it is true that the people of Aquius fear their human relatives above, they do not hate them. Much like the worm does not wish to become the food of a bird, they to did not wish to be dug out of the hole they have built for themselves.

How do you guys feel about this story? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you would like to support The Aniwriter or are just feeling generous, consider donating on Ko-fi or using one of my affiliate links:

Check out my writing blog, Solidly Liquid!

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

Riveting Writing Prompts, Short Stories

Riveting Writing Prompts #7: The Chicken Does Not Cross Alone

November 21, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 4 Comments

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

It’s been a minute since I wrote a story, so here we go again. This prompt is a bit sillier, but I thought it would be fun.

Here is the prompt:

[WP] You’re a chicken who just woke up on the side of a road and can only remember that he started on the other side. Your mission? To find out why you crossed the road.

written by: u/ploot-O

With that, here we go.

” I’m currently standing on the sidewalk, alone, and I honestly have no idea what is going on.” I made a mental note as looked around. The freshly paved road simmered in the incredibly hot weather, with sweat running down my face. Except, something was noticeably different. My body was much lower to the ground, and I had wings instead of hands. It turns out that I was a chicken.

Something else was also going on. The last thing I remembered was sitting on the bench on the other side of the road waiting for the bus to come. The road itself was not extremely busy, so I decided that I would start my investigation at the bus stop. Being a chicken made trekking across the intensely hot road much more difficult. My walking had become much slower, and my feet were burning.

Eventually, I made it across and found myself at an empty bus stop area. The place looked as though no one had been there for days. I then wondered just how long I had been sitting there on the other side of the road. The worry hit me like a car at full speed. I spent a few minutes getting my emotions together and then went back to investigating.

As I looked around the back of the bench I a piece of paper. It had been crumpled up, and seemingly missed the trash can which was a few inches away. My “situation” made it a bit more difficult to open. I was forced to hold down a corner of it with my foot and slowly peel it open with my wings. Written on the crumpled paper was a note. “You are probably wondering what you are even doing right now. The world probably feels as though it has no meaning. ‘Why are you a chicken’ you might be asking yourself. Well, turn around and I might be able to provide some answers.

As I finished reading, I immediately rotated my small, plump body all the way around. Sure enough, A large black cat sat a few feet behind me. “Hello there,” he said, with a devious smile strewn across his face. “Who are you, and what do you know about what has happened to me?” He chuckled a bit, and then said: “follow me.” I wattled behind him into a small area of trees behind the bench.

We walked for about five minutes, and then I saw it. Small houses made of sticks and other materials in the area were laid out in an open area of grass. Other chickens walked around, unaware of the cat and I. “Welcome to your new home.” The cat waved his paw towards the group of other chickens. “I will tell you this boy, Chickens do not cross the road, only idiotic humans with a death wish. You were actually crossing the road, but then were struck down by the hands of fate, or I guess most people would just call it a car. This is your second chance at life. Use it, or don’t. I don’t care either way.” I still had so many questions.

What kind of story would you guys tell with this prompt? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

Riveting Writing Prompts, Short Stories

Riveting Writing Prompts #6: A Time Traveling Savior

October 27, 2018 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

So, most of the time when I go through different sources looking for writing prompts, I spend a decent amount of time looking. But this time I picked the first one I came across. Not because I am doing a challenge, but because I really like this prompt from u/papahardt.

You and friend agree that if one of you invents time travel, they will come back to this very moment. As you shake on it, an older and injured you shows up and shoots your friend in the head.

It is not super complicated, but it leaves a lot of room for detail. So, with that being said, here is another short story.

As sun’s slow departure from the sky signaled the day’s end, I turned to my partner in crime Eric and asked, somewhat randomly, “Could you imagine if we had time travel?” In his usual, much more relaxed manner he replied: “that would be pretty cool.” “Hey, if one us invents time travel, we should come back to this very moment reminisce.” Eric got somewhat uncomfortable. “I don’t know, don’t they always warn about messing with timelines in Sci-Fi movies?”

His question was quickly interrupted by a loud noise coming from behind us. As we both turned our heads to identify the source of the noise, what looked to be a large portal appeared out of nowhere. It had a glowing, purple outside ring with a clear, almost reflective middle. Eric then got up and began to walk toward the portal. “Hey, be careful, okay.” As I finished my sentence, a hand holding a small pistol emerged from the portal’s center, and fired at Eric. Immediately, he fell dead on the ground. Without thinking about my surroundings, I rushed over to pick up his body. He soon became covered in his own blood.

While sitting on the ground reflecting on what just happened, I felt a hand appear on my shoulder. I immediately turned to see who it was only to find a man much older than myself crying, seeming barely able to hold back his own whaling. “Who… are you?” Confusion quickly turned to anger as I noticed him holding the same gun that moments ago had taken down Eric. “I… am… you” he managed to get out while still choking on his own sadness. “I’ve come here in order to save the future. Eric may have been your best friend, but I found out very quickly just how evil he can become.” My anger only continued to grow as he spewed utter nonsense. Without thinking, I took a swing at his face. The man did not react and simply excepted the punch without hitting back. At that moment, part of me understood that he knew what my reaction would be.

After leaving something of a mark on the man’s face, I lay Eric’s body on the ground, sat back and asked: “Why? What did Eric do?” “Eric became stuck in his ways, and his insanity drove him to wipe out most of the human race.”

“…huh”

“I will explain. Spoiler Alert: you and Eric both get your dream jobs. Eric finds a job working with a private company studying epidemics, and you pursue your dream job of studying the possibility of time travel. However, Eric began obsessing over the idea of natural selection. Eventually, he decided to manufacture a disease so powerful it could wipe out the planet. Around the time he told me about his plan, I had recent build a stable time machine and decided to do what needed to be done. Believe me when I say that none of it was within your control.”

Riveting Writing Prompts, Short Stories

Riveting Writing Prompts #3: The White Room

July 20, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 6 Comments

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

I’ve definitely been enjoying doing this series, so here comes another one. I might try and do these even more frequently than I said in the last one, like potentially once every one or two weeks. If you guys like reading them then let me know because then I try even harder to do them on a consistent basis.

With that being said, this week’s prompt again come from r/WritingPrompts by a user named gameon123321:

You wake up in a white room, with only a computer sitting in the far corner. A tab is already open.

Without further ado, here is my story:

Trying to open my eyes was like trying to stare directly into the sun. As I wiped away the crust from around eyes, I noticed something strange. The room appeared to be nothing but a white box.

The floor felt soft like it was an all-white carpet. My fingers ran through it so easily. The room was also fairly large, about as big as the first floor of a house. A clock ticked slowly on the other side of the room, showing the time 4:55. The ticking got louder and louder as I approached the clock, and before I knew it my heart was beating just as loudly.

After waking up from my semi-trance, I also noticed a small, turned on a computer sitting at a bright white desk. There was no chair, so I was forced to sit on my knees. A singular tab was already opened, and it was a google document. The document said, “Trevor, we’ve been waiting for you.”

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The tremors nearly knocked me completely to the ground. The computer remained perfectly still, almost as if it and the desk were completely nailed to the ground. A bed that I had otherwise not noticed was also shaking violently, moving from the opposite corner of the computer towards the center.

As the tremors slowed down, the bed settled in the middle of the room. I looked back at the open Google document, which now read “go lay down.” Not knowing what else to do, I obeyed. The bed looked extremely uncomfortable, almost like it was made for torture.

When my whole body was on the bed, the floor underneath opened, and the bed and I slide down what had the appearance of a waterslide. Before the bed and I hit the ground a tube filled with caught me, and leg the bed out onto a strange conveyor belt.

A strange man was operating a series of levers and buttons when suddenly he hit one that appeared to say autopilot and then turned to me. “Welcome, Trevor, to my farm!”

Well, What did you guys think of this one? Better than my last attempt? Worse? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!