Bradley Ramsey's Power up Prompts

Element 1: Setting

Your setting this week is The Forlorn Island. This location exists on a planet where the native beings (human or whatever you like) are always born in pairs. From the moment they draw their first breath, they know who their soulmate will be.

This island is the site of a festival that occurs once every hundred years during a solar eclipse. The festival is meant to honor the goddess

The festival is meant to honor the goddess Linara. The story goes that she came to this world alongside her twin flame. Together, they brought life to the world, but her soulmate died tragically during an eclipse many eons ago.

Her heart was broken so utterly that she changed the very fabric of reality to ensure no one else would feel the same loneliness. She declared that all souls would be born in pairs and live equal lives so they would never have to be alone.

As the legend states, she then turned herself to stone. A material as cold as her broken heart. That same statue rests at the center of the island to this day.

Element 2: Character(s)

Your character this week is The Lonely One. This is the first person in the planet’s history to be born without a soulmate. Their existence was hidden from the world. If anyone knew, it would incite panic. Fear would spread like wildfire.

They grew up without answers, living a life of pure loneliness. When they asked about why they didn’t have a soulmate, they were told to be silent or threatened by their foster parents.

Now fully grown, they’ve arrived at the Forlorn Island seeking answers. They go to the statue of the goddess, only to discover she’s no longer stone. When she sees them, her eyes fill with light.

She recognizes them…

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict this week is Starting Over. Should you choose to use this conflict in your story, it must be revealed that your protagonist is in fact the reincarnated soul of Linara’s lover.

She is overjoyed to once more be reunited with her beloved, but there’s just one problem: your protagonist doesn’t remember her. They don’t remember this relationship, this cosmic love story that ended in tragedy.

So, what happens next? Will they start anew? Will those feelings or memories return, or is this perhaps one example where the universe got the pairing wrong?

You must answer these questions in your entry.

Element 1: Setting

Your setting this week is the Scorched Wasteland. This is a world burned by nuclear fire. Nearly all of Earth’s surface has become a wasteland, with sparse skeletons of cities still standing, though long abandoned.

Some pockets of life still exist, but it will be centuries before nature is able to reclaim and undo the damage that has been done to the world.

Element 2: Character(s)

Your character this week is The Nomad. This is someone who lost everything when the bombs fell. They wander the wasteland as a silent shadow. No one knows their name, and since they wear a mask, no one knows their true face either.

Only they know the pain and suffering they carry. Only they know what they’re searching for. Until they find it, they will continue to wander.

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict this week is Playing or Sabotaging the Game. Should you choose to use this element, your character must learn of a warlord who is hosting a grand race across a vast stretch of the wasteland. Everyone must bring their own vehicle, but if they win, the warlord promises to grant them any wish they desire.

According to the warlord’s people, his resources are infinite and his power is vast. Some say he can even bring back the dead. Will you decide to join the race and try to have your wish fulfilled? Or, will you choose to infiltrate the game and sabotage it from within? Is this all a ruse meant to cash in on a desperate few?

These questions are yours to answer in your entries this week.

Element 1: Setting

Your setting this week is The Atelier. This is a quaint workshop, filled with all manner of impressive inventions and odd machinery. It is a place that houses ideas both fantastical and grounded, each sitting beside one another on shelves that line the walls.

However, this is not simply a museum of industry. No, it primarily serves as a clock shop. The owner is an accomplished clockmaker and repairman. Even with all the amazing new inventions of this era, people still need to tell time, after all.

Element 2: Character(s)

Your character this week is The Clockmaker. This is someone who has become quite the recluse in their later life. Their Atelier is a monument to all of their accomplishments, but none of it will bring back what they lost.

For you see, their one and only love passed away some time ago, leaving them alone in the world. In their grief, they threw themselves into their work. While their skills have grown exponentially in the decades since they lost their love, the pain has yet to subside. And deep down, they know that no amount of technology will ever be able to heal them.

Element 3: Conflict

Your conflict this week is The Price of Progress. Should you choose to use this conflict, your character must come into possession of ancient blueprints that detail a brand new type of invention. Something that could change the world. The only problem? They are encoded in a way that cannot be easily broken.

In their desperate search for answers, your character discovers that the key to unlocking the blueprints lies in a possession left behind by the lover they lost. This can be anything: a locket, a ring, a photograph, etc, but in order to decode the blueprints, this priceless object must be destroyed.

Will they sacrifice their last connection to the one they lost for the sake of progress? That is for you to decide.

In the Beginning....

Setting: The First Moment

Whether it is a place beyond time, a forgotten archive, the instant before existence, the distant future where the truth has finally been uncovered, or something else entirely is yours to decide. Somewhere in your story lies the answer to one of existence's oldest questions: How did everything begin?

Character: The Witness

Perhaps they are a scientist chasing impossible evidence. Perhaps they are the last survivor who remembers what came before. They might be a deity, an ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances, an artificial intelligence, an explorer, or someone who was never meant to learn the truth.

Whatever form they take, they stand closer to the beginning than anyone else.

Conflict: The Cost of Knowing

The truth about creation is not merely interesting, it changes everything.

Perhaps revealing it would shatter civilizations, destroy faith, rewrite history, awaken something ancient, or force your character to sacrifice what they love most. Perhaps the truth is so beautiful it hurts, or so horrifying that it cannot be allowed to spread.

Your story should explore not only what the beginning was, but why discovering it matters.