Situations

I've been reading ON WRITING by Steven King.  He talks a lot about his own creative method and how writing works for him.  Most of his stories come from "what if" scenarios.  For example:  Stopped at a gas station, he goes around the building to use the restroom at the back.  After using the restroom he notices a creek behind the station and moves to check it out.  He slips in the mud and only barely manages to stop himself from falling into the small, raging river, and as he staggers back to his car, he wonders what if ...

What if he hadn't stopped himself?  What if he wasn't actually a person, but an alien?  What if the car he'd parked out front wasn't actually a car?

Steven King starts off with a simple question and elaborates on it, weaving in characters and allowing them to react in the situation he created.

In NaNo terms, we call that pantsing: taking one short idea and letting the story take you from there.  I have done that before, and while I tend to be more of a plotter, pantsing something is simply exhilarating.  I get all swept up in the characters and their world, and since I haven't already planned for them what they're intended to do, I get to be surprised by it myself.

(Non-writers will probably read the above with apprehension, but you know what I'm talking about, don't you?  That mysterious creative space where the characters come alive and don't always follow the instructions the author gives them - that's where true brilliance comes out.)

This prompt is a little unusual.  Instead of writing a piece, come up with a scenario, something that would stir interest and create a story, regardless of what characters you choose to drop into it.

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My response:

Ok, so what if a group of teenagers went into a fortune teller's tent at a fair to make fun of their fortunes.  They expect something vague and predictable, but instead, the young kid (old woman is too typical, make it a small child, maybe even young enough she shouldn't be talking, yet) predicts each of their gruesome deaths.  They come out a little stunned, but laugh it off, until a few days later, the first one of them dies ... exactly how the fortune teller predicted.

(It must be the whole "Steven King" vibe - I don't usually go that dark in my writing.)