The wheels on the bus go...

In my last post, I spoke of uncovering story ideas from practically any topic. I'd like to further put forward my argument with this writing warm-up for my A to Z Blogging Challenge.

I give you W for the humble Wheel.

1. Choose from one of the two following scenarios and expand further, in the form of a five minute freewrite:

• You're driving along a quiet road when a man flags you down, saying he's got a flat tyre. Can he borrow your car jack? There are two other men in the car and they all look scary as hell. What do you do?
• You're the one with a flat tyre and it couldn't have come at a worse possible time! You discover you have no spare tyre either. Who comes to your rescue?

2. Sketch a mind-map using the key word as the nucleus, then branch out in whatever direction you please. You might find yourself going in completely unrelated paths (which I personally prefer). Do a five-minute freewrite incorporating as many (or few) branch words as you like. Here is my mind map (created using the SimpleMind app on my phone).

3. Choose one of the following sentence starts and freewrite for a few minutes, letting the words tumble out without a second thought:

• I left work to discover my bike had been stolen...
• The Wheel of Fortune theme tune was blaring in the background when it happened...
• I could smell the burnt rubber before I saw it...

I find it best not to read my freewrites for at least a few days. Why not stuff them in a drawer and surprise yourself? It's blatant evidence that our minds work in mysterious ways. Plus, I defy you not to find an array of story seeds amongst your work.

Do you have any writing warm-ups you'd like to share?

Take care,

Catherine x

Note: All photo prompts in my A to Z Challenge 2013 are my own. Feel free to use/copy/share to your hearts content. Help yourself. :)  

◦

The wheels on the bus go...