IdeaStream
That’s What Friends Are For
The pandemic is bringing out the best in us
Hello beautiful people
I can still hardly believe but I experienced the coronavirus last week. I didn’t get very severe symptoms yet I was laid up for a week and still have fourteen more days staying at home ahead.
I couldn’t have gotten through it without my best friend, who provided me with a never-ending supply of food, water, indeed everything I needed, and nursed me back to health. And guess what?
He also happens to be my husband.
I know, such a cliche, right? Well, some cliches are true.
That’s why I’ve chosen friendship for the theme of this Ideastream.
We may be socially distancing, but love just keeps shining through.
Writer’s Prompts
Poetry Salvage
Use the following ten words in a poem!
- Friend
- Foe
- Feeling
- Endearment
- Open
- Warm
- Impatient
- Sidekick
- Cohort
- Understanding
Haiku Challenge
Write 3 related haikus about what it takes to be a true friend.
Limerick prompt
“A limerick (/ˈlɪmərɪk/[1]) is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly anapestic meter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme.
Our limerick starter this week is:
There are pals, friends, and soulmates
companions, buddies, dates…
Once completed, submit with a link for this Ideastream. The limerick I deem my favourite will be featured in my next IdeaStream
WINNER of last week’s Limerick comp is Caroline de Braganza who made it bawdy and made it rhyme – well done Caroline!
Special thanks to Kristen Hill whose late entry was very creative; she contributed yoga instead of a limerick — good try KH!
An Unlikely Scene For Fiction Writers
Choose one or all of these characters to write a story about.
- A model named Gia who switches career to nursing
- Brer Rabbit gets his comeuppance
- Levi, a six-year-old Londoner invents a self-cleaning mask
- Alexandra Graham Bell comes back to visit modern-day Edinburgh for a day
- A woman imitates her dead twin to claim her lottery win
- Bonnie & Clyde go straight after a failed robbery
- A town called Corona
- A woman who morphs into a peacock for three days each full moon
- A world in which men menstruate
- A team of Irish scientists go back in time to stop the Titanic sinking
Subject Matter Smash-Up
Stuck for a story? Pick one subject to write on exclusively, or two subjects/keywords to smash together in an article, essay, or fiction story.
- Shaun the sheep meets Shauna the… sheep
- Everybody has to volunteer one day a month helping a homeless person
- Affordable space travel begins
- A man believed lost in the Amazon jungle makes it out after a decade
- Ruby, a sex therapist finds a cure for impotence
- You’re trapped on a cruise ship with a bunch of celebs
- Abu, a Nigerian scientist develops a vaccine for coronavirus
- An inventor comes up with a 5-second COVID-19 test
- A bed you fold up and carry in a briefcase
- Ev Williams give thirty days notice that Medium is closing
Finish the Story
Take this short story introduction and run with it!
“I’m looking for a friend.” The voice that interrupted their private Zoom call was both husky and breathless…
Recommend Reads
Nothing working for you? See if you can find ideas in one of these stories below…
by NaNa'sworld
by Reuben Salsa
by Dew Langrial
by J.J. Pryor
Ideastream explained
IdeaStream Creator
Xavier Van Holde is the Creative Writing Director & Founder of The Bad Influence. He’s always looking for fresh voices at TBI, and our mission is to inspire creativity, let writers be their true selves, and thumb our nose at all the lame people out there that have no imagination (example: people that believe in censorship, corporate overlords, politicians, and religious people who don’t acknowledge others with different beliefs).
If you’re looking for a home for your writing with people that like to read & support other writers then we’d be honored to have you no matter your skill level. Take a look at the link below.
I leave you with this classic version of That’s What Friends Are For as final inspiration
IdeaStream Guest Writer Profile
Marla Bishop is an editor for The Bad Influence, as well as for GetFitGang and The Narrative, and publisher of Lilith. A writer and relationship coach, she lives in London UK with her husband and youngest two children. You can follow her here.