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But when it came to the Princess’s turn to give an acid drop to the dragon, he smiled a very wide smile, and wagged his tail to the very last long inch of it, as much as to say, “Oh, you nice, kind, pretty little Princess.” But deep down in his wicked purple heart he was saying, “Oh, you nice, fat, pretty little Princess, I should like to eat you instead of these silly acid drops.” But of course nobody heard him except the Princess’s uncle, and he was a magician, and accustomed to listening at doors. It was part of his trade. -Edith Nesbitt, The Book of Dragons (free Kindle book)NOTE: an acid drop is a old fashioned boiled sweet with a sharp taste
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or poem about a princess who tries to befriend a dragon.
Journaling Prompt: How do you flirt with danger?
Art Prompt: The Princess, the Dragon, and the Magician
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how we try to allay our fears by placating them. Give your audience a better solution.
Photo Credit: thejbird on Flickr
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The dragon is a myth given veracity by the fossil record that offers dinosaur remains as proof positive of the monsters who had possessed the world, once. The dragon is a monster that carries any burden we give it—terror, wish-granter, lesson. -Genevieve Valentine, Three Dragons (free to read at Fantasy Magazine)
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or poem about dragons.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a mythological creature that fascinates you.
Art Prompt: Dragons
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the mythology of your favorite creature and explain what it symbolizes to you.
Photo Credit: balt-arts on Flickr
Send to KindleSend to KindleWelcome to the December 18, 2011, Carnival of Creativity. All the links will open in a new window or tab, so you can visit, comment, and then come back here for mor
The Creative Mindset
Vicki Keire presents Five Ways to Fail at Writing, and guess what – all the reasons are about how you think.
Resources/Tools
David Peters presents How To Use Adobe Photoshop – Best Tips For Newbies To Begin Editing posted at Photoshop Revealed, saying, “People need to discover a solution to bring their particular photographs back to life. Simply by understanding how to use the basics of Photoshop, You’ll be able to convert several of your simple photographs directly into some incredible masterpieces and in many cases gift ideas, utilizing the accessible applications within this brilliant software application.”
The Business of Creativity
This week’s podcast at Writing Excuses is about interstitial art, which I was previously unaware of. Good information in this podcast on how to get your work taken seriously if you are outside traditional categories. If that doesn’t float your boat, however, hop into your TARDIS and travel back to February 2008 and listen to their podcast on Killing Your Darlings to make your writing stronger.
Theresa Torres presents How to Use Customer Testimonials Effectively posted at Fasthosts blog, saying, “Using customer testimonials effectively is a great way to market your product and build credibility. Here are some tips to help you collect credible testimonials.”
Sharing Our Work
David Leonhardt presents Proud to Be a Grinch [humour alert] posted at Self-Help Happiness Blog, saying, “It was my first meeting of “GA”. This is not AA (Alchoholics Anonymous). It is not even AAA (American Automobile Association). It is GA…Grinches Anonymous. This is roughly how the meeting went.”
Toni presents I’m only good at being young posted at Wifely Steps. Toni, I’m with you on coloring away the gray!
nipun sawhney presents the poem Rot In The Eclipse posted at Poets Off The Off.
Yosef presents Triple-Peppermint Chocolate Brownies posted at This American Bite. Someone please make these and report back to me. They look fabulous!
And please head over to my author blog to answer my question about whether you believe in dragons after reading my post, Draco Volans – A Dragon for Our World.
Creativity Boosts
Marcy L presents Barracuda on the Beach, a story and writing prompt posted at (Don’t Be) Too Timid and Squeamish, saying, “I write about finding barracuda on the beach, after being disappointed years before. Writers are invited to link up a similar story or a “Someday … but” poem.”
Spam of the Week
I am therefore glad this web thing performs and your publish really solved the problem. Usually takes a person up on which home assistance you
Well, yes, I am also therefore glad this web thing performs. It didn’t perform for me while I was in the hospital, and that was a miserable experience. So yes, even though you are a spammer and even though your second sentence makes no sense, I have to agree with you at least on the first point.
Writing Quotation
I can still remember my father’s words as he tried to tell me, with patient conviction, that novels contain “reservoirs of wisdom” out of which he and our mother were drinking. A visual image suddenly crossed my mind – books floating like flotsam and jetsam on Houghton’s Pond, near Milton, Massachusetts, where we lived. I never told my father what had appeared to me, but he knew its essence by my glazed eyes. He made his pitch anyway: “Your mother and I feel rescued by these books. We read them gratefully. You’ll also be grateful one day to the authors. -Robert Coles, The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination
That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for the January 1, 2012 Carnival of Creativity by Friday December 31, 2011 at midnight!
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I think I’ve met this monster. Maybe you have as well. If you’re writing fiction, this monster is an absolute must for your character’s life experiences.
The terrible dragon, with one hundred heads, that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, slain by Hercules, was celebrated in classic mythology; so was the Lernean hydra, a monster of the marshes that ravaged the country of Lerna in Argolis, destroying both men and beasts. The number of its heads varies with the poets, though ancient gems usually represent it with seven or nine. Hercules was sent to kill it as one of his twelve labours. After driving the monster from its lair with arrows he attacked it with his sword, and in place of each head he struck off two sprang up. Setting fire to a neighbouring wood with the firebrands he seared the throat of the Hydra until he at length succeeded in slaying it. The fable is usually referred to in illustration of a difficulty which goes on increasing as it is combated. -John Vinycomb, Fictitious And Symbolic Creatures In Art – With Special Reference To Their Use In British Heraldry
Writing Prompt: Create a situation for your protagonist that increases in difficulty as he or she works through it.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a situation that seemed to get harder, stickier, or more painful as you worked through it.
Art Prompt: Hydra
Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Inform your audience what they should do when they run into a situation where the degree of difficulty keeps going up.
Photo Credit: Zaqarbal on Flickr
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Ask a few of your friends what animal would they like to be, and many of them will pick an animal that can fly.
Wings have always been the symbol or attribute of volition, of mind, or of the spirit or air. -John Vinycomb, Fictitious And Symbolic Creatures In Art
Writing Prompt: Create a character who wants to fly and write a story or poem about him or her.
Journaling Prompt: What animal would you like to be and why?
Art Prompt: Wings
Photo Credit: Krikit ♥ on Flickr
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Humans have fabulous imaginations. Anything we don’t understand, we will create an explanation for. No matter how unlikely our explanation is, it will relieve our anxiety.
The ships of the early navigators, with masts and sails and other requisites for directing their motion or influencing their speed, would be objects of astonishment to the inhabitants of the countries they visited, causing them to be received with the utmost respect and veneration. The ship was taken for a living animal, and hence originated, some say, the fables of winged dragons, griffons, flying citadels, and men transformed into birds and fishes. The winged Pegasus was nothing but a ship with sails and hence was said to be the offspring of Neptune. -John Vinycomb, Fictitious And Symbolic Creatures In Art – With Special Reference To Their Use In British Heraldry
Writing Prompt: Create a scene where a character must create an explanation for something they do not understand. Exercise your description skills.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you, as a child, made up a magical explanation for something you didn’t understand.
Art Prompt: Pegasus
Photo Credit: pareeerica on Flickr
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Some Kings just can’t catch a break. In this delightful children’s story, the young King has allowed a dragon to escape from a magical book with some dire consequences! Put yourself in his shoes for a moment.
Things were growing very serious. However popular the King might become during the week, the Dragon was sure to do something on Saturday to upset the people’s loyalty. -Edith Nesbit, The Book of Dragons(free for your Kindle or Kindle software)
Writing Prompt: Write about this from the King’s point of view. Write about it from the dragon’s point of view.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a habit you have that comes out just when you think everything is under control.
Art Prompt: Dragon
Photo Credit: Arab Fancy 
on Flickr
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I believe that the most important thing about writing is to HAVE FUN! You can worry about things like commas, point of view, tenses, etc., later. Right now, just start writing!
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