Pub Scrawl Prompts

Preparing for a Writers' Pub Crawl

Ok, I've been thinking about Pub Scrawl.  This morning I jotted down some prompts and a general idea of how it will all work.  Not complete, but trying to flesh out the details.

Please add any prompts or ideas that you think would liven up the Scrawl.  We'll print the prompts on coasters and grab bag ideas, or have set prompts at each bar.  I like the idea of having a couple things to write at each location.  One could be a shared theme, like a description of the place without naming it.  Another could be from the grab bag.  Anyway, that can all be honed later.  I'm thinking of prompts that will entice people to open up and write courageously.

1- On a coaster, briefly describe the bar you are in without giving it away.  Use sound, smell, sight and symbolism.  i.e. A pack of hyenas chortle away around a plate of nachos.  Or, Garlic and bacon have distracted me from my page.  Return the coaster to the "Coaster-Master" before leaving the bar. Later, we will read the coasters and guess where you were.

2- Fall in Love!  Pick someone at the bar to fall in love with.  Describe them in detail.  use your imagination.  You don't know them yet so their story is yours to write.  Write it!  If you dare, strike up a conversation.  Share and get to know them.  How was it different from your imagination?  is there a story arc?  Could the real person cause a reversal of love?  Or does it take you somewhere else?  Perhaps the 2 of you end up running from the law...

3- Mystery Train Bar Car!  A murder has been committed.  The murderer is either in this bar or will soon enter.  Everyone is a suspect.  No one is above suspicion.  Notice interactions, awkwardness, intimacy.  Who was the victim?  does anyone here know them?  Is anyone drinking away sadness?  Or is it guilt?? 

4- Notes To The Bartender.  On a coaster, write something to the bartender.  Something unexpected...

5- Post-Apocalypse!  We are collected in this bar, humanities last survivors...

6- Sociology Study.  Begin to compile data about the people and things in this bar.  20% brunettes.  How do people organize themselves at the bar?  Do they tend to leave an open stool between them?  Are purses considered people with their own seats?

7- The Final Chapter.  You have just written the Great American Novel, or the Great American Short Story.  Either way, there is a scene to wind it all down and prepare the reader to close the book, lean back and sigh in satisfaction and longing.  A single tear will fall as they savor the last few words.  That scene takes place here.  What are those words?  What is the name of the book?  What is the name of the final chapter?

8- The Transformation.  If you are drinking, use vivid language to describe everything you notice about the process, taste, smell, anticipation, intoxication.  It is Ok to embellish.  You don't have to get fucked up and cause a scene to write about getting fucked up and causing a scene.

9- Memoirs.  You sit in this bar in some city or villa where you have retired to write your memoirs.  The peop.e might know you, they might not.  Reach back and recall the life that you had (real of fictional).  Joy, remorse, adventure, tedium, accomplishment, failure, love, loss.  Dig deep and put strong emotion into your writing.  People will be reading this for generations to come!