This month we’ll focus on all creatures to be found in the ocean. Mermaids, krakens, shell people, anything oceanic works for this theme. Most of these art challenge themes are focused or intended for visual artists. My intention is to turn them into exercises and challenges for writers as well. The original challenge comes to us from mermay.com, though this article on Brush Warriors sums it up nicely.
As this is an exercise for writers there are only four prompts listed below, one for each week. You can make them as short or as long as you like.
Week One: What is a Mermaid? Try writing this out in a bestiary format or a creature profile. Are they friendly? Valuable? A pest species? What are mermaids to your universe? A bestiary is usually written through the opinion of the researcher so this is an excellent one to practice character voice with.
Or try it as a reporter. Give a journalist’s account of an event in which a mermaid was sighted. Include first-hand accounts, official government statements and speculation from the locals. Is your reporter fairly and accurately representing the facts? Perhaps they might have an agenda.
Week Two: The Midnight Zone. What kind of Mer creature lives in a place of perpetual darkness? Is it peaceful? Is it a predator or prey species? Is it driven by a need to feed? Is food scarce down there? Or maybe they are happily living their lives until underwater research teams invade their privacy.
While darkness is used in many fear driven plotlines, darkness itself doesn’t have to be scary. Maybe it’s the light that inspires fear. Have a try at writing a scene in which the darkness provides comfort, or the light lets them see all too clearly the danger ahead.
Week Three: Oceanic Chimera. Do an image search for “sea animal”. Create a story of your character’s first encounter with a composite of the first three animals in the results. An Octurphin (octopus, dolphin, turtle) doesn’t sound too intimidating, but what if your character was silly enough to bring one on board? Is it a creature to slay or do they wind up the best of friends?
As an additional element, what kind of ship would you expect to see in your genre of fantasy? Is the ship itself magical? Sentient? Does it require a magical skillset to operate? Try to work the ship your character is on as a key feature to the plot.
Week Four: The Shoreline. What aquatic people might also spend time on land? Give us a race that is coastal and aquatic. What does it take to breathe underwater? Is it a natural part of their species’ biology? A spell? Enchanted gadgets? A potion maybe? How does your terrestrial character intend to navigate the watery depths, or why does your aquatic character want to spend time on land?
Are other societies aware of the aquatic people? Are they accepted or feared? Do the locals think of them as mythical? Does this suit the aquatic people? Or to venture down another line of thought, what does your aquatic civilization think of the locals?
I would love to see what you do with these prompts! If you publish them please tag me on social media so I know where to look. You can find me on X/Twitter or email me at cmwellsmore@gmail.com
C.M. Wellsmore 