Writers' Tarot Cards

I have a pack of blank playing cards on which I've written some words and phrases, which I like to use in class. Here I've put them into a numbered list so you can use them online.

They're really just writing prompts, I guess, but I call them tarot cards because got the idea from a set of virtual "writers' tarot cards" that used to be somewhere on the BBC website years ago. You could click on  something to have three or four "cards" dealt to you. They had great evocative phrases, and were so much fun to use. I haven't been able to find them lately, so I created my own.

You can use this random number generator if you like. Set "max" to 60. When the generator gives you a number, come back here and find that number on the list. There's your writing prompt.

For an exercise using these cards, see: Nine Exercises #1: The Hand Fate Deals You


1.  a premonition

2.  torrential rain

3.  a very hot night

4.  mysterious lights at night

5.  a stain that won't come out

6.  eggs

7.  an unexpected inheritance

8.  inappropriate laughter

9.  crickets

10.  an angry outburst

11.  the taste of salt

12.  a Persian rug

13.  a stranger

14.  a foul odor

15.  a ship

16.  something buried in the earth

17.  sweat

18.  an ancient custom

19.  a castle

20.  a drunken argument

21.  something sticky

22.  a curse

23.  a small door in the wall of a cellar

24.  a woman's arm

25.  a sudden realization

26.  something sharp in the dark

27.  a death

28.  a glass eye

29.  a man's leg

30.  a reunion

31.  a perfect cottage the size of a toy

32.  a windowless room

33.  lip-licking

34.  the wrong body

35.  a new kind of weapon

36.  children singing

37.  sparks

38.  a repetitive noise

39.  a stuffed grizzly bear

40. very, very sweet

41.  a bout of dizziness

42.  echoes

43.  claws

44.  stars

45.  the smell of smoke

46.  cold water

47.  a hidden staircase

48.  a small animal

49.  glittery

50.  shivers

51.  something burning

52.  a letter found between the pages of an old book

53.  the scent of gardenias

54.  whispering

55.  the sound of someone crying

56.  utter darkness

57.  the smell of winter on the wind

58.  a swarm of beetles

59.  an empty theater

60.  artificial snow