I just love the British. They have such an interesting way with words. Wanking is the English slang for masturbation. Therefore a Wanker is either one who masturbates, a complete asshole or both.

Masturbation is probably the safest sex a person can have. You can’t give yourself a disease, can’t get anyone pregnant or become pregnant, it’s portable (all you need is a hand, not neccessarily your own) and a vivid imagination.

The most common form of masturbation is of course by manual stimulation with the hand. The use of sex toys is also common as well as shower heads and, of course, the mind.

Today’s writing prompt:

1. How often does your character masturbate? What is their favorite method? Who or what do they think about?

Work sucks! I’d much rather be home reading, writing, watching television, playing a game or any number of things than having customers verbally abuse me for pennies on the dollar. But things cost money and since I don’t have the kahonas to engage in a life of crime (yet) I have to resort to corporate prostitution to cover my day to day expenses.

Today’s writing prompt:

1. How does your character take care of his survival expenses? Do they work or mooch off of others?

Life is not easy nor do I believe it should be. It is the challenges in life that mold us, help us to become the characters we are today. Likewise boring characters are the ones who have perfect lives.

Society presents us with many obstacles to overcome. Some time ago a man shots up a bar that catered to homosexuals. To me, it is clear this was a hate crime. Either that or he went in there and found his lover dancing with some other guy and chose a self destructive means of dealing with his anger.

This brings to fore the reality that our characters don’t live in vacuums. The society they exist in have social mores and customs that either benefit them or are detrimental to their existence.

Fodder for character development can be found in our fellow human beings. Like for instance, there is a woman at my job who’s voice grates against my nerves like steel scraping against steel and she likes to talk…a lot. She also likes to ask a lot of questions with obvious answers like, “Do you know how to type?” when I’m speeding away at 50wpm without looking at the keyboard.

The girl isn’t all bad. She does have some good traits but eight hours of the two listed above is enough to make me want to bowl with her head. So today’s writing prompt is all about annoying characters.

What makes an annoying character? It is their persistence, knowingly or not, in doing the things another character finds obnoxious. Reread that sentence another time. Why? Because while I might think my co-worker sounds like two cats going at it in an alleyway, her boyfriend may think she has the voice of an angel. It’s all about perspective.

My father worked with a germaphobe once. Everyday he smoked everyone out of the office with the obsessive/compulsive spritzing of Lysol Disinfectant Spray all around his desk. He shares a baby wipe fetish with Monk. My father and co-workers found this to be obnoxious to the extreme but to the poor guy at the center of attention this daily ritual is the difference between life or death.

I am fascinated by the things that we choose to believe in and one of my many hobbies is figuring out where these beliefs come from and how they’ve developed over time.

Since religion is one of the main purveyor and influencer of beliefs, this week, we are going delve into the realm of religious myths.

Now I feel that I must disclose that I am an atheist and therefore I consider all stories out of the religious sector to be mythology. You may feel differently and since the purpose of these writing prompts is to get you thinking and writing about the subject at hand, including your opinion on the subject is A-l cool.

1. In Norse mythology, Odin, the Norse god of many things, sacrificed one of his eyes in exchange for knowledge of the past, present and future. He disguised himself as a vagrant wanderer and made his way to the Well of Wisdom where Mimir, its guardian, demanded his eye in exchange for a drink from the well. As he sipped the water, he saw all the troubles that would come to man and god as well as the reason why these problems would befall them. Would you take a drink from the Well of Wisdom? Why or why not? What would you sacrifice to gain the knowledge of the world?

2. Just about every culture in the world has a myth about creation. It is human nature to wonder how we came to be on this tiny blue planet. Explore some of the myths on the following page and discuss how your belief about creation compares to other cultures. What are the similarities? What are the differences?