Writing Prompt: A Deck of Cards

 Card games have been part of the human experience for hundreds of years.  Like a roll of the dice, the turn of a card can provide a random number or add to a winning or losing hand in a card game.

The card suites diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades all have their own symbolism and lore.  The cards themselves and face cards like Jack, Queen, and King have their values.  Everyone likes to have an ace up their sleeve.

In fiction, cards show up regularly.  For me, the novels of Ian Fleming incorporate casinos and high stakes gambling on a regular basis.  The game of Baccarat comes to mind.

For today's writing prompt, write a piece of short fiction that incorporates -

a deck of cards.

Writing Prompt: Binoculars

A good pair of binoculars is one of my favorite possessions. I have a nice pair of 7x50 Steiner binoculars from Germany.  The company is famed for making military binoculars and they have sharp optics that you don't have to fuss with once they are initially focused. When it comes to gadgets and gear, nothing brings the faraway up close like a good pair of binoculars.  They also make for a good writing prompt because they let people see things that they shouldn't see or weren't meant to see. Binoculars also help sailors and soldiers spot approaching danger.  From a nosy old man in a high rise to a lookout on a ship at sea, the stories that you can imagine that involve a pair of binoculars are endless. There might be a lot of symbolism in writing a story around binoculars and what you can use them to see.

NYC Through Binoculars - Handige Harrie and User:Jean-Hervé BARBIÉ, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

If you've got some binoculars, it's a good time to break them out and see what you can see.  For today's writing prompt, write a short story that involves --

A pair of binoculars.