I had ran dry of writing ideas and needed a decent prompt to get me started. But all the ‘prompt generators’ didn’t seem to inspire me. Then I thought about the IGCSE English narrative/descriptive writing prompts and had the idea to utilise them. Then I spotted this golden prompt:
Describe the scene and atmosphere when you visit a theme park, fairground or carnival.
This was the result:
The entrance to the carnival should have been enough to keep any wandering souls away. The pillars that once supported the colourful billboard crumbled down — perhaps during a lightning storm or from old age. Remaining white patches on the fences show that this carnival had once been a place well cared for. The clouds began to mourn the death of vibrant colours. For a while, the gentle raindrops seemed to play a joyful melody on the rusty iron bars, but soon the soothing drumming turned into aggressive thrashes.
The grass, already a dull yellow, now had mud plastered onto them as it drove them into non-existence. They lied limp under the rain, much like the carnival itself. A woeful gust of wind pried its way through the circus tent, opening the flaps to the ethereal hangout for outcasts. Before it could cry out, the wind dispersed and its remnants, intertwined with the droplets, shattered onto the ground.
If there had been any other creature lurking in the tent, they would go unseen; all colour was muted. However, like a wound on a beast’s skin, a jagged gash bore light into the tent. The shy beam of light shined down, forming a spotlight. For a while, the tent seemed to grow lively as the shadows took their places and applauded as the forgotten remnants of the show played out. From a faded memory, a tune started to soak the tent with bliss. Whiffs of heavenly caramel swirled through with smells of fiery passion and euphoria. Melodic laughter and radiant chimes gave flavour to the atmosphere. But just like dust settling on windowsills, the show of the past came to an end. Darkness seeped in, and with it, took away the life of the carnival once again.
All was golden. All was good. But all was for naught.
I enjoyed writing about this prompt — though it turned out to be a little short — and will probably revisit the IGCSE writing prompts.