Write about a time when an imagined character consciously lied:

Pippa had felt pressure to be in a relationship her whole life. When she was 14 her mother had asked her why she hadn’t brought home a boyfriend yet. When she was 16 she hung out with her older sister’s boyfriend a lot and one day she said: “Why don’t you get your own man and leave this one to me?” When she was 22 her best friend asked her whether she maybe was a lesbian, because she had never even kissed a guy.

Pippa did not understand all this fuss around boyfriends. Why was it so necessary to have one? What was she missing by not participating in this cult? One day the pressure just felt like too much and Pippa made up her very first boyfriend. To her mother she said: “I’ll bring him home soon.” To her sister she said: “See I managed to get one.” And to her best friend she described their first (imagined) kiss in full detail.

Generating characters:

Aurora – Sleeping Beauty as the hero of the story / Three wise women with spindles / Goddess Holle (protecting women) / God Balder (toxic masculinity, lots of lies) / Rumpelstiltskin helps Baldur but will turn good through friendship with Aurora

Write about something strange that happens to Rumpelstiltskin:

Rumpelstiltskin had been called small all his life. He was sick and tired of having to prove his worth in any situation life threw at him. He wanted to be tall like other men. He wanted to have the strength of any other average human. So, when the ruthless and unfeeling God Balder came to him and offered to fulfil all his wishes in exchange for a hundred years of his services, Rumpelstiltskin had not hesitated. He had jumped at the opportunity. What was a hundred years of having to do a God’s bidding compared to a lifetime of being normal – of normal height and of normal strength. Rumpelstiltskin had never regretted his choice, even though Balder had him do some abhorrent things in the past 80 years. Yet now, the God had reached the pinnacle of his own viciousness. Balder had appeared to him in the middle of his dinner, which had made Rumpelstiltskin already quite grumpy. But when he had told him his new task, the little man had protested – for the first time in all his years of service. Balder wanted him to go to the King and Queen and steal their newly born daughter Aurora. Rumpelstiltskin had heard of her beauty, if you could call a baby beautiful. He certainly doubted it. But the travelling tradesmen in his village had spoken in hushed tones about the aura that was shining from the princess. That’s how her regal parents had supposedly determined her name. Not very original, was it? But no matter how strange he found all the reports about this young princess, he did not understand how Balder could ask him to do such a thing as steal a baby from the arms of its mother.

Write about Rumpelstiltskin accidentally poisoning the wrong drink, on top a mountain with the bells ringing:

Rumpelstiltskin had done many horrendous things for Balder. All of them planned and meant to be terrible. 80 years of servitude for a ruthless God meant many acts of brutality. Almost never had Rumpelstiltskin missed his mark. Except for that one time, where he had accidentally poisoned the wrong person. But it hadn’t been his fault, you see? Balder had sent him to the top of a mountain, a place he had never been before. When he had reached the final plateau, there had been two small houses standing there in the lush, green grass. Rumpelstiltskin remembered the sound of the bells ringing, as the cows who were wearing them around their necks, munched on the grass. Balder had only told him to poison a young woman, who lived atop the mountain. He had given him the seeds of a poisonous plant and asked him to brew her a tea from it. When a young woman in a rustic Dirndl emerged from one of the stone houses, he engaged her in a jolly conversation. The girl was trusting beyond her own good and invited him in for a drink. Rumpelstiltskin saw his opportunity and took it. But when Balder came to claim the dead girl, he cried out in frustration. He had meant the maid living next door. After a few moments of anxious arguing, the God and the small man decided it had been fate. Maybe this girls time had simply come. Rumpelstiltskin had relaxed visibly, knowing Balder wouldn’t turn his wrath in him. Instead, though, the God turned to him expectantly and said: “Well, aren’t you going to poison the other one?” Dread bowing him down, Rumpelstiltskin did as he was told and walked over to the other house, the ringing bells haunting him every step of the way. It was the only time – until now – that he had felt true remorse for his actions.

Four important moments in Rumpelstiltskin’s life:

1. Being called small for the first time as a young boy and having a whole classroom laugh at him and bully him

2. Realising that he would never be tall enough nor strong enough to be a valuable contributor to society when even his own mother declared him “utterly useless” at the age of 18

3. Meeting Balder, the most ruthless of Gods, and striking a bargain for 100 years of service in exchange for being made tall and strong

4. Hopelessly falling in love with the Princess Aurora and realising he would rather die for her than keep his bargain with Balder

How Rumpelstiltskin fell in love with Aurora:

Rumpelstiltskin was close to the conclusion of his servitude to Balder. He had only one year and a couple of months left. Soon, he would be a man like any other. He would work an honest living, fall in love with an honest woman and build a family of his own. All his wishes would come true. Though, on some days, Rumpelstiltskin did wonder, whether all the bad deeds he had done for Balder in the last 98 years would catch up with him. One in particular haunted him: Stealing the baby Princess Aurora from her sleeping mother’s arms. He had managed to save her from the wrath of the evil Balder by handing her over to the Goddess Holle. She had appeared before him this 20 years ago, in the dark forest through which he was fleeing, away from the castle. She had told him, that this young princess was prophesied to defeat Balder. She would free this world of his ruthless games and trickeries. Having worked for the man for so much time, Rumpelstiltskin knew, that his world would be better off without Balder. But could he deceive the God he was enslaved to? Turns out, he could. For the last 20 years, Balder had not had any sort of inkling, that Rumpelstiltskin had not killed Aurora but instead had given her into the care of the Goddess Holle.

Response to an image:

Even in her happiest moments, her darkest thoughts were always there. At times it felt like she had two people inside of her. One of them was the happy-go-lucky, always socialising, laugh-out-loud blonde woman usually found on a bicycle with flowers in her basket. The other one was an ever-brooding, questioning all life choices, hiding in her clothes, dark haired woman, with a dog by her side so the conversations never had to be about her. She did not know who she identified more with, usually it depended on the mood of the day, or the people surrounding her that week. Anything could trigger the deep sadness to set in and even on the happiest days it could be hard to keep it at bay. Yet when she was truly happy, cycling carefree through her neighbourhood, encountering honest and kind people all day, she felt close to a God she did not believe in. Maybe she should believe to keep the darkness at bay?