Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Hope you like this week’s intriguing image.  What a place for an adventure, with those long flights of stairs going further and further down…into where, exactly? There are warriors and dragons carved into the walls–a visual tale of battles come and gone. Inspiration, perhaps. A history lesson? Instruction on how to navigate what’s to come? More likely they’re a warning as to what awaits these anxious warriors at the bottom. I hope they are well-prepared for whatever you, the writer, plan to throw at them. There’s no guarantee any of them will come back out alive. Then again, they just might escape by the skin of their teeth, with the greatest treasure imaginable.  It’s all up to you!

“The Deep Stairs Path” by Anonymous

Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for those of us who live in the United States. It’s a time to count our blessings, giving thanks for all that we have, and also a time to be a blessing to those who don’t have as much. We gather together our family and friends, spending the day with those who are important in our lives, whether we see them every day or just once a year. We pray for peace–the kind that heals wounded hearts, and the kind that we hope we will be blessed with in the coming year.

Peace is something that we continually long for in a life full of turbulence and uncertainty. Writers can soothe that longing, at least temporarily, with the stories we create. In the midst of whatever drama drives our plot, we can still find ways to immerse our readers in beautiful places, where peace ultimately prevails. They have the power to live on in our readers’ hearts long after the book has ended, making our readers long to return, either by re-opening the pages for a second read, or simply by revisiting them in their own imaginations. I’d visit the land of Narnia anytime, because the peace of that place spoke to me, and has stayed with me since childhood.

So for this week’s inspiration, I chose a piece of artwork called “Peaceful Kingdom” where we can visit for a time. Even quiet places such as this have their stories to tell. How did this beautiful city come about? Who built it? Who lives there? And who rules over it? Is it an ordinary place, or is it kept peaceful through magical means? At the very least, I hope you enjoy the view. Take a stroll along the mossy rocks that surround that lovely waterfall. Listen to the roar and rush of the water, feel the cool breeze, and gaze up at the red-roofed buildings that seem to hug the hillside. Perhaps the two people standing there could direct you to the best places to go, unless they are also visiting for the first time. Take a stroll along the city streets. Browse its shops, or maybe relax for an hour or two at the local tavern.  What you do, and what you find, are entirely up to you…

“Peaceful Kingdom” by Andreas Rocha