Chance Encounter – Writing Prompt from Sarah Cain

Today’s prompt, from author Sarah Cain, features a chance encounter. This is going to be fun!

Podcast version:

The Prompt

The chance encounter. Have you ever run into someone you know when you look grubby? Or maybe you see an old boyfriend at Starbucks. Or perhaps, as in Alfred Hitchcock’s famous Stranger’s On a Train, you run into a stranger who offers to do you a service, like murder, in return for you returning the favor. Think of a chance encounter that could leave you shaken, stirred, or in deep trouble.

About Sarah Cain

Sarah Cain is the author of the Danny Ryan political thrillers, The 8th Circle and One By One. She lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband Howard, a former political consultant, and her two insane cats, and spends a great deal of time contemplating murder. In her spare time, she reads, plays Cards for Humanity, and dreams about moving to Ireland.

Conquering A Creative Slump – An Interview with Author Sarah Cain

Today we’re taking tips from Sarah Cain, a repeat-StoryADay-participant, whose debut novel The Eighth Circle will be published by Crooked Lane Books in January 2016.

StADa: When did you first participate in StoryADay?

SC: My first StoryADay was in May 2013.  I wasn’t really much of a short fiction writer, but I thought it seemed like a great creative challenge.

StADa: How did StoryADay affect your writing?

SC: I had written a novel and had queried agents to a chorus of rejections and was feeling in a real creative slump. I was working on another novel, but wasn’t happy with the progress. So when the StoryADay challenge came up I thought I could manage to write short pieces for a month, and it would be a change. Give me a chance to get some creative energy flowing, which it did. I had great fun with it, and now write quite a lot of flash fiction.

StADa: What advice do you have for writers thinking about jumping in to StoryADay May?

SC: I think writers should just approach it with the spirit of adventure. It’s a challenge, but great fun. Plus you always have wonderful prompts which writers can follow or not. There’s something very satisfying about finishing a piece of fiction and saying, “Ta da! I did it.” And once you get through the month, you’ll have thirty-one (or however many) stories that you can polish up and submit. Or just put them out on your blog. That’s amazing.

StADa: How’s your writing going now?

SC: Happily, I did find an agent and my novel, The Eighth Circle, a noir thriller, did find a home. It will be published in January 2016 by Crooked Lane Books. Sometimes you just need a spark to get everything moving. I’m now working on a sequel to that novel, and I will be doing StoryADay May this year.

Sarah Cain wrote her first story as a precocious five-year old. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in English and went on to write speeches, ad copy, and videos. Her short fiction has appeared in Unclaimed Baggage, Voices of the Main Line Writers and FlashDogs, An Anthology, and she’s a regular at Flash!Friday where she’s won two first place awards, and her debut novel, The Eighth Circle, will be published by Crooked Lane Books in January 2016. You can find her on Twitter @SarahCain78 and in the StoryADay community @sarahc.

Thanks, Sarah! Looking forward to seeing The Eighth Circle  on bookstore shelves next year!!