The Prompt
Write a story or a scene in a setting you have never used before. It can be somewhere you have been or somewhere you have always wanted to go. It can be real or imagined.
The goal is to try something new.
The Author
A.T. Greenblatt is a mechanical engineer by day and a writer by night. She lives in Philadelphia where she’s known to frequently subject her friends to various cooking and home brewing experiments.
She is a graduate of Viable Paradise XVI and Clarion West 2017. Her work has won a Nebula Award, has been in multiple Year’s Best anthologies, and has appeared in Uncanny, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, and Clarkesworld, as well as other fine publications. You can find her online at http://atgreenblatt.com and on Twitter at @AtGreenblatt
Read A Book, Support An Indie
This year’s StoryADay May official bookseller is Reads & Company, a privately-owned indie bookseller in Pennsylvania. Any purchase from the site this month supports Reads & Co.
Leave a comment and let us know how you used the prompt, and how you’re celebrating!
I’m using this challenge to write a story synopsis each day. Each one must have a clear beginning-middle-end and a character arc. Today’s ended up with a ghost being chased up the Eiffel Tower by a ghost hunter. 🙂
I forgot to post this although I’d written it.
After much thought I described exploring a derelict monastery hidden in the foothills of a mountain range!
I have no idea how it could result in such a vivid Wpiece of writing……..all totally imagined.
Thank you AT GREENBLATT!!!
https://lyncrain.com/2021/05/03/story-a-day-with-julie-duffy/
I liked this prompt too. I made a list of settings I’ve never written before and wrote a 280 micro about a grieving man on his last boat ride before moving away.
I wrote a very quick little piece today about cleaning out my mom’s closet and what happens next with the space in our home which was once her apartment. It was cathartic and thinking about writing it actually helped with the task of packing up her clothes to bless away now that she is gone and no longer needs them.
Oh, so sorry for your loss.
Glad the writing was cathartic.
Be kind to yourself.
I was a little unsure of this prompt, but I ended up loving it. Even though my rules for this May allow for Sundays off I decided to write anyway.
The setting I chose to explore was both challenging and enlightening. I wrote a scene for a novel I am low key working on.
So glad I signed up for this!
Hooray! I’m glad too.
I was talking to the Superstars today and someone commented on how the prompts we want to resist sometimes turn out really interesting stories
Just a 25 words long micro-fiction today about a meeting at a crossroad between colleagues.
Well done!
I had to really think about this one. I ended up writing a scene in a ice palace/city– thought it would make a good challenge, to consider how the settling would differ in subtle ways from a “normal” wood or stone structure. Things to consider: How do the people keep from slipping? Would they have to speak more quietly to avoid bouncing the sound around too much or risking something cracking? WHY are they living in a city of ice in the first place?
Fascinating! Great thoughts on the consequences of the environment
I’m starting to like creating fiction. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about dialog (which terrifies me right now) but these prompts are really pushing me to try something new.
You can do dialogue. You’ve been talking all your life 😉
(I assume)
This paints such a great picture for me! I love it!
I too have been focusing on flash fiction of just about 500 words, I find not dedicating something too much larger in my brain helps take the pressure of finishing off for me. (: Just writing anything is a WIN in my book!
So this one was fun! I decided to take a slightly fictional approach to when I spontaneously bought some new pets & write about the experience at the pet store! It was definitely challenging for me since I normally write in nature settings!
How did it feel?
It felt good! Definitely not my best work that I would feel comfortable sharing but I think it is pushing me to be better about crafting dialogue and interactions and step away from trying to create such intense feelings. I normally write more internal thoughts and just about one character and it was fun to have a contrast of an excited person getting new pets and just a dull store clerk who sees this everyday!
Since I didn’t finish my story yesterday (though I wrote for over an hour, which is a record for me since about…well, possibly ever) I focused on a flash fiction story of exactly 100 words today. Since it’s so short I hope it’s ok that I’m sharing it here:
Amidst the clutter she dreamed of a crisp clean room. A hotel room, open and spacious. The tan drapes a beach framing the ocean of sky outside the window. The light hum of the air conditioning creating the ocean breeze on her skin. A small leather couch and an oval coffee table inviting a picnic for two. Framed floral art on the walls, curated for calm. The bed, covered in a snowdrift quilt, begging for a snow angel. A nondescript heaven, her dream, her utopia. She opened her eyes to the chaos of her home and tried not to cry.
I love it! At first I was like, why dream of a hotel room only to start comparing it to the beach– girl, if you can imagine anything why not the actual beach? But I get it, being in a cluttered home myself. Often, the most appealing thing is to imagine a clean room, not some faraway locale where– as soon as you’re back home again, there’s the clutter all over. Nice imagery, and…I’m right there with your character, trying not to cry at the chaos…
Oh I can relate! That was evocative.
I don’t know why I’m kinda scared of waterfalls. I love looking at them and listening to the water as it roars. But I would never go into the water and go behind that curtain of danger.
Today’s story follows a runner who finds herself behind that curtain and then pays the ultimate price at the end. It’s over a thousand words long, and the ending gives me the creeps. Brrrr!
Q
Sounds amazing!!! Great work!
Congrats on giving yourself the creeps. I think that’s a good sign!
Day 2 complete
You can read about my reflection here:https://tammysreadinglife.wordpress.com/2021/05/02/day-2-story-challenge/