The Prompt
Think of a dear friend or despised enemy. Spell out their first and last names and take a few minutes to jot down as many partial or full anagrams that you can find from the letters. Tip: writing longhand might work best for this whole exercise.
Now, mull over the list of words and consider how they might relate to your person. Hold in your mind a sentence that incorporates at least one of the words. Write that sentence and build a story about your person, making sure to incorporate every single word you’ve mined, no matter how strange or quirky. Do NOT stop to edit along the way!
Kim Coleman Foote
Kim Coleman Foote is the author of Coleman Hill, named a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize, NAACP Image Award, and Audie Award, and long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Born and raised in New Jersey, Kim has been writing fiction since the age of seven(ish). In her spare time, she indulges in genealogy, dancing, singing, and word puzzles.
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Instagram/X/Facebook: @kimcolemanfoote
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oh my god, I’m late in starting the challenge (storm came and destroyed my home country). but this is the first time I found myself crying from my own writing. My favourite lines: ‘Hera was a bright but solitary star. Unable to see the presence of other stars beside her, she felt alone in that big dark sky. Until the abyss pulled her in. Sometimes I still catch myself waiting, smiling, a joke in mind to share, with my sister- who was no longer here.’
Also, why do some writers (like myself) unconsciously write about death or dark themes surrounding morality? I’m wondering if they’re just easier or if it’s a writing thing.
I’m glad you’re here, late or not (So sorry about the storm!)
That’s beautiful.
I think writers are often drawn to write about this stuff because it’s powerful. We are searching for connection with other people, we are looking for words that rouse emotion, and these difficult topics are often the first ones to bubble up, when we do.
Thanks for sharing, and keep writing.
Reading today’s prompt (Nov 2) reminded me I forgot to check in here!!!
I enjoyed word mining for a friend and then took to it with some characters and time we’ll tell, but I think the exercise opened up some new possibilities! Fun prompt!
Despite having some trouble finding the prompts (I don’t seem to be getting them by email, though I signed up and verified), I loved this one.
I wrote a 728 word story that actually makes sense and fits in with the fanfiction I’ve been playing with.
Bonus: I used the name of a dear fandom sisterfriend whose birthday is later this month – and now I have a gift for her!
I’m happy to announce that I successfully made it through day 1 of my first StoryADay! It was definitely a challenging start, particularly picking a specific friend/enemy to write about and fitting in some of the words, but I’m glad I kept going. Being led to a wonderful trip down memory lane and recalling my years with my grandmother made it more than worth it!
Looking forward to what else lies ahead. ^_^
Wonderful! I’m so happy for you!
I am so glad I stuck with this prompt today.
It is a kind of silly exercise (I mean this as a compliment), and for the first half of my story I was sure I was just doing it AS an exercise; because I’d said I would write today.
And then, as I kept going, a strong and interesting character started to emerge. I could feel a whole society building behind her. I could imagine this as the opening to something much longer and more interesting, that I can come back to.
25 minutes of not-resisting, not-second-guessing, and I’m excited about writing. Woo-hoo!
I’m smiling, because my experience was similar. The story I started wasn’t what I thought I wanted, and I used a lot of words differently than I thought I would when I started out. But when I got down to the final few, there was room for a very short scene that tied it to the arc I’ve been playing with.
Finding words from the name that I used was really hard, but at the end I enjoyed it a lot.
Enjoyed the anagram process and happy to have merged Meredith Grey and Yeti in the same prose (more than a story). As always encouraged how something emerges with a flourish of focus!
This was a hard one for me, mainly because I chose the name of a friend who I lost to domestic violence. Her name has a y, u, and o in it, with few unique consonants. But no matter. She was the first name I thought of because of what she went through, and how it still haunts me with so many questions. With the topic, a short story didn’t seem to work. So, I wrote a haibun. It still needs work, but it’s… well, it’s interesting.
Oh I’m so sorry to hear that…and glad you found the words to honor your friend.
At first I thought I couldn’t do this, but I did. Perseverance paid off. I ended up writing a short memoir about a friend of mine who died too young.
Loved this one. I didn’t have a notebook so was only able to write on my phone. I’d love to redo this prompt long form and also whenever I get stuck.
Ended up with only a 3 sentence store but it really cracked me up and was just what I needed to start the month!
I built my story around a real-world encounter my friend had over the weekend. I told her it was like a fairy godmother setup in a romcom and that I might use it in a story one day. I guess that day was today! I love prompts like this. At first, it feels like an impossibility–incorporating such random words–but the mind just loves to create patterns and stitch things together. I enjoyed today’s efforts.
Well, I read the prompt wrong and finally got discouraged and just went and began working on a story I began writing yesterday. I had thought the prompt said to make sentences out of the person’s name we chose. The story I started contained a teacher I didn’t like and I used his name as the anagram assignment. I ended up working for an hour on the story, happy that I was explaining the inner workings of the MC pretty well for the first time ever, and including the character I didn’t like. Later today I realized that this story was going nowhere. That’s ok because I learned things just by practicing.
I immediately thought of someone I detested, but reread the prompt and my character came to me right away, as though she’d been waiting for me to write about/to her. Goodness, I miss her, but it felt like I was in conversation with her again after all these years.
I was late getting started., but I made it the first day. I liked the prompt and had fun with it.
I used one of my coworkers. I cheated by putting her name in an app called “unscramble”. I picked 10 words and came up with a pretty good story. Day one down.
I tried writing after several years. I think the story came out fairly well. I couldn’t think of any enemies, so I decided to write about a friend. I was surprised by how fast it came out even though it was like only 586 words. I do feel good about how it turned out given that I was just typing as I went on and didn’t think to edit it. will try to fit some time in my daily schedule to make it till the end of the month to see it through. Good luck to the others!
I’m surprised and delighted at the fairly cohesive story I came up with! 59 words became a 502 word story about a literally “sluggish” walk with my three-year-old. I guess I kind of “cheated” by editing… ;P I backtracked to add a few of the words where they’d fit nicely. Thanks for the fun prompt!
I did it. Badly. I chose someone I do not like at all and it got angry. In the end I realized that letting the anger out in such a creative way was not a bad thing. While I don’t like what I did today, as one of my lines says:
This is all the space that old nasty gets.
I doubt I’ll use it for anything but it was definitely cathartic.
At first, I didn’t know where this was going to go, but as I created a few anagrams, I found them, surprisingly concrete, so there wasn’t much of an excuse to delay. In my one hour, I wrote about 511 words, and they may become a basis for a flash piece. I am not sure yet. This was an enjoyable start.
I used the name of one of my characters and came up with this: Catriona McNaughton:
actor, canto, chant, chart, count, grain, grant, groan, guano, haunt, notch, organ, ranting, react, roach, rung, tango, taint, thing, titan, tonic, torch, train, tuna, cigar, groin, conga, giant, intro, cairn, anti, chair, incur, icing, touch, turning.
Putting all these words into a story started out as an annoying challenge and then became a fun challenge. Once I had all the words into my (very imperfect) story, I made sure I had my character take some action at the end. That made it feel more like a ‘story’ and not just a random collection of thoughts, to me.
Is it perfect? No. Is it something I’ll polish up and use? Probably not. Do I feel AMAZING for having written something I wouldn’t otherwise have written, today? Absolutely!!!
Loved the prompt. I finished a story! I chose to write about my special friend from a long time ago, my special friend, Fredia, from high school. Miss her!
Aw! Sweet!
A good prompt to start off the challenge. I chose the name of a friend who visited us in March. We had not seen each other in nearly thirty years, and I wondered if the connection was still there. Luckily, it was stronger than ever.
That’s the best…and what a great way to commemorate it.
Ooooo that was FUN! I skewered a former high school sports coach who was cruel to my kid years ago, also writing a very-likely libelous tidbit. It was odd how well the words I created formed a story almost of their own volition!
Oh, when will people learn never to wrong a writer (or a writer’s kid)??
Greetings: I picked just a first name and got many, many words. I picked six at random, having to discard one because I couldn’t find a definition for it. I wrote a story about a child psychologist who is writing a summary of her treatment of a child that she is trying to off-load to a peer, being honest, but knowing that if she is too honest no one will ever take him. She’s at home with her 3 children and there is lots going on.
I am new at this, so I am glad I checked the other comments and no one posted her/his story. Whew! I almost did that. This was fun. Looking forward to tomorrow.
well done!
That was like using the Tarot, with words instead of cards. Meaningful symbols, randomly presented, from which to draw (or onto which to project) meaning.
I wrote about a former boss of mine. Most of my managers have been good people, and many of them were good managers, but this guy restored the average all by himself. What I wrote is probably libelous, but it was fun to do.
Yet another reason I recommend people write in secret (at least the first, libelous draft…)
Fun! I wrote a short about my protagonist’s bestie. Thanks for the prompt!
I love it when I can use the prompt to expand on characters I’m already working with…and then again, sometimes a new character pops up.
Well done!
I used chat gpt to create two names and also asked for verbs and adjectives. I picked 10 of a mix of the verbs and adjectives and added a protagonist just for fun. I wrote a little story about poor, people- pleasing secretary Cecilia Glass, and her micromanager, people-pleasing boss named Alastair Rust and an office gossip named Ramona Wead. I wasnt intending on creating something so fanciful, but I am pleasantly surprised.
I did play with Ai to get my anagrams too (I’m far too impatient to enjoy anagrams!).
(note: I will continue to pressure the ai companies and my representatives to regulate this industry properly!)
Thanks to Kim Coleman Foote for this prompt! It was spicy for me. I picked a person of my non-affections because of their name alone: lots of different letters including s, and, felicitously, ing! I am not great at anagrams but I got sixteen words, including rave, raven, ravening, and (delightfully!) gnash.
I particularly enjoyed how this prompt invited playing with words and then turned the drafting process into a bit of a game. Trying to incorporate the list of words into the story distracted my inner critic well enough for me to write a weird little vignette about a mismatched couple without worrying about results.
Yes, yes! Anything that will distract the inner critic gets my vote!
I did utilize Chat GPT to scramble the names i picked and also asked it to provide a list of verbs and adjectives. I picked ten of those and wrote a story about Cecilia Glass, who is a people pleaser and works for another people pleaser named Alastair Rust, who happens to be a micromanager. She has secretly planned her departure from her controlling boss and also a fitting demise for the office gossip, Ramona Wead. I may or may not turn it into a small book. I’m wondering where Cecilia Glass will go next now that she has quit her job.
I love it when the characters we create leave us with questions about their futures!
Loved this one! Not sure the others will land as easily, but my mother is a good subject for this kind of prompt. I’m going to leave it here because I’m proud that it took me less than 10 minutes to complete it. (Margo Fern) M alicious, A ngry, R evenge, G regarious, O verbearing F rightening, E go, R adical, N arcisstic. The paragraph:
Margo had a malicious side to her that she saved for those of us she was most angry with. She carefully thought out the best revenge for the offenders. Living under her overbearing rule was frightening. You could never trust if her gregarious manner was the truth or a trap. The payback was dependant how deeply we affected her. Her narcissism played a huge role in the severity of the punishment. The more her ego was affected the more readical the consequences.
Ooops! After reading everyone else’s comments, I realized that I also got the prompt wrong. Hmmm. Perhaps I’ll try it again later. I have other writing to do today.
I don’t think you need to redo, Heidi! This is wonderful, lucid, and pithy work.
Thanks! You are such a great support to me.
Nah! You know how, in jazz, they say there are no mistakes, only possibilities? Let’s do that!
Wow, Heidi! I never realized you and I had the same mother! Seriously, though, I don’t think you need to write anything else to this prompt. You may not have used anagrams, but using the letters of her name worked just as well. Good story.
Thank you for this fun prompt! I also loved the reminder before the prompt “Don’t worry if it’s good; worry if it’s finished! Let’s get this party started!” =)
The prompt and the suggestion to use long hand worked for me. Immediately I pictured myself writing lightly and doodling if I chose friend or writing feverishly if I chose enemy. So, I took a hybrid approach. I wrote the anagram long hand and then typed my story.
I like that the boundaries of this prompt are clear and that it feels applicable to other people and even places I might write about in the future.
Oh wow! I’m blaming the early hours I keep for mixing up anagram and acrostic as well. I love messing around with anagrams, so, yikes! I totally missed that!
My enthusiasm for the prompt is still strong, but I understand more fully understand how “restricts your freedom of choice” applies. (I’ve not had my coffee. Please keep that in mind….)
Sometimes the best inspiration comes when we misunderstand and create something new 😉
Thanks, Julie! I love that thought! I enjoyed what I produced this morning. =) As it happens, I had time to extract ten words in anagram fashion. These words are now worked into the original story. =) I’m so excited about Story a Day in May!!!
I love that thought!!! Though, admittedly, I extracted 10 words from the name, anagram style, and inserted them into the original project without much disruption!
I did the exact same thing, Melanie: longhanded my warm-up and then took to the keyboard for the story. It worked great for me!
Love it! Happy writing, Elizabeth!
and here’s another … drafted by Chat GPT but zhooshed up by me …
This is the “negative” one with the words found in the name I mentioned before …
In the domain of silence, where shadows drain,
A victim of whispers, of words laced with pain
The dracon whispers are harsh, cruel, and cold,…
[Content clipped to protect the author’s intellectual property – jD]
Day 1 –
Everything Robert does is for his own gain.
There is no standard low enough that he will not stoop too, and no level lower than the one in which he already resides. Robert’s initial success was his own, this much is true, but he is nothing if not someone who spin a compelling story. It seems, in hindsight, that a deal was struck—with the devil or the bank—that success was taken out as a loan, against the interests of Robert’s enemies.
Robert has many enemies.
[content clipped to protect the author’s intellectual property – JD]
The first two sentences really hit hard. Love it!
Done! I decided to go with a character from one of my projects instead of a friend/enemy. 239 words of the actual story, a little look into Nik’s *early* feelings about Leigh. This may not end up in the bigger story(there’s almost always a bigger story for me), although some bits of it might get worked in.
And after reading another comment, I realized I got anagram and acrostic mixed up. Oops. Well, I’m still counting this as done, even if I *really* didn’t follow the instructions
Fallon, after reading your comment I realized I did the same thing…and I LOVE solving anagrams! Lol!!!!!!! I’m blaming the early hour!!!
Initially I thought the exercise was to write an acrostic. Then I remembered what an anagram was. I used the name of a person I work with who I sometimes stuggle to get along with. The person’s name has lots of awkward letters like K V D Z M C and four times the vowell i as well as n O and A. Some other letters too but I found it really difficult to find words within the letters.
I have been playing with ChatGPT as a writing tool recently. I ask it to interview me about a certain topic then write an article. Then I rewrite the draft and edit it ALOT. I find ChatGPT is great at encouraging me to write.
Anyway – I took the letters to Chat GPT and asked it to come up with some negative words and some positive. It was funny because it tried putting in extra vowels and consonants especially E and S. I had to keep telling it off for cheating!
ChatGPT then wrote two poems for me – one using negative words and one using positive words and then combined them into a different poem with contrasting negative and positive perspectives.
I found myself being jealous of a robot’s creativity so I asked it to help me write a poem myself. It used various prompts and questions and gentle encouragement for me to explore my feelings and imagery. Then using ONLY my own thoughts and answers to the questions it asked me and using ONLY the words I used, it came up with this. Which I consider MY poem …
I watch you fade,
and wonder how long
I will still have you near me.
Yellowing leaves,
drooping fronds,
a heavy heart,
tears forming.
[content clipped to protect the author’s intellectual property – JD]
Now I’m happy for you to tell me I cheated but I think if I’m brainstorming and working with ChatGPT to explore expression and can actually come up with the words myself but it puts them into the “order”, it’s still me writing isn’t it. I will probably eventually take this and refine it a little more anyway without chat GPTs help.
Happy for you to give all negative criticism. One, two, three … go!
This is beautiful writing! But please be aware of the impact of AI usuage, both environmentally and creatively 🙂
Hi Fiona
No sure what you mean about AI impact environmentally. I’m curious and would be happy for you to explain?
Helen
Hi again
Actually, no need, I googled environmental impact of AI and read the AI search engine’s explanation. Funny how it explained its own environmental impact. All very ironic! Point taken.
Helen
Day – 1
At the start, following the instructions of the prompt, I thought about my childhood friend, Pradip Pan. I anagrammed the following words from his name and surname name.
Pradip Pan – and, app, nap, Pir, papa, dip, daar (fear), darn, rip, nip, pad, pin, paap.
The picture that rose to my mind next, was what a great Papa Pradip proved to be in life and how much his daughter loved and respected him.
The following story happened next :
‘Make Hay While The Sun Shines’
Pradip, Deepak and I were threesome, childhood besties till graduation…
[Content clipped to protect the author’s intellectual property – JD]
Great story. I especially like the word “unfuzzled”. I had to look up the word “fuzzled” first to find out what “unfuzzled” meant. I love it!
I really like the list of words you came up with from your friend’s name, Rathin!