The Prompt
When you arrive at your vacation rental for a much-needed getaway, you are so tired from your travels you collapse into bed without unpacking and without looking around. Next morning, you look out your window and see this:
Tell the story of what happens next using only a series of text messages or phone calls. Before starting, you may want to consider which rental belongs to your character and who planned the vacation, likewise whether they’re travelling alone.
OR,
Tell the origin story of this remarkable town. You may want to tell it through a series of magic spells, or you may want to consider making the town your protagonist. Or maybe let the whale narrate. Do you see it to the lower right, rising from the ocean?
(*This gorgeous print was created by writer, artist, and fellow StoryADay Superstar Marta Pelrine-Bacon and hangs beside my desk.)
Michele Reisinger
Michele E. Reisinger’s work has appeared in Across the Margin, Stories That Need to be Told, Sunspot Literary Journal, Dreamers Creative Writing, and others. She studied English and Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University and received an MA in English Literature from the University of Delaware. She lives near Philadelphia with her family and never enough books. Find more of her writing her online at mereisinger.com.
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Here’s your next Game Piece. save the image and share on social media with #storyaday
Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version
Love this prompt, even having this image makes you think a lot.
Wonderful prompt and image! I really got into the idea of what it would be like to live on someone’s head. I imagined a cute little town with two young women who want to explore the world beyond it, wrote a beginning and zero drafted a middle and end. This one I’ll definitely return to!
(Someone at the a.m. sprint suggested a collection of “town on the lady’s head” stories, which I would love to read, just saying!)
A collection would be fun!
Plowed through a bit of “imposter syndrome” to write today. (And I wrote that start of a comment yesterday, and then found it, today, so I’ll finish my thought.) I cast aside feelings of “I’m not good enough” and “who the bleep am I to host” to respond to this prompt. I enjoy Marta’s art and was glad that one of her piece’s was included in Michelle’s prompt. I wrote about a woman whose Toddler, peering out the window at 3 am due to a huge time zone shift, woke her up as he wanted to point out the lady outside. It grows from there.
Thanks for the prompt! =)
I’m curious about all these stories. It’s fun to put art out there and see where people take it.
I wrote about the first family invited to live in the Lady’s hair. They named her Refuge.
Oooo. Refuge. I’m intrigued!
Definitely intrigued!!
I conjured the town, from bottom to top. Not a story so much as a meditation on the picture.
That’s what I did! Even though it is my own picture.
I love the idea of conjuring something from nothing!!
Love this prompt and as always, Marta’s art — look forward to evening writing with it!
Thank you for the inspiring prompt and artwork. I have company, so only had a few minutes to lay the foundation. It’s written in first person, back-and-forth texts. The cabin belongs to a friend who shares her cabin to get an out of this world experience.
Fun!! I love this 😊
“An out of this experience” … I’m curious to know more!
Same!!
I love this prompt even though I hate writing in first person.
I wrote about a writer going on vacation to a remote cabin to work on her novel. On the morning after she arrived a series of text messages go back and forth between the owner of the cabin and the writer.
So it’s not solely text messages but the story as well.
Rough draft almost completed. My texts are written on sticky notes so I can arrange and rearrange as needed.
Going to visit a family member in the hospital later so I’ll finish it up later.
Terrific idea, drafting on sticky notes!! So many possibilities. And I hope your family member is back home & returned to health soon.
I think it’s fun to try stories in different ways–like text messages, for instance. An epistolary story for the modern age!
Hope your family member is feeling better and well cared for.
It’s interesting to write about my own art! I’ve written a story in the first person (which I rarely do) about someone who decides to leave the village. I’m not sure it works as a story, but I’m happy with it anyway. Thanks for being inspired by my art!
You know I’m a huge fan of your art & your stories😊
This was an interesting exercise for me. I started out just describing the scene. Then wrote a very short dystopian story that would not work without the picture.
Dystopian? I am definitely hooked 😊
I’m curious!