This prompt was inspired by Jennifer Wortman’s Theories of the Point of View Shifts in AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”

The Prompt

Write A Story Based on A Favorite Song

Tips

• Choose a song that you know really well (this is probably something from your childhood or teenaged years, for reasons to do with neurology)
• You could write a narrative story based on what you hear in the song or, like Jennifer Wortman, you could do something really interesting with the structure (in her case, she interspersed an academic analysis of the song with personal reflections)
• You could write a series of linked mini-stories, 50-100 words, that show how three or more characters each interact with the song.
• You could use the song as a vehicle for a totally different type of story. Perhaps a drag queen is waiting in the wings to go onstage for the first time, to perform this song. Perhaps the song is being played at a funeral, or in the background while someone proposes…
• You could write a copycat story, using similar structures. For example, write something that feels like “American Pie“, but is about the defining public moment in your life (9/11? The moon landings? The moment the Philadelphia Flyers launched Gritty onto an unsuspecting world?)

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!