The Prompt

In Second Manifesto of Surrealism (1929), Andre Breton called for “the profound, the veritable occultation of Surrealism.”

Of the Surrealist painters and writers who dove whole hog into arcane imagery, my favorites include Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Max Ernst, and Leonor Fini.

Choose a single Surrealist painting and do some fun, casual research to decipher its symbolism and “occult” elements. If you need help finding a painting, check out the list below.

After developing a personal interpretation of the work, write a short piece of surreal fiction about the character(s) and situation(s) in the painting.

If there are multiple characters, you might choose one to narrate the story (in first-person or third-person limited point of view) or use an omniscient perspective to jump around among the characters.

Instead of attempting to make a logical narrative that rationalizes the surreal situation, revel in the painting’s odd elements and tell a strange tale inspired by the imagery.

Recommended Paintings

Leonora Carrington:
Self-Portrait, Inn of the Dawn Horse, 1937-38
Queen of the Mandrills, 1959
The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg), 1947
The House Opposite, 1945
Darvault, 1950
Friday the Thirteenth, 1965
Bird Bath, 1974
Sissygy, 1957

Max Ernst:
Attirement of the Bride, 1940
Napoleon in the Wilderness, 1941
Men Shall Know Nothing of This, 1923
The Antipope, 1941-42
Europe After the Rain II, 1940-1942

Leonor Fini:
The Shepherdess of the Sphinxes, 1941
Chthonian Divinity Watching over the Sleep of a Young Man, 1946
The Botany Lesson, 1974
Two Women, 1939
Donna del Lago or Le Bout du monde II, 1953

Remedios Varo:
The Call, 1961
Witch Going to the Sabbath, 1957
Creation of the Birds, 1957
Celestial Pablum, 1958
Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst, 1960
Vegetarian Vampires, 1962

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Julia Elliott

Julia Elliott’s Hellions was published in April 2025. She is also the author of the story collection The Wilds, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch (both from Tin House). Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Tin House, Conjunctions, Granta (online), and the New York Times. She has won a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, and her stories have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. She teaches English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina and lives in Columbia with her husband, daughter, and five hens. Her new story collection Hellions came out in April 2025.

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Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.

 

The Prompt

When she picked up the knife, she discovered the blade was still sharp.

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Rachel Bolton

Rachel Bolton is a Bram Stoker Award Nominated writer. Her work has appeared in Apex Magazine, Women Write About Comics, Strange Girls, and more. She lives with her cat in Massachusetts. You can follow her on Bluesky @raebolt.bsky.social and find out more at her website:

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.

 

The Prompt

A teenager is eating a cherry snow cone, their lips are stained red.

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Angela Sylvaine

Angela Sylvaine is a Bram Stoker Award nominated author and self-proclaimed cheerful goth who writes speculative fiction and poetry. Her dark cheerfulness is on full display in her novel, Frost Bite, a ‘90s sci-fi horror comedy, and her retro ‘80s YA mall slasher novella, Chopping Spree. Her goth side is fully explored in her debut short story collection, The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls.

Angela’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in over sixty anthologies, magazines, and podcasts, including Southwest Review, Apex, and The NoSleep Podcast.

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.

 

The Prompt

Over the course of a single morning, your house becomes a Starbucks.

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Rich Larson

Rich Larson was born in Niger, has lived in Spain and Czech Republic, and is currently based in Canada. He is the author of the novels Annex and Ymir, as well as over 250 short stories – some of the best of which can be found in his collections Tomorrow Factory and The Sky Didn’t Load Today and Other Glitches. His fiction has been translated into over a dozen languages, among them Polish, French, Romanian and Japanese, and adapted into an Emmy-winning episode of LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. His latest book, Changelog, is now available for preorder.

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.

 

The Prompt

This one is just for fun. Write a story of exactly nineteen paragraphs. Sounds like too many? Not to worry; the first and third paragraphs will each be used four times, so you really only have to write thirteen paragraphs.

We’re taking a very strict poetic form – the villanelle – and turning it into a storytelling playground. Here are the rules:

Paragraph 1: anything you want.
Paragraph 2: anything you want.
Paragraph 3: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1 in some way. Maybe they share a character, a setting, an object, or a tone of voice.

Paragraph 4: same rule as Paragraph 3.
Paragraph 5: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2 in some way.
Paragraph 6: copy Paragraph 1, but change it in a specific manner, such as presenting the action from a different point of view. Each sentence in Paragraph 6 must match a sentence in Paragraph 1.

Paragraph 7: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 8: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 9: copy Paragraph 3.

Paragraph 10: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 11: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 12: copy Paragraph 1.

Paragraph 13: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 14: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 15: copy Paragraph 3.

Paragraph 16: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 17: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 18: copy Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 19: copy Paragraph 3.

Some suggestions:

• Keep the paragraphs short. If you wind up liking the story, you can always expand them later.
• Limit the number of characters to two or three.

Example:

When Kathy walked into the workroom, Ted looked up from the copy machine and glared.
“Well! Look what the cat dragged in!”
The workroom was empty except for the two of them. The copier hummed softly. There was a faint smell of Sharpie in the air.
Kathy resented Ted’s presence in the workroom. There was a copier at his end of the floor; why wasn’t he using that?
“Yeah, well guess who’s going to be dog meat,” she rejoined.
When Kathy had walked into the workroom, Ted, knowing how she reacted to him, gave her his best glare.
From the moment they first met, Kathy had interpreted Ted’s fear of her as disdain. She still did. She put a possessive hand on the copy machine. “Have you got much more? I have a ton of stuff to get out.”
The two of them were like cats and dogs, or maybe worse.
Ted wished someone would join them in the otherwise empty workroom. The copier kept chugging its way through his job. He saw he had marked his white shirt cuff with Sharpie.
Kathy, too, wished someone would join them in the workroom, someone with authority, someone who could send Ted back to his end of the floor.
But no one came, so they just kept hissing and growling at each other.
Kathy had been in a good mood (she told herself) when she walked into the workroom, until that doofus Ted had given her the evil eye.
Ted, on the other hand, before Kathy walked into the workroom, had been glad to finally find a working copy machine, and hated her for interrupting.
“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath.
The workroom was empty except for the two of them. The copier was still doing its thing. Maybe he would write all over her face with a Sharpie.
“What did you say?” Kathy demanded. She returned Ted’s glare with interest. “Just what the hell did you say?”
“I said you’re a damn cat!”
As Kathy stalked out of the workroom, Ted’s glare followed her.
The workroom was left empty when Ted strode out. The copier hummed softly. There was a faint smell of Sharpie in the air.

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Walter Lawn

Walter Lawn writes poetry and short fiction. His work has been published at The Bangalore Review, On the Run Press, Heartwood Literary Magazine, Every Day Fiction, and Lily Poetry Review. Walter is a disaster recovery planner, and lives outside of Philadelphia.

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.

 

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.)

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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.

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

Remember: I don’t recommend posting your story in the comments here (and I talk more about why not, here). Best practice: Leave us a comment about how it went, or share your favorite line from your story.