The Prompt

Write a story inspired by the recent Artemis II mission.

There are so many options here, even if you don’t want to write about space travel:

• someone is far from home;
• four people are living in cramped conditions;
• someone has worked for years on a life-changing project and then has to turn it over to the people who will be the public face, and learn to stand back and watch;
• someone sees a thing for the first time in human history;
• someone who opposed a project has to watch while it succeeds;
• people who have been fighting for years are suddenly united in support of an extraordinary event…

There was so much wonder surrounding the Artemis mission, with all it’s ‘first time in 50 years, with all this new technology!’ hype, I’m going to argue for writing a story, today, that contains some of that wonder, awe, and togetherness.

But that’s just me. You write what you want 😉

Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay. She can no longer say “the last time we went to the moon I was 6 months old!!” and she’s OK with that. She wonders what we will do with the 50 years of stellar sci-fi ‘what ifs’ that we’ve written since then…

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

Remember: Please don’t post 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.

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The Prompt

Write a story in six sentences and/or no more than 400 words.

Choose a common idiom as your title (no, it doesn’t count towards the sentence/word limit) and then construct your story to subvert the readers’ expectations about the meaning of that idiom.

You can go dark, like, literal, or fanciful…but keep it to six sentences.

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Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay. She is quite long-winded. She does, however, like a sentence with lots of clauses, and so feels that writing a six-sentence story should be—frankly—a doddle. She might even try it today. In fact she thinks she will. There, done.

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

Remember: Please don’t post 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.

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

The Prompt

Write a story in which a secondary character has a secret — they are having their period. This doesn’t affect the plot, but it does affect the way the secondary character behaves.

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Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal is the USA Today Bestselling author of a dozen novels, including Apprehension and the Lady Astronaut series. A winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, she is also a professional puppeteer and award-winning audiobook narrator. She co-hosts the Writing Excuses podcast, served as SFWA President, and has an asteroid named after her. Also, her cat talks.

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

Remember: Please don’t post 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.

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

The Prompt

“I want to be brave.”

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Somto Ihezue

Somto Ihezue is a Nigerian–Igbo writer, acquiring editor, and filmmaker. He is an alumnus of the Tin House Winter Workshop, Milford SF Writers, Voodoonauts Summer Fellowship, and the 2024 Clarion West Writers Workshop. He is a member of SFWA (Science Fiction Writers Association), ASFS (African Science Fiction & Fantasy Society), BSFA (British Science Fiction Association), BFS (British Fantasy Society), and Codex.. Somto wants to write places where he can be afraid, brave, a work in progress, and a masterpiece, all at once. Or just… be.

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

Remember: Please don’t post 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.

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

The Prompt

Think of a character who seems like a bit of a cliche. Begin writing a scene where they act in what looks like an irrational or out-of-character way.

Finish the story by adding more context: what has happened, in your character’s day, that makes their actions necessary or relatable? (You can add this context before and/or after the first scene you wrote).

Optional question: will you resolve matters for the reader or leave them guessing?)

Get the StoryADay Challenge Handbook for 2026 – custom warm-up and brainstorming exercises for every prompt, delivered as a private podcast with transcripts.
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Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay. She is also the host of the StoryADay Superstars writers’ group, and is available to talk to your group, on your podcast or at your conference. You can find her short fiction in anthologies and publications, including Analog.

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

Remember: Please don’t post 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.

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