The Prompt

You made it! You’re hear at the end of the month, still showing up, still writing. Whether you wrote one story or thirty-one, congratulations. This is a pretty good day.

Today I want you to write a story about someone’s best day ever.
You are, of course, free to use that title ironically (and write about the opposite).

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Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay. She coaches other writers and creatives on how to keep the momentum going. She also hosts a year-round writing community. If you need a place to keep you on track going forward, join us in the StoryADay Superstars:

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? How much did you write this month? What’s your ‘epic win’? 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

At this point, it’s almost impossible you haven’t encountered a piece of software that tried to convince you to use it’s new AI features.

Today you’re going to write a story that delves into the relationship between humans and technological pals…and this stuff is going to seem a lot less sci-fi than it used to!

Bonus points if you write this story in a non-narrative format. That means,

• Writing out a chat conversation, or making a list of things that your character needs to complete their project (and telling a story in the process).
• Or perhaps your character is trying to write a ‘rescue me’ note in a code that the AI won’t break.
• Or perhaps you’re writing the after-action report for your corporate overlords about how things went so spectacularly wrong.

If you don’t want to write about the tech we have today, you could have a medieval knight working with a clockwork squire; or steampunk Sherlock Holmes android invented by Dr Watson…run wild!

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 lived in an era when humans still thought they were in charge of everything, and she thanks her Robot Overlords for allowing the relic of that time to continue to exist online.

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

if you’re the kind of writer who mostly writers dialogue, or has been accused of writing stories that seem like they’re set on a blank white stage, this prompt is one that’s going to challenge you.

Write a story where the setting features almost as much as a character.

• This might mean the setting has a strong emotional mood (as in a gothic novel or a 1950’s beach movie
• This might mean you actually give the haunted house a personality, or take your characters to a land where the trees talk and the grass gets annoyed when you walk on it
• This might mean you spend the day making your characters interact with their surroundings – being challenged by the leaky space toilet, or struggling to understand why the broccoli won’t grow in this corner of the garden.

Give us sensation. Give us mood. Give us big scenic attitude.

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 has lived in three countries on two continents and, despite decades in the area, cannot master a Pennsylvania accent. She has never successfully grown broccoli.

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

Today I want you to mine your memory for a conversation that you will never forget…and give it to (at least) two different characters.

Tell as much of that story as you can in dialogue, without much narrative explanation.

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. Those who know her will attest: she is rarely short of something to say. Read more at julieduffy.com

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

“It hurts,” she points yet again to her foot. Her heel. The very back of her heel to be precise. “Why does it hurt?”

I’m a doctor who has run every test I know, prescribed every exercise I know. Yet the pain persists.

I ask her again, hoping for a different answer, “Why Does it hurt? Are you sure you didn’t just bang it somewhere, against something?”

She shakes her head

I lean on my desk looking her in the eyes, “All the blood-work is fine. The results are actually neat, the way the values line up. It’s almost too good to be true. So why Does it hurt?”

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

Neha Mediratta

Neha Mediratta Chaudhuri is an independent writer, editor and consultant based in Mumbai. Recently, her award-winning sci-fi story Body Count was encoded in a Nickel and Gold Nano-fiche and sent to the moon (See Lunar Codex Project).

You can find her latest short story collection Death Chips and Love Fries at Amazon.

Meet her here: www.nehamediratta.com.

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