Day 2 | Funktionslust by Aimee Ogden

The Prompt

Write a story about a person, an animal, or even an inanimate object that finds joy or deep meaning in fulfilling its purpose.

(Note from Julie: this song was inspired by a Bermuda Palm that lived out its life in a glasshouse in Scotland.)

StoryADay Challenge Handbook logo

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

Aimee Ogden

Aimee Ogden is an American werewolf in the Netherlands. She is a three-time Nebula Award Finalist, most recently for her short story Because I Held His Name Like a Key, and the author of four standalone novellas from publisher Tor.com, Psychopomp, and Interstellar Flight Press. Over 100 of her short stories and novelettes have appeared in publications such as Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For more about her work, please visit her author website: aimeeogdenwrites.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.

2

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

Day 1 | The Last Word by P.A. Cornell

The Prompt

We’ve all had the experience of being caught off guard in a situation and not known what to say, only coming up with the perfect response when it’s much too late. Use that memory to inspire a story. Will your character respond in the moment? Will they not? What else might happen? You decide.

P.A. Cornell

P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A two-time finalist for the Nebula Award, her stories have been published in over seventy magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Apex, and eight “Best of the Year” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards, and in 2022 won Canada’s Short Works Prize. When not writing, she can be found assembling intricate LEGO builds or drinking ridiculous quantities of tea. Sometimes both. For more on the author and her work, visit her website pacornell.com.

Latest Book: Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl

Forthcoming Collection: The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories

StoryADay Challenge Handbook logo

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

Sample Warm up for Day 1

Sample Brainstorming Exercise For Day 1

SUBSCRIBE ALL MONTH

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.

1

Here’s your first Game Piece. save the image and share on social media with #storyaday

Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version

StoryADay May Begins Tomorrow

It’s almost time!

I’m taking a moment to share some last minute details and FAQs.

  • If you have signed up for the challenge, you should start receiving writing prompts by email just after midnight (Eastern US). If you haven’t, you can sign up here.
  • If you haven’t been through the prep tasks, don’t fret. You can dip into them any time you get stuck, to shake things up. Find them all here.
  • Each day, you should read the prompt and decide if you want to play with it or write something completely different. Try to start and finish a story every day that you’re writing. (If you ‘miss’ a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep showing up.)
  • Come back to the prompt when you’ve written and leave us a comment, letting us know how it went. Don’t post your story, but do feel free to share a line you loved or tell us what you learned.

Something New

A couple of years ago I provided an optional Challenge Handbook, with daily warm up and brainstorming exercises, tailored to each prompt and I’m doing it again this year.

Here’s what people have said about these exercises:

  • “The brainstorm exercise in the Handbook rocketed me directly into a draft of the story (thanks, Julie!)”
  • The Warm-Up helps me get the page “dirty”….
  • The Brainstorming page is where a lot of my ideas are generated. If I already have an idea, then it helps me flesh out my plan…

This year the Handbook is available as a private podcast with written transcripts. It’s just a dollar a day during the challenge, with the option to donate more if you like. (The price will go up in June.)

StoryADay Challenge Handbook logo

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

Get The Handbook

It’s time: sharpen your pencils, straighten your notebooks, get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the comments tomorrow!!

Keep writing,

Julie (signed)