This post is the second of two. Check out last week’s prompt or stay here to go straight to the part where you steal a story from someone else!

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This prompt is part of a two-part prompt. Last week we wrote stories for other writers to steal from. This week we’re doing the stealing.

The Prompt

Look through the links from last week and find a story with a character, premise, setting or ‘what if’ that you think you can steal and build on. Write that story.

Tips

• Don’t worry if the story is less than perfect. As long as it has one appealing feature (character, setting or premise), let the rest go. Just finish it and post it.
• Think of this like the kernel of a piece of open source software (like WordPress, on which this site is built). Someone came up with the original nugget and you’re building on it
• Post the story somewhere and provide a link to it. Post it in the comments here if you don’t have a blog of your own.
• Feel free to take the story off in a completely different direct or into a different genre.

The Rules:

• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story (or a link) in the comments.
• Leave a link to your story and say which story it’s based on
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Steal A Story #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-2

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is a Steal A Story! #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-2

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-2

See my story – and write your own, today: Steal A Story at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-2

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.

The Write On Wednesday story prompts are designed to prompt quickly-written stories that you can share in the comments. It’s a warm-up exercise, to loosen up your creativity muscles. Come back every Wednesday to see a new prompt or subscribe.

This post is the first of two. Come back next week to steal a story from someone else!

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This prompt is part of a two-part prompt. This week we’re writing a story that we won’t mind someone stealing. Next week we’re going to look at someone else’s story and steal their character, setting, premise or twist, and write our own story (a kind of derivative work).

The Prompt

Write a quick story with one strong feature: an appealing (or loathsome character), a great setting, a fabulous twist, an intriguing ‘what if’. Plan to allow someone else to steal from/be inspired by this story

Tips

Don’t worry if the story is less than perfect. As long as it has one appealing feature (character, setting or premise), let the rest go. Just finish it and post it.
Don’t try to write something you’re so proud of that you’ll be loathe to let it go.
Think of this like the kernel of a piece of open source software (like WordPress, on which this site is built). Someone came up with the original nugget, then let everyone else into the sandbox to play with it. Are you more mature than a four year old or will you get annoyed if someone else builds on top of your sandcastle?
Post the story somewhere and provide a link to it. Post it in the comments here if you don’t have a blog of your own.
Come back next week, read the links/stories and create a story based on someone else’s.

 

The Rules:

• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story (or a link) in the comments.
• Leave a link to your story and say which story it’s based on
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Open Source Story #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-1

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is an Open Source Story! #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-1

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-1

See my story – and write your own, today: Open Source Story at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/open-1

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.

The Write On Wednesday story prompts are designed to prompt quickly-written stories that you can share in the comments. It’s a warm-up exercise, to loosen up your creativity muscles. Come back every Wednesday to see a new prompt or subscribe.

It’s easy to raise objections to writing fiction in the second person point of view (“You do this, you do that and then you feel …”). The most obvious objection is that it reads like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel. It’s hard to pull off.

But this morning I was listening to an interview with a writer who found a fascinating way into the POV: his novel, “How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia”, is written as a self-help book. (It’s a great interview, full of all kinds of good stuff. Have a listen.)

The writer, Mohsin Hamid, sounds like such a nice guy that I hope he won’t mind us stealing his idea for this weeks’ writing exercise:

The Prompt

Write a second-person fiction tale as if it was a self-help book/article.

Tips

Think of all the ‘How To Write” articles you’ve read over the years. Have some fun with them

It doesn’t have to be ‘self help’, it can be aping any type of non-fiction that lends itself to second person.

You can often find this kind of writing at McSweeney’s. It isn’t always obvious that you might apply the label ‘fiction’, but it certainly is.

Read a sample of “How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia”

 

The Rules:

• You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).
• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Self Help Story #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-second

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is Self Help Story! #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-second

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-second

See my story – and write your own, today: Self Help Story at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-second

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.

 

 

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It’s February.

What does it mean to you? Shortest month? Leap year? Darkness and winter? Summer in the southern hemisphere?

Write A February Story

Tips

What might “February” mean to an old woman? A young man? A kid whose birthday is in Feb?

Might you write a story with a sentence for each day in February? A 28-sentence story? (or maybe 29)

What unexpected stories could you tell, with a theme of “February”?

 

The Rules:

• You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).
• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: February #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-february

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is February! #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-february

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-february

See my story – and write your own, today: February at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-february

The Write On Wednesday story prompts are designed to prompt quickly-written stories that you can share in the comments. It’s a warm-up exercise, to loosen up your creativity muscles. Come back every Wednesday to see a new prompt or subscribe.

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.

Today’s prompt is a whole scenario with a named character and a tricky situation. Your job is to decide who this character is and how they will ultimately react. I’m really curious to see how different people deal with this, so please do post either the story or a link to your version in the comments, if you’re OK with posting it online.

The Prompt

Lorina Dorsey is nice. Always has been. Which is probably why she’s 52, unmarried and still teaching 5th Grade at the same school after 29 years, she thinks, wryly. She sometimes wonders if people think her weak. If they only knew the strength it took to…but no.

As our story starts, Lorina, is returning to work after the shattering business of burying her widowed mother. Lorina has no siblings. Walking into the school where she has taught fifth grade for 29 years, she sees that the door to Dr Tatchell’s office is closed. She can, nevertheless, hear voices. Dr Tatchell is roaring at someone. It’ll be that nice young Mr Santiago, getting some ‘professional development’ from Tatchell, no doubt. Only the timid, like her, stayed here longer than a semester.

Rounding the corner, Lorina sees a heap of coats on the floor outside her room. She tuts. Nothing bothers her more than sloppiness. Reaching down to pluck the coats off the ground, she is startled to find Andrew Smeel, the smallest boy in her class, curled up underneath them, sobbing. With some coaxing he tells her that he’d been involved in a scuffle with the other boys yesterday and the substitute had sent them all to Dr. Tatchell. At this point, Andrew curls up in a ball and refuses to say any more.

Lorina is standing, looking down at an 11 year old boy, curled into a fetal position outside her door. She turns to see Mr. Santiago stumbling towards her, white-faced. Her mother is dead. All she has is this school. Her eyes bore into the door of the Principal’s office. She takes one step.

Write Lorina’s story.

Tips

Feel free to change the gender or ethnicity of the characters, as well as the period if it helps.
Start anywhere. Use the backstory explicitly or, better yet, simply use it to inform the choices you make for Lorina.
Ask yourself what Lorina wants, what she’s capable of, what you can show the readers to make them suspect she’s capable of anything.
Will you write this realistically, or take a flight of fancy?

 

The Rules:

• You should use the prompt in your story (however tenuous the connection).
• You must write the story in one 24 hr period – the faster the better.
• Post the story in the comments — if you’re brave enough.
• Find something nice to say about someone else’s story and leave a comment. Everybody needs a little support!

Optional Extras:

Share this challenge on Twitter or Facebook

Some tweets/updates you might use:

Don’t miss my short story: Lorina’s Story #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-lorina

This week’s #WriteOnWed short story prompt is a scenario! #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-lorina

Come and write with us! #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-lorina

See my story – and write your own, today: Lorina’s Story at #WriteOnWed #storyaday https://storyaday.org/wow-lorina

If you would like to be the Guest Prompter, click here.

 

The Write On Wednesday story prompts are designed to prompt quickly-written stories that you can share in the comments. It’s a warm-up exercise, to loosen up your creativity muscles. Come back every Wednesday to see a new prompt or subscribe.

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