I’m bringing you two very different writing prompts from the archives this week.
Read through them both and see which one calls to you more strongly. Both offer different ways to cope with our current, rather contracted social circles, either by imagining a party or by focusing on delighting one person.
Now that StoryADay is 10 years old, I’ve been doing a bit of tidying up around the site.
You’ve already seen the refreshed logo, but how about the refreshed shop?
Fancy taking a StoryADay course, grabbing an ebook full of prompts or advice, or ordering a StoryADay notebook or mug, to keep you company as you write?
Now you can find them all in the reorganized StoryADay store!
A video lesson on how to write a short story in 40 minutes or thereabouts.
Set a timer for 40 minutes and to write a story in that time.
This past weekend we celebrated StoryFest, here at StoryaDay.org.
StoryFest is our annual ‘recital’, our celebration of the work we did in May.
Some of our writers shared stories, others liked, commented and posted on social media about them. Others…didn’t.
And that’s OK. Because not everyone was ready.
(and yes, we have people in each of those stages here in the StoryADay community)
Johan, a traveling salesman, returns to his medieval village during the black plague outbreak. As he enters, he meets a stark, hungry man on the village’s outskirts. The storyline follows the verses of “Ring Around O’Roses.”
Jerry Harwood was born in Ooltewah, TN. His mother was an elementary school teacher and he spent his afternoons reading books in her classroom or the nearby library. He currently is a writer, which makes sense based on the fact you are reading this here. He has experimented with other occupations: camp director, program director at a counseling center, college professor and middle school teacher. Jerry has backpacked Europe, taught in a Ukrainian University, worked in Rwanda after the genocide, is a first responder, sort-of remodeled a VW Thing, and has a love for Cherry Coke Zero that is only surpassed by his love for his wife, six children, and grandson.
I fixated upon a stout and pudgy elderly man in front of me. His demeanor looked awfully rigid and his eyes flitted unwittingly. It must have been his first-time.
Urvi Roy is an avid writer of realistic fiction and opinionated pieces on societal events. When she’s not scribbling out the words to a creative piece of flash fiction, short story, or poem, she can be found devouring the works of Kiera Cass or the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, dancing to classical Indian or contemporary pieces, practicing lines for a theater performance, or trying to sew with a new piece of fabric. She was wholeheartedly inspired to write this piece of flash fiction by her preoccupation with cliff-hanger ending, mysterious, and suspenseful episodes that leave viewers or readers, like herself, thoroughly insatiable!
An old homeless man shares his experience with a young man.
Reading interest is eclectic. StoryADay was a delightful challenge to get words down on the page daily.
The Tell-Tale Heart retold from the POV of the old man.
Alan Grant is a writer from Ireland with a focus and emphasis on humorous fiction.
Jason Mourn, still struggling to recover from a bad breakup has a chance to change his future by altering his cringeworthy past.
Alan Grant is a writer from Ireland with a focus and emphasis on humorous fiction.
A young woman decides to take a Covid-era chance. (Not a screw-social-distancing chance; more like a he-may-Unfriend-me-for-this chance.) Now all she has to do is bring her past, hold the present, and have faith in future as she meets him first time amidst these fading gravestones.
A Bread Loaf Scholar and Pushcart Prize nominee, Anneliese completed her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, and was shortlisted for the 2016 HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction. The prompt for this story was one she mightily resisted—until the character showed up and suggested she get out of the way. Anneliese works on her YA climate fiction, a Middle Grade ghost story, and lockdown flash fiction in Vancouver, BC. Pre-border closure, much of her writing time was spent in Boulder, CO, and points between on the train. She can also be found at http://laughinginthelanguage.com/
Abbi is cooking up yet another dinner party, but this one may turn out the be different.
Claudia Hauter is a writer of no wrongs – a moniker she adapted from Don Quixote. When she’s not reading books and writing about them, she’s working in South African television creating digital content. She also loves movies, coffee, and saving planet Earth.
About how a daughter is coping with her mother’s death.
I love writers who play with characters’ view points to tell a story from different angles. For the previous StoryADay, I explored writing stories written in the voices of different characters over a central theme.
What if talking to strangers is the right thing to do? A different take on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
Sharon lives in Perth, Western Australia, but spends most of her time in completely imaginary worlds. She has worked as a translator and language tutor and enjoys symphonic music and stories in all their forms.
It was the waiting that was the worst.
The chalk stopped tapping against the blackboard, and the droning came to a halt, ending on the up note of a question. Next, a long and deliberately antagonistic pause. The feet began their slow heel to toe stroll toward the tables.
Laura Porter is a freelance writer and editor who writes regularly for area newspapers and magazines. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. Her historical novel, Turned Adrift, is in process. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, the dog and the cat, as well as whichever millennial child needs a break from the real world at the moment.
In a tent, atop a mountain, do couples dream of killing each other?
Neha Mediratta is a freelance writer and editor based in Mumbai. Her interests include swimming, tai chi alongwith studying natural and human systems of organization)
Sunny’s momma hardly leaves the house these days. Sunny’s always been able to cheer her up before, but now he can’t seem to help. And it’s no surprise to Sunny that his sister doesn’t help either. Can these three family members find happiness together in changed circumstances?
Lisa Rutledge writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She reads in the historical fiction, fantasy, and humor genres, to name just a few of her favorites. Visit her website at https://lisarutledgeauthor.com/to check out more of her work and subscribe to her blog.
“We had long thought Humpty Dumpty would meet his demise with reckless abandon. And we weren’t far from the truth.”
Maery Rose is a Minnesota writer who has been blogging for over twenty years at maeryrose.com. She likes to believe that the wide variety of topics she writes about represent an unquenchable curiosity. Maery’s most recent and harrowing trek has taken her into the world of writing and publishing short stories.
A teen named Cinderella is ridiculed, but she makes use of the elements of the fairytale to be a success in unusual ways.
Anita G. Gorman grew up in Queens and now lives in northeast Ohio. Since 2014 she has had a number of short stories and essays accepted for publication. Her one-act play, Astrid: or, My Swedish Mama, produced at Youngstown Ohio’s Hopewell Theatre in March 2018, starred Anita and her daughter Ingrid.
Living in a jump rope nursery rhyme is not what you’d expect.
J.E.M. Wildfire danced on the edge of creative writing throughout her life, culminating with lawyerly briefs and memorandums filled with facts presented as creatively as possible while remaining truthful. After retiring, she decided to dispense with facts and concentrate on creativity. She discovered that the diversity of StoryADay May prompts sparked her late-blooming talent and led down writing paths she would not have stumbled upon otherwise. This piece is one of them. While she can’t say for sure whether it’s actually a story, the writing exercise was fun. She thinks readers will enjoy the puzzle or the humor or both.
A young Witch faces her first true test in spellcasting. Will she rise to the occasion? Find out in “Graceless”!
Gabrielle Johansen is an aspiring young adult fantasy author. She enjoys reading everything from Maas to Atwood to Briggs. This story was inspired by the idea that every character wants something and often those wants are in direct opposition. This is her first foray into the StoryADay world, which she has found inspiring and extremely helpful.
Eileen’s mom, wanting a safe place for her daughter’s ashes, buried them among the roots of the yew tree without a tombstone and without permission.
Kath Saxby’s fiction has been published by Storyscape and her travel writing by major New Zealand newspapers and TNT magazine in England. She was a finalist in competitions held by Arts and Letters, Summer Literary Seminars, Hunger Mountain and shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize. She was selected for a New York Mills residency in northern Minnesota and she holds an MFA in creative writing from the City College of New York. Kath grew up in Fiji and in New Zealand where she worked on the family farm. She has held jobs in computer programming, sales, truck driving, meat-packing and office administration, and currently teaches English as a second language in East Harlem. She has a completed novel-in-waiting, titled Dog Wars.
Retelling of a German nursery rhyme. Warnings: gruesome and child hurt in this story.
I love reading and writing micro fiction. I didn’t walk away with 31 amazing stories this StoryADay, but I pushed myself to try new techniques and styles and look forward to snipping away at the drafts to tailor little nuggets of strangeness.
When the Purple Witch curses the Prince in a fit of rage and turns him into a crayon, she doesn’t realise the consequences. How will the curse be reversed?
I have been reading and writing (mostly in my journals and blogs though) since I was a child. I love reading fantasy, fiction, romance, thriller, and sometimes inspiring non fiction. I came across Story A Day’s challenges two years back and have been trying my hand at commercial writing since then. I haven’t published anywhere other than my blog yet, but I enjoy the process of writing and creating. I just want my writing to make people laugh or smile 🙂 I wrote this story from one of the Story A Day May 2020 prompts, and with the help of my four year old daughter, who sparked the idea of the colour monster, looking at that picture.
Oregon’s natural beauty flows through its creeks to the sea. It carries evergreen prayers, as timely now as for aboriginal peoples. In this story, follow some of those prayers home.
Writing is a friend that has been gently nudging me to speak. Now as a participant in StoryADay, I’ve committed myself to writing memoir, using a process to bring forth perspective, healing and wholeness. Engaging in this process and belonging to this group all came at just the right time. Read more about me at charlottenuessle.com/about-charlotte
At the height of summer, in the midst of a pandemic, a woman searches for respite.
Monique Cuillerier has gained a lot through participating in Story A Day over the last nine years, not least of which is a deep attachment to writing short fiction. She mostly writes science fiction, although some of her work is difficult to categorize. When not writing, she runs, gardens, knits, and organizes large online events.
I thought only good things would happen once we removed the top part of our wool jumper…I didn’t expect to be “the girl in the undershirt.” That’s not fair!
Margo Artale Mertz has lived in Burlington, Vermont for the last 30 years. She spent her first 10 years in Brooklyn, NY, the next 11 in Pittsburgh, PA, and the following 7 in New Rochelle, NY. She writes humor in short fictions, creative non-fictions, and essays. She has participated in several StoryADay critique groups and challenges, and can’t thank Julie enough.
A 100 word story about One and his brothers Aught and Naught
I’m a writer of fantasy, mystery, suspense, and sometimes literary fiction. My favorite authors are Neil Gaiman and Janie Chang. For this story, I wanted to pick a number and write a story about it. I chose the number 100 with the goal of writing the story in exactly 100 words.
A novice teacher facing burn-out must learn the most valuable lessons aren’t necessarily the ones we teach.
Michele E. Reisinger lives with her family near Philadelphia and teaches English at a New Jersey High School. Her short fiction has been featured online at Light and Dark Magazine, Prometheus Dreaming, 34th Parallel, The Mighty Line, and Dreamers Creative Writing, as well as the 2019 anthology Stories That need to be told. She loves to read stories that make her think and wonder and learn. Lesson Plans was inspired by StoryADay’s list prompt and her conversation with a burned-out colleague who questioned the value of careers in education. Michele credits StoryADay and its awesome community of fellow writers with encouraging her along every step of her writing journey. You can find more of her writing at My Name Was Supposed To Be Elizabeth Ann (mereisinger.com).
This is our chance to celebrate all our hard work, either by nominating one of your stories to be featured during StoryFest, or by sharing the stories of your fellow StoryADay writers.
StoryFest is a weekend when the stories take over StoryADay.org.
On Jun 27, the front page of StoryADay.org will change to one dedicated to you and your stories. It will be full of links to your stories, online, until June 28
It’s our end-of-year party, our recital, our chance to share our work with readers.
(It’s also my birthday month, so consider your participation as your birthday gift to me!)
Simple.
Continue reading “StoryFest 2020: How to Participate”June is rewrite and re-examine month at StoryADay. So today’s prompt reflects that.
Now that you’ve had a chance to recover from the frenzy of writing in May, here’s a prompt that help you to take a second look at one of those stories and improve it. Perhaps there is one you liked, but you know isn’t quite working yet.
It’s one from the archives, and I think you’ll like it.
The USA is in turmoil.
As writers, our job is to examine the human condition. Whether we are writing fluffy and frothy tales or deep, sociological works, our business is the business of truth.
The truth, in this country, is that the words “Black Lives Matter” need to be shouted until it becomes as obvious to everyone as it is to most of us.
It shouldn’t need to be said.
But it does need to be said.
Continue reading “A StoryADay Statement on This Moment in Time”The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
A 6-part journey through the short story.
Starts July 28, 2023
