The Prompt

This one is just for fun. Write a story of exactly nineteen paragraphs. Sounds like too many? Not to worry; the first and third paragraphs will each be used four times, so you really only have to write thirteen paragraphs.

We’re taking a very strict poetic form – the villanelle – and turning it into a storytelling playground. Here are the rules:

Paragraph 1: anything you want.
Paragraph 2: anything you want.
Paragraph 3: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1 in some way. Maybe they share a character, a setting, an object, or a tone of voice.

Paragraph 4: same rule as Paragraph 3.
Paragraph 5: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2 in some way.
Paragraph 6: copy Paragraph 1, but change it in a specific manner, such as presenting the action from a different point of view. Each sentence in Paragraph 6 must match a sentence in Paragraph 1.

Paragraph 7: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 8: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 9: copy Paragraph 3.

Paragraph 10: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 11: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 12: copy Paragraph 1.

Paragraph 13: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 14: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 15: copy Paragraph 3.

Paragraph 16: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 17: anything you want, but similar to Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 18: copy Paragraph 1.
Paragraph 19: copy Paragraph 3.

Some suggestions:

• Keep the paragraphs short. If you wind up liking the story, you can always expand them later.
• Limit the number of characters to two or three.

Example:

When Kathy walked into the workroom, Ted looked up from the copy machine and glared.
“Well! Look what the cat dragged in!”
The workroom was empty except for the two of them. The copier hummed softly. There was a faint smell of Sharpie in the air.
Kathy resented Ted’s presence in the workroom. There was a copier at his end of the floor; why wasn’t he using that?
“Yeah, well guess who’s going to be dog meat,” she rejoined.
When Kathy had walked into the workroom, Ted, knowing how she reacted to him, gave her his best glare.
From the moment they first met, Kathy had interpreted Ted’s fear of her as disdain. She still did. She put a possessive hand on the copy machine. “Have you got much more? I have a ton of stuff to get out.”
The two of them were like cats and dogs, or maybe worse.
Ted wished someone would join them in the otherwise empty workroom. The copier kept chugging its way through his job. He saw he had marked his white shirt cuff with Sharpie.
Kathy, too, wished someone would join them in the workroom, someone with authority, someone who could send Ted back to his end of the floor.
But no one came, so they just kept hissing and growling at each other.
Kathy had been in a good mood (she told herself) when she walked into the workroom, until that doofus Ted had given her the evil eye.
Ted, on the other hand, before Kathy walked into the workroom, had been glad to finally find a working copy machine, and hated her for interrupting.
“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath.
The workroom was empty except for the two of them. The copier was still doing its thing. Maybe he would write all over her face with a Sharpie.
“What did you say?” Kathy demanded. She returned Ted’s glare with interest. “Just what the hell did you say?”
“I said you’re a damn cat!”
As Kathy stalked out of the workroom, Ted’s glare followed her.
The workroom was left empty when Ted strode out. The copier hummed softly. There was a faint smell of Sharpie in the air.

Walter Lawn

Walter Lawn writes poetry and short fiction. His work has been published at The Bangalore Review, On the Run Press, Heartwood Literary Magazine, Every Day Fiction, and Lily Poetry Review. Walter is a disaster recovery planner, and lives outside of Philadelphia.

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

Remember: I don’t recommend posting 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

When you arrive at your vacation rental for a much-needed getaway, you are so tired from your travels you collapse into bed without unpacking and without looking around. Next morning, you look out your window and see this:

Tell the story of what happens next using only a series of text messages or phone calls. Before starting, you may want to consider which rental belongs to your character and who planned the vacation, likewise whether they’re travelling alone.

OR,

Tell the origin story of this remarkable town. You may want to tell it through a series of magic spells, or you may want to consider making the town your protagonist. Or maybe let the whale narrate. Do you see it to the lower right, rising from the ocean?

(*This gorgeous print was created by writer, artist, and fellow StoryADay Superstar Marta Pelrine-Bacon and hangs beside my desk.)

Michele Reisinger

Michele E. Reisinger’s work has appeared in Across the Margin, Stories That Need to be Told, Sunspot Literary Journal, Dreamers Creative Writing, and others. She studied English and Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University and received an MA in English Literature from the University of Delaware. She lives near Philadelphia with her family and never enough books. Find more of her writing her online at mereisinger.com.

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

Remember: I don’t recommend posting 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 single or series of journal entries in first person where your character is exploring something in a set time period – hours in the day, a week, a few years. The entries must end on a note where she/he/they find out or realize that things have never been what they seemed.

The journal is an intimate space where a character’s voice reveals itself easily. It also provides a window into the desires, fears and masks of a character. How they interact with or perceive their environment, who they feel may end up reading these words, how they express themselves when they are sure they will incinerate the pages as soon as they are done makes for different people and different motivations.

Popular non-fiction examples are travelogues like journals of King Akbar who traveresed a lot of land with his army when he was in his teens, Vasco Da Gama’s famous journeys by ship etc.

Your character can be any age or profession, as long as they are exploring something, writing it in their journal and find at the end that their world is not what they thought it was.

For example, you can choose to write a space ship lieutenant’s journal during an 18-day space war or a fashion designer’s notes during their all-important fashion show week. How does the war end? How does the week end?

Neha Mediratta

Neha Mediratta Chaudhuri is an independent writer, editor and consultant based in Mumbai. For more about her visit: www.nehamediratta.com

Managing home, hearth, and work, she writes about things she has mulled over for more than two decades. Her latest book is a collection of short stories, Death Chips and Love Fries .

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

Remember: I don’t recommend posting 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