Here we are, the final three days of this extreme month of writing.
It’s so impressive that you’re still here, that you’re still writing, that you’re still coming back to this.
I know you have stories you want to tell, that the world needs to hear.
Your experiences, your outlook, your way of expressing yourself, are unique in the history of the world and I’m so glad you’ve come this far, and you’re still writing.
And I know you’re going to continue to write, because you’ve come this far.
Today I’m giving you a prompt that might seem a little lazy from me, but there’s a reason.
The Prompt
Write the story that you’ve been hungering to write.
I’ve been very proscriptive this month, telling you what you write, and you’ve been writing for four weeks. You’ve got stories in your head that are nipping at your brain, whispering “tell me!”, so today I’m setting you free.
Tell one of those stories.
Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote today
*deep breath*
Almost exactly two months ago, the very first writing friend that I made in real life passed away. He was a relatively young guy–forty-two–and really the heart of my little writing community. Since he passed, I’ve been wanting to write about him, and all the things I learned from writing with him and talking about writing with him. I haven’t quite able to bring myself to do it.
In April, I really struggled to get any writing done at all. As April was ending, I was thinking that I needed something to shake myself out of the rut that my friend’s passing had caused. He certainly wouldn’t have liked to see me or any of my fellow writers failing to persevere.
At some point in the final week of April, I noticed the Story a Day reminder in my email inbox, and I thought, wow, doing that would be interesting. Also insane. But interesting.
All of this is to say that when this prompt came up, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. So today’s piece wasn’t fiction, but it was the story of how I met Chris, and what it was like being his friend, and how his loss has affected me. It was a difficult day’s writing, and I’m feeling pretty wrung out, but I’m very glad for this prompt. After the month ends I’ll probably make a blog post from today’s story.
xoxo
That’s amazing Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing. I’ve very sorry to hear about your friend… I’m sure writing the story was tough but I hope it brought you some peace.
Done. I couldn’t come up with anything at first, even after looking through the rest of what I’d written this month. Then, I went for a walk, and it jumped into my head, nearly fully-formed. This is a bit of back story to my Day 14 story(which eventually, will likely be part of a much longer story).
https://fallonbrownwrites.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/story-a-day-day-29-meeting-maribel/
Amazing the power of walking. I find the practice works for me as well.
Great job!
Complete. A high school English teacher is asking each student in the class to give a presentation on a debate topic of their choosing. At the conclusion of each presentation, another student has to volunteer to join the presenter at the front of the class and debate the other side of the issue. Everybody has to go once, and nobody is supposed to discuss their topics beforehand so that the students learn to argue topics without having time to prepare.
Of course all the students are breaking this rule, “pairing up” beforehand, and our nerdy protagonist is no different. He and his equally nerdy friend are fully prepared to discuss their favorite topic (video games, specifically the societal impact of violence in video games).
But before he presents, something REALLY embarrassing happens to him. Everyone can’t stop laughing, including the teacher; he fumbles his way through his presentation then waits for his friend to volunteer and join him on stage. His friend stays silent… slumping in his chair to avoid any association with this mess. Our protagonist is completely alone. Now the teacher is going to have to ASSIGN someone to go up and debate with him… how humiliating!
Out of nowhere, his secret crush raises her hand and volunteers to debate him. He can’t believe it. He suddenly finds himself trying to keep up as she engages him in a fiery debate on the subject. Soon the whole class is into it, and everyone seems to have forgotten all about the mishap earlier.
He leaves the classroom in a daze trying to figure out how he feels. On the one hand, he had the most embarrassing moment of his life, and is furious with his friend for abandoning him. On the other hand, he was rescued by the girl of his dreams.
This was the most fun writing session I’ve had since starting Story A Day. Thank you so much for the prompt, the timing was great for me!
This sounds like quite the tour de force! Nicely done.