Welcome to StoryADay September 2015!! Congratulations on making a fresh commitment to your writing.
This month we’ll be featuring writing prompts from writers within the StoryADay community, and myself. Let me tell you, from what I’ve seen already, there are some GREAT prompts coming your way.
Each prompt this month will set a scenario or scene for you to play with, or suggest elements of story that you can use. If you post your story on a blog, please do share a link in the comments so we can all see it. It’s fun to see what other people do with the same story elements!
The Prompt
Today, write a story that features people disappearing.
Tips
- The story can be serious and traumatic or it can be fun and lighthearted.
- Perhaps your main character is in a war zone or a dystopia and the people around them are being taken by hostile forces. What does this do to your main character? Are they under threat too?
- Perhaps your main character is unhappy with their life and the mysterious, Twilight-Zone-like disappearance of the people around them is a blessing and a joy.
- The disappearances can be literal or metaphorical. We’ve all had that friend who just drops us without another word, right?
- Perhaps the main character is a pet who doesn’t understand where ‘his people’ go every day when they disappear. Perhaps he’s a dog, who forgets that they come back every day, and is equally thrilled every evening when they reappear.
- Your story could feature a magician!
- Maybe your main character is elderly, the last surviving member of a vast group of siblings.
- Maybe your story is set in a limbo full of babies waiting to be born! Or in a foster home.
- Maybe your main character is the one who is disappearing. Literally? Figuratively? On purpose?
Go!
Don’t forget to leave a comment, and come back tomorrow for more prompts!
If you want to receive prompts by email this month only, go here and make sure you select the box that says “StADa Sept 2015 â News and Daily Writing Prompts” (If you’re already on the list, enter your email address anyway and you should receive a prompt that lets you change your preferences)
woohoo! i got started!
https://portamentoinwake.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/jump-the-floating-bridge/
https://hollifield1122.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/switch/
There is my piece for today, I tweaked the idea but I really hope you still enjoy it.
https://unusualstrangeness.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/story-a-day-challenge-day-1-the-disappearance-of-jessica-cahill/
My story for Day 1. Looks like I won’t get to Day 2 till tomorrow, so I’ll need to play a bit of catch up.
I finally wrote late last night. The story is not typed yet but it features the disappearance of the rumor and the turmoil it causes.
Here’s a haiku on the theme of ‘Disappearance’.
https://unusualstrangeness.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/regret/
I’m also working on a short story…and I’ve still got to get to Day 2!
I’m a late night writer, so you may seem me post a “day late” most times. This is actually early for me lately. Here’s my first day done! https://fynralyl.wordpress.com/2015/09/02/story-a-day-challenge-day-1-butterflies-disappeared/ I’m still really rusty, but this is exactly what I need to push me to write every day, whether it’s great or not. Thank you!
I’m a late night writer myself, by inclination (being forced out of that pattern by Life, at the moment). That rusty feeling is familiar too. Getting started, pushing through the temptation to be disappointed with rusty efforts, is huge. Well done. Keep up the good work.
That’s an intriguing story and very well written, I liked your descriptions, very vivid. Well done.
Sliding in at 11:27pm I just barely made it for today. That would have been a horrible way to start off the month: “failing.” Thanks for the inspiration for a nice little shortstory.
Haha! You’re welcome.
Speaking of ‘failing’, does everyone have a strategy for the inevitable slip-up? My advice: shake it off and start fresh the next day!
I’m SO happy this second round at Story A Day for 30 days appeared! It’s just what I needed to re-energize my writing! It took quite may hours to get the story down, but I finally got it done!
The URL is over in The Victory Dance! đ
Dance on! I commented on your post there and on your blog. đ
Hooray! So glad you’re back.
I always start slow with StoryADay, and this special September edition is no different. I allowed the prompt (about people disappearing) to marinate in my brain all day. By the time I started writing, what was in my head didn’t quite make it to paper. But it’s a really wonderful draft, and I had an immense amount of fun writing. For me, that’s what makes it all worthwhile. You can read my story here: https://storiesbystolle.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/day-1-finding-jimmy-hoffa. Just use the calendar date (1 for today, 2 for tomorrow, 3 for the next day, etc.) as the password. I’m trying to keep the passwords simple and yet protect my work as much as possible. Please enjoy!
Well, after a day of meetings, I got something done: http://notwhereilive.ca/2015/09/01/story-a-day-september-day-1/ Very rough first draft, of course, but I still kind of like where it’s going.
Oh my! All my guesses throughout this story about who or what Cyril is and who the other named “beings” were ended up being wrong! There was a darkness to this but also an air of beauty. You paint some great images in this, and I love the choices you’ve made for the characters’ names, even if we don’t meet them all. And yet the woman who comes to check on Mrs. Shepherd at the end doesn’t have a name, which says a lot about Mrs. Shepherd. I’ve very much looking forward to reading your stories this month, Monique!
Here’s my first post, which is a retelling of a story I published in 2013. https://storiesin5minutes.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/the-disappearance-of-a-non-existent-girl-storyaday-post/
This was really fun to read. It felt a little rushed, but it was good to get right into the action. I liked how you had some annotations here and there, but I couldn’t figure out why those specific elements. What I love most about this is the dialogue. It feels fresh and it feels genuine. It’s different. There is humor in all the dialogue, but it’s subtle and doesn’t overwhelm. Do you think you’ll keep writing about Tanya?
Sorry for my English, I’m still learning!
Here’s mine: http://jahangiri.us/2013/disappeared-storyaday/
Oddly, I hadn’t really read the prompt before writing this – I’d read the TITLE of the prompt, and this just came to me while I was pulling on my socks, this morning. Fits, though! đ
This was quite a roller coaster! And the ending is superb! In a way, don’t we all want to do what Julie did to someone who has wronged us?
Yaaaaaaaaaiiii is finally here!!! Just what I need to get away for some minutes!!! Today’s prompt was so fitting since I felt like I wanted to disappear myself from my life right now, the prompt allowed me to let it all out and come back refresh and positive to my job! Awesome how the smallest detail can change a hole day! Thank you for this prompt!
I’ve completed a short piece which currently firmly resides in the flash category. I can revisit it later, but it’s a start. I’ve gone with a child disappearing from a day at the beach, which I can probably extend at a later date.
The key is just to get some words down, isn’t it? I always start these challenges with a turtle’s slowness. But it helps me work toward better things as the most goes on. And I can temper my expectations. Did you post your story somewhere?
Not yet, I have a blog from last years StDa that I need to resurrect. I’ll try and post it tomorrow and then I can post subsequent offerings.
I look forward to reading your stories, Malcolm. I will make an attempt to respond to them, but it’s been a busy start to September in ways I didn’t expect. But I will do what I can for as many people as I can.
Whew. Hopefully, as the month goes by I’ll be better at this! đ
https://untitledunfinished.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/stada-sept-2015-the-disappeared/
Trust me, it gets easier. Then harder. Then easier, then harder đ
I really enjoyed this. I think you could perhaps make that next-to-last paragraph a little clearer. I mean, I understand it on a second or third reading. But maybe split a sentence or two into three or four sentences. Also, “Susan” and “Sally” seem too similar for me to easily keep track of who is who. I can’t tell you the number of TV shows where a little-used character will show up in a critical scene in that show and that person will have the same name as a victim or a main character or someone else. Distinct names can result in distinct characters and better impressions in readers’ minds.
Story 1: done. Hooray đ
Hooray indeed!
I love your story. It’s amazing. Simple fantastic. The best line is the one I didn’t expect: “Mabel had her mind set on settling down, not setting off.” That’s beautifully crafted!
Hi Sonya! I really enjoyed your story!
One down, twenty-nine to go đ I love the way a few simple words “people disappearing”, can set the mind off on a wild adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed this first day, travelling to a new world of my own creation. I was able to pen a story told from a first person perspective, something I haven’t done a lot of lately. Thanks Julie, I have a feeling this is not only going to help my writing practice, but it is also going to help accumulate some content for future use/publication đ Keep writing everyone, stay inspired!
Glad to hear it. Thanks for commenting, and welcome. And we’ll done!
I had a really hard time with this prompt. I am in the process of revising my novel, which features people who disappear! I struggled to find another angle.
After a 3 mile walk and about 7 discarded ideas, I finally came up with something! You can read it here: http://susan-reads.blogspot.com/
I enjoyed your story Susan, an interesting idea. I suspected I knew how it would end with Mark. I would have liked to have learnt how it had gone with Sarah! Well done.
Oops! Not the best prompt for you then! Well done on writing at all, !
You established a pattern that the narrator kept testing, and while I also got a feeling for what was going to happen, I didn’t quite pinpoint it as well as I thought. Don’t we all do something again and again, hoping for different results, and then one day, it works – and we regret it? Great story!
This is my first time to try a challenge like this. I hope I can keep up! My story is called Faulty Memory http://wp.me/p5gGGa-jY. It’s not my best work but I’m not going to get myself into editing mode while I do the challenge. Good luck everyone!
That’s a good start Kristi, you have to resist the editing urge there’ll be plenty of time for that next month. It is good to leave a story a while and then revisit it. You can sometimes see so many more possibilities.
So important to allow yourself to write while the editor is locked in a trunk! Keep up the good work.
Sometimes, I’ll read a story and expect a certain reaction to be in dialogue or in narration. And you didn’t disappoint with “Youâre the worst wizard there is.” But the ending! Again, it was something you could sense, but I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, and I love how you twist the twist. Superb!
I just wrote a little bit of flash fiction. So very jolly to be doing this challenge again.
Well done Sarah, flash fiction is a good place to start.
YAY! I got up ultra early to start the first of my stories for the September challenge. I didn’t use today’s prompt as I had written my own prompt for the first day. I have completed it (2800 words) and feel great! Good luck to all those participating. Roll on tomorrow!
Well done! I love waking up to success stories đ Now I HAVE to get my story written!