StoryADay May Begins Tomorrow

It’s almost time!

I’m taking a moment to share some last minute details and FAQs.

  • If you have signed up for the challenge, you should start receiving writing prompts by email just after midnight (Eastern US). If you haven’t, you can sign up here.
  • If you haven’t been through the prep tasks, don’t fret. You can dip into them any time you get stuck, to shake things up. Find them all here.
  • Each day, you should read the prompt and decide if you want to play with it or write something completely different. Try to start and finish a story every day that you’re writing. (If you ‘miss’ a day, don’t try to catch up. Just keep showing up.)
  • Come back to the prompt when you’ve written and leave us a comment, letting us know how it went. Don’t post your story, but do feel free to share a line you loved or tell us what you learned.

Something New

A couple of years ago I provided an optional Challenge Handbook, with daily warm up and brainstorming exercises, tailored to each prompt and I’m doing it again this year.

Here’s what people have said about these exercises:

  • “The brainstorm exercise in the Handbook rocketed me directly into a draft of the story (thanks, Julie!)”
  • The Warm-Up helps me get the page “dirty”….
  • The Brainstorming page is where a lot of my ideas are generated. If I already have an idea, then it helps me flesh out my plan…

This year the Handbook is available as a private podcast with written transcripts. It’s just a dollar a day during the challenge, with the option to donate more if you like. (The price will go up in June.)

StoryADay Challenge Handbook logo

Get the StoryADay Challenge Handbook for 2026 – custom warm-up and brainstorming exercises for every prompt, delivered as a private podcast with transcripts.
SUBSCRIBE NOW

Get The Handbook

It’s time: sharpen your pencils, straighten your notebooks, get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the comments tomorrow!!

Keep writing,

Julie (signed)

Day 30 | Granting Wishes by Julie Duffy

The Prompt

You did it! Now let’s see if your character has THEIR wish granted…

Grant your character’s deepest wish, today

You’ve done it!

You started this month with the desire to write more, write better, and build your writing practice.

With commitment (and probably some imperfect execution) you’ve arrived here, at Day 31 of StoryADay. That’s a huge accomplishment.

As you write your story today, think about how it feels to get what you wanted.

Of course, reality never quite matches up with how we imagined the perfect outcome (for example, I imagined that this year I wouldn’t crave Sundays ‘off’ from my own challenge. This did not turn out to be true…)

For your character, feel free to use the old fairy-tale caution to be careful what you wish for.

For yourself, however, I’d remind you that achievements begin with two things: a vision of how things could be; and a decision to work towards that better future. You used both to write, this month.

CELEBRATE!
Whether you wrote three stories or 31, you Imagined yourself as a writer, you Wrote, you Refined your practice, you Improved your craft, you Triumphed and, if you’re still reading this, I’m pretty sure you Engaged with the community.

You’re living the I, WRITER life.

If you’d like to keep Repeating this successful pattern, take the next steps by joining our on-going community, the StoryADay Superstars. Find out more.


Tomorrow, I’ll be back in your email inboxes one final time, related to StoryADay May 2025, to send you a self-assessment form, so you can capture what went well and what you will do differently as a result of everything you’ve learned on this journey.

This is one of the most valuable documents you’ll create for yourself and I recommend repeating the practice after every project, in future.

For now, sit back and bask in the your successes as a StoryADay 2025 Winner!

Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy
In 2010 Julie was a frustrated writer, who decided that writing a StoryADay in May would be a great way to kickstart her writing practice. 16 years later, it seems she was right. The rest of the writing world quickly caught on and now May is known as Short Story Month! Julie is the author of writing handbooks, articles, podcasts, workshops and courses, as well as a short story writer, and ‘Book Boss’ — your accountability coach for getting to ‘the end’.

If you’d like to spend six months in the writing community Julie created, consider joining our StoryADay Superstars group.

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.

31

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

 

Day 29 | Story Starter by Kai Lovelace

The Prompt

“Ash had one more loose end to tie up before catching the 9:15 and kissing this town goodbye forever.”

Kai Lovelace

Kai Lovelace is a writer and musician born and raised in New York City. Links to his work can be found here.

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.

29

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

 

Day 28 | Dressing The Set by Gabrielle Johansen

The Prompt

Pick one of these photos.

Use the scene in the picture as the setting for your tale.

It can be where the story starts or where it ends.

It can be for a portion of it or for the entire story, but make sure to feature the setting significantly.

Give the reader a defined view of the place using all the senses.

Tell us what your characters hear, smell, touch/feel, taste, as well as see in this locale.

Lastly, avoid the info dump! Weave your setting in as you go.

Gabrielle Johansen

Gabrielle writes fantasy and super soft sci fi from her NC home. She has been published in Haven Speculative and Across the Margin. As a regular at StoryADay, this is her fifth time participating in the challenge.

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.

28

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

 

Day 27 | An Old Haunt by Julie Duffy

The Prompt

Your character goes back to an old haunt.

They don’t want to be there, but they have to go (brainstorm the reasons they might have to be there, but don’t over-explain it in the story).

  • What does your character want?
  • What’s stopping them from getting it?

While they battle to get what they want (and out of the story), pay particular attention to the things they notice, about the old familiar place.

  • What does it smell like?
  • What’s still there?
  • What’s missing?
  • How does what they notice inform the reader about their state of mind?
  • Does one sensory detail change how they decide to act?

Use some of these details as you write the story today.

Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay May. She loves to poke around places she used to live, for stories. You’ll read some of them in the weekly lessons in the StoryAWeek Newsletter: 52 Writing Lessons & Prompts to Keep You Writing All Year

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.

27

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