Navigating Prompts

It's about the journey, not the destination But the destination is here regardless: it's December and our Navigating Prompts workshop has come to an end. But don't worry. We have a tremendously cool (do we still say that?) workshop coming in 2022 to help you polish...

The more, the merrier Writing to prompts can be a lot of fun, and a great way to spark ideas. So if one prompt is good, more than one should be fantastic, right? They can be! But incorporating several prompts naturally into a story or essay takes a certain amount of...

Style and substance What makes a story a really good story? Anyone can write a list of events: "this happened, and then this, and I felt like that, and then this other thing happened." That's not a story; it's barely a narrative. Stories aren't all about...

Nothing new under the sun There are people who will tell you that there are no new stories. Some will go so far as to put a number on it, and swear that there are really only seven stories in the world, or nine, or twelve, or thirty-six. Whether or not you believe...

Location, location, location If you read a lot of—or any—fan fiction, you'll know that one of the most common tropes is "the coffeehouse AU." That is, take all the characters from the movie or book and... put them in a coffeehouse. Who's the bartender? Who's the one...

Is it possible If you put that search string into Google, you'll get a lot of autocomplete options. One of the most fascinating ones is "Is it possible to write a story without characters?" The answers are sure, certain: No. Yes.  One of our favorite answers is "yes,...

Aaaaand.... ACTION! In the Western tradition - which most competitions follow - a story isn't a story unless something happens. Decisions need to be made, actions need to be taken, characters need to undergo transformations emotional or literal. Otherwise, what you've...

Sneaking a peek If you're anything like me, you're given to sneaking a peek into the market basket of the person ahead of you in line. Sure, it's gotten a bit more difficult with social distancing, but I can still make out a lot of the contents. I usually try to...

Who goes there? It's possible to tell a story with no characters. Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" comes to mind, although even that sinks to anthropomorphism a bit. (CW: animal death)  The first paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House is practically a...

A picture is worth a thousand words It's a nice aphorism, isn't it? But in the case of a photo prompt, this could be a completely literal statement. A single photo—with or without people—can contain a multitude of stories both inside and outside the frame. So how does...

Take this word and shove it Or rather—don't. As we've mentioned before, judges and editors want to see you incorporate a prompt, not just include it. They want to see where you go with your own story, told in your own unique style and voice, with pieces they give you....

You are here There it is: the perfect prompt. A prompt that appeals to you in every way. A prompt that excites you so much that you can only hope to do it justice. Or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe you've got 24 hours to respond to this prompt and no idea where to...