April's Let's Write Together
PROMPT POST!
If you didn’t make it tonight’s Writing Prompt Party, now is your chance to join this month’s fun with a little chat and your opportunity to write to our prompt!
First, Let’s Talk About Dire Wolves
There’s something special about stories with premises “ripped from the headlines,” and taking a newspaper or magazine to search for headlines as a writing prompt is a super fun exercise. This week it almost felt like the news was taking this idea in reverse.
When the CEO of Colossal, the company actively working in the arena of deëxtinction of various animals on Earth, was asked why the dire wolf became their next big project, he said,
[T]his is really important… dire wolves are top-line talent in pop culture. They aren’t just in “Game of Thrones.” Dire wolves have starring roles in the video game World of Warcraft, the collectible-card game Magic: The Gathering, and the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Lamm added that the Grateful Dead even have a song called “Dire Wolf.”
As I continued to read The New Yorker story that did a deep dive on this company and the people behind it, my writer-senses prickled with all the fantastic fiction —mostly dytopian — that could be borne from it (at one point I actually scrolled back to the top of the article to make sure I hadn’t accidentally mistaken a fiction piece for an article!).
This leads to my question of the week
What was the last headline that inspired you to dream up fiction?
There is lots of chat about the heaviness of news getting in the way of our creative flow, but let’s take a moment to revel in the times when it has had the opposite effect. Did a headline inspire a rage-writing session? Did a new leap in technology lead you down a “what if…” road of fictionalizing a near-future? Did a fluff piece leave you so curious about a fellow human that it birthed a character for your own imagined world? Let us know in the comments!
Now, On To Our Month-Long Fictionistas Prompt Celebration!
If you missed the post with all the information and instructions you can read via the link below. Don’t worry you can still participate. Grab your laptop or pen and paper and join the fun!
The doc below describes the original model of this celebration, remember this month WE won’t be deciding which substacks will be getting a spotlight shone on them, YOU will! Next week we will come back with a more detailed explanation, but, in short, when the thread post comes out next week, we will be asking participants to read, react, and RESTACK each other’s stories with a special focus on sentences, or passages, they quote in their Notes.
And Finally… The Prompt
This month I dug out an old favorite found, once upon a time, in the bargain section of my local Barnes & Noble. It’s Create A Story from Chartwell Books.
This book is broken up into ten different genre sections with just under twenty prompts per genre. The prompts come in the form of a single sentence to prompt story and, at the bottom of the page, a list of fifteen words to include in the story.
In tonight’s writing prompt party we selected a Mystery & Suspence prompt on page 28 of the book. Here is a photo of the page:
Here is what the prompt says…
Write a story about:
A DETECTIVE INVESTIGATES FORTUNE TELLERS
Use these words in your story:
mind, prediction, future, power, crime,
destiny, sage, voodoo, magic, spirit,
whisper, secret, tarot, divination, foresight
What now?
Now that the party is over, it’s time to polish your piece to get it ready for next week’s discussion thread. Get your polished story (no longer than 1000 words) on your Substack page, or on a a view-only Google doc, and put the link in the comments of the thread post we will share next Thursday.
Once you share your stories, the community will start reading, reacting, and restacking your fiction!
Let’s write together this month, Fictionistas!
Share the Fiction Love!
Do you know a writer who is looking for this kind of inspiration and community support? Don’t forget to share this post so we can read their stories too!
I’m Jackie, a fiction author, freelance writer, and historian. I enjoy rooting for the underdog and stirring up trouble. Unsurprisingly, my alignment is Chaotic Good. My Substacks are Unseen St. Louis and Story Cauldron.
I’m Nicole creator of all things Stop Writing Alone including a podcast, a YouTube channel, and a Substack community hosting multiple monthly Live Zoom Events for writers seeking community. If you are ready to truly stop writing alone, join here.
