The Spark #1

One line to spark the strange

Welcome Promptlings to the re-envisioned Prompt Quest: The Spark! It’s time to be weird, fantastical, daring, and deploy your creativity. Imagine monstrous beasts, conniving ghosts, and characters with mysterious motives who may also control weapons of wonder. All of this wondrous speculation originates from your imagination. The task is yours. This is The Spark!

The Rules

The rules are simple. You will be presented with a prompt. It could be a required first line, a task that will challenge your craft, elements required in your story, or a genre-specific prompt. You will have two weeks to write a short story under the rules. At the end of two weeks, we’ll host a Gathering to celebrate what’s been accomplished and highlight your stories at the end of two weeks. You can share them on this thread, as well as The Pitch at the end of the month. This is an opportunity to find writers you admire, befriend, and learn from.

When sharing your story, provide the title, genre in the form of an emoji (see below), a brief teaser (one sentence), with the appropriate link. While most of the stories will be posted on Substack, you are welcome to share work that fits the prompt that has been shared elsewhere (Wattpad, Simily, Amazon, etc.), but we do ask that the piece be available to readers for free. The Spark is an opportunity to grow in your craft and connect with other speculative fiction writers.

Genre Emoji Index

👽- Science Fiction

🔮- Fantasy

💀- Horror

🔥- Dystopian

🍫- Magical Realism (Like Water for Chocolate, get it??)

👀- Weird Fiction

(The Gathering discussion thread will take place on Sunday, August 17, starting at 3 am PST, and will run all day.)

The Prompt

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” – Mark Twain

I have always found it fascinating how authors can take the same ideas and create something wholly unique. The writing is built on their own experiences, world views, and whims. For The Spark this month, I want to present the first line of your story. Take that line and let your creativity flow. The line could be a martial dispute with dark undertones, an otherworldly investigation, or an out-of-this-world adventure. The choice is yours.

What can you make of just one line?

This line is brought to you by the First Line Literary Journal. Starting in 1999, “The purpose of The First Line is to jump start the imagination--to help writers break through the block that is the blank page.” This journal has been a source of inspiration to me since I began writing short stories. While I look forward to the day when The Spark presents first lines written by the talented authors who bring their work to Lunar Awards, I am excited to start with this wonderful literary journal and hope that writers continue to bring inspiration to their own work in the future.

The Line

When anyone in town needed help, they contacted Rocky Germain.

If anyone is interested in submitting their story to the First Line Literary Journal, this prompt is due by November 1st, 2025.

Good Luck Promptlings!

If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to comment or send me (Reina Cruz) a DM.

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