Welcome Promptlings to 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 of the prompt. 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 creation, give us the title of your piece, genre in the form an emoji (see below), a brief teaser, and a link to your work. While most of the work 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 share your work 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 16th, starting at 3am PST, and will run all day.)
The Prompt
“We should always make time for the things we like. If we don’t, we might forget how to be happy.” - T.J. Klune
Let’s have some fun writing this month!
I’d like to come back the original Prompt Quest and bring us back to genre. Most (if not all) of us here are speculative writers. In some ways, I see speculative fiction as a catch all for the strange and supernatural. Science fiction, horror, fantasy. Epic Sci Fi, High Fantasy, Body Horror, Paranormal Thriller, Dystopian, Romantasy… We all could keep going, I’m sure.
Today’s prompt is brought to you by DailyPrompt.com. This website provides genre specific prompts with a quick click of your preferred genre.
I selected fantasy this month. Could be cozy, epic, or urban, but some kind of magic will be involved in your story. Are you up for the challenge?
The Prompt:
Each full moon, the old mirror in the attic reflects not your face, but the life you might have lived if you’d made one different choice. Write about a character looking in the mirror.
Good Luck Promptlings!
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to comment or send me (Reina Cruz) a DM.
My story bends the prompt a bit, but this is how it wanted to be written. You know the feeling...
Stephanie Says is about a young man at a bit of a loose end in his relationship. Who couldn't use a bit of supernatural assistance to sort things out? The story blends fantasy and horror.
https://douglasmcclenaghan.substack.com/publish/post/210830658
A creative writing prompt that turns a simple mirror into a doorway to endless possibilities. The idea of confronting the life we could have lived feels both magical and deeply human.
If you could see one alternate version of your life, would you choose to look?