Short Story Challenge

In June 2019, I participated in Like the Prose from The Literal Challenge, where participants write to a surprise short story prompt every day for 30 days. Some prompts were easy, some were difficult, some were weird and some were ridiculous, but on their own and together they’ve added up to an entertaining and affirming way to set aside some time for words each day.

Part of what I liked about the challenge was that the works wouldn’t be critiqued or anthologized. Participants submit to a server and get confirmation that they’ve completed the assignment within the 36-hour limit, and then that’s it. Some participants published work as they worked to their own blogs. I chose to wait until it was all over and then pick a few favorites to share.

Haibun

The prompt for this short story was to write in the form of a haibun, a Japanese form of prose that combines storytelling with haikus. I used this guide to learn about it before I got started.

Tell a Friend’s Story

Interviewing people and writing from interviews are very familiar to me, but the challenge here was to write a fictional story that hid the actual story from your friend inside.

Set a story in the year 2091

This prompt was inspired by the 1984/1948 challenge that George Orwell took. But it needed to be optimistic, not dystopian.

Choose Your Own Adventure

I’ve actually never read a Choose Your Own Adventure book. The best initial tip I got for approaching this format: You really have to outline.

FIFA

June 2019 was the Women’s World Cup. Few of the prompts were topical, except for this one, which challenged to write a topic or format that echoed this big soccer/football tournament.

Lipogram

Another form challenge, this one is about playing a word game the Greeks invented of leaving out a letter of the alphabet in a poem or prose work. I set up mine as the text for a child’s picture book.

Nonsense

One of the odder challenges in the set. This prompt was to write something that was nonsense, but not just blather, “good” nonsense.