WRITING PROMPTS | PROMPTLY WRITTEN
Prompt Yourself: Weekly Prompts November 13–19
Prompts to tempt your muses
Welcome to the 46th week of Weekly Prompts here at PW! Last week, I graduated with my PhD. While the “real” milestones were submitting and successfully defending my thesis, graduation makes it really feel final — even if the whole ceremony was in Latin and I didn’t understand a word!
I may not be a student anymore, but the end of my studies also marks the start of my future as a doctor (of English literature, not medicine!), and whatever I go on to achieve in the “real world.” So, for this week’s set of prompts, I was inspired by the idea of endings — and new beginnings.
Before we get started, here are a couple of quick reminders:
How This Works
- Use these prompts to write poetry, fiction, an essay, creative non-fiction, or an article. They are totally open to interpretation! Include a link to the prompt at the bottom of your post.
- If you use one of these prompts, you can submit the result here at PW, to any publication that accepts prompts from other publications, or self-publish. If you submit somewhere besides PW, make sure to include a link to the prompt and tag PW editors so that we do not miss reading your story!
- You don’t have to use PW’s prompts to submit work here. We are an open publication for established and new writers to submit their writing — usually based on writing prompts from here or elsewhere, but unprompted stories are also welcome!
- Please be sure to use the correct Reader Interest Tags when you submit your work to PW so it lands in the right place on the homepage. Please use ONE (not multiple) of the following tags: Poetry, Fiction, Essay, or Articles. Your other four tags can be whatever you wish them to be.
- Please ONLY submit drafts. To do this, once you have finished writing, instead of hitting the Publish button, click on the three dots (…), choose Add to Publication, click on Promptly Written, and then submit. This will put it into our queue, and we will publish it on our end.
- Each week, you will find prompts for Monday-Sunday. However, you do not have to use them in the order they are written. Browse them all and use only the ones that resonate with you. Submit your work any time during the week (or long after!).
- If you previously wrote for PW but haven’t in a while, you may need to go to the Submission Guidelines and ask to be a writer again. We went on hiatus a few months ago and stopped accepting submissions; if you were a writer with us before that time, you will need to sign up again.
- Have fun!
Are you ready? Great! Let’s get prompting!
Moody Monday
Write a ‘moody’ poem or story around any or all of the following:
— “the end of an era” — a bittersweet goodbye — thunderous applause
Tuesday Twosome
Write a story inspired by the following:
Concept — Graduation Twosome — endings and beginnings
Wednesday’s Either/Or
Either introspection or projection
Bonus: incorporate both concepts in one story or poem
Thursday’s Thoughts
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. Because you don’t have the alibi my class had — this is one of the great achievements and mixed blessings you inherit: unlike us, you can’t say nobody told you there were other options. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead. […]
What are you going to do? Everything, is my guess. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like, but surprises are good for you. And don’t be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I’ve had four careers and three husbands.
And this is something else I want to tell you, one of the hundreds of things I didn’t know when I was sitting here so many years ago: you are not going to be you, fixed and immutable you, forever.”
— Nora Ephron, commencement speech, 1996
Fiction Friday
Use any or all of the following concepts for a story:
— A fork in the road — A dress rehearsal — “He isn’t going to be here.”
Random Words Saturday
Choose up to 5 of these 10 random words (you may use any form of these words, including plurals, any tense, or changing to a noun/verb/adjective):
- Glory
- Heel
- Ivy
- Board
- Slick
- Awaits
- Morning
- Outfit
- Crest
- Topple
Spiritual/Secular Sunday
Imagine that you discover that you have the power to instantly change the religious beliefs of one person per day. You could choose to make them become more or less devout, change their faith to another system or denomination, suddenly believe in the god(s) of your choosing, or become an atheist/nonreligious.
Would you ever consider using this power? Who would you use this power on, if anyone? What changes could your actions bring about in the world?
Write a speculative personal essay or fictional story about the potential impact of such a scenario either in today’s real world or the past, the future, or a fictional setting.
Bonus Prompt — Write a ‘messy’ poem, flash fiction (<500 words), or essay.
There you have it! Another week’s worth of prompts to tempt your muses. I look forward to reading your submissions!
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