WRITING PROMPTS | PROMPTLY WRITTEN

Prompt Yourself: Weekly Prompts November 20–26

Prompts to tempt your muses

Welcome to the 47th week of Weekly Prompts at PW! This week, let's talk about a unique and thought-provoking topic.

Recently, I stumbled upon a post by someone who refers to themselves as a “sociopath.” Their intriguing post discussed the notion that sociopaths might use incompetence strategically to manipulate others.

This idea sparks a myriad of questions and scenarios, making it an ideal theme for our writing prompts. Let’s examine the complexities of human interactions and the psychological strategies that may lurk behind seemingly straightforward actions. Prepare to engage with this fascinating concept through our prompts!

Before we get started, here are a couple of quick reminders:

How This Works

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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!
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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!).
7. 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.
8. Have fun!

Are you ready? Great! Let’s get prompting!

Moody Monday

Write a ‘moody’ poem or story around any of the following:

1. A silent phone call

2. A false sense of insecurity

3. The artifice of unawareness

4. A clever trap

5. A subtle betrayal

Tuesday Twosome

1. Conceptual Theme — Moral Ambiguity

Twosome — Righteousness and Corruption

2. Conceptual Theme — Power Dynamics

Twosome — Submissive and Dominance

3. Conceptual Theme — Exploitation

Twosome — Vulnerability and Advantage

4. Conceptual Theme — Perception

Twosome — Appearance and Truth

5. Conceptual Theme — Strategy

Twosome — Planning and Outcome

Wednesday’s Either/Or

1. Either “Acting Unskilled” or “Demonstrating Competence”

2. Either “Playing the Victim” or “Being the Hero”

3. Either “Hiding True Intentions” or “Being Transparent”

4. Either “Deceptive Simplicity” or “Honest Complexity”

5. Either “Manipulating with False Helplessness” or “Taking Control”

Thursday’s Thoughts

1. “Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.” — Frank Herbert

2. “Beware of those who play dumb; they might be outsmarting you.” — Anonymous

3. “Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” — Carl Jung

4.”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

5. “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” — William James

Fiction Friday

Use any or all of the following concepts for a story:

1. A story set in a high school where a student, known for their clumsiness and mistakes, is actually a sociopath manipulating their peers and teachers.

2. A librarian finds a mysterious book that doesn’t exist in any records. Reading it leads to a series of surreal events and discoveries

3. Two strangers meet on a train and share stories. As their journey progresses, they realize their lives are interconnected in unexpected ways.

4. A local café holds a secret: at midnight, it transforms into a meeting place for people from different times and places. Who visits tonight?

5. A scientist accidentally creates a device that can hear people’s thoughts. What do they discover about the people around them?

Random Words Saturday

With 2 or more of these words, explore the concept of celebrating life amidst moments of remembrance.

• Memory Lane
• Path
• Star
• Gift
• Sunrise
• Star
• Picture
• Silence
• Voice
• Laugh
• Look

Spiritual Sunday

1. Can spiritual wisdom protect you from manipulative behaviors?

2. Discuss the fine line between influence and manipulation in spirituality.

3. Can spiritual teachings be misused for manipulation? Discuss.

4. Discuss the difference between spiritual leadership and manipulative control.

5. Explore the consequences of manipulating spiritual beliefs for personal gain.

Bonus Prompt — Write a poem, flash fiction story (500 words or less), or essay about how someone uses manipulation in a relationship and the consequences it brings to both parties involved.

There you have it. A week’s worth of prompts to tempt your muses. We look forward to reading your submissions. Don’t forget to mention me so I won’t miss reading your story.

Bella loves to write about life, psychology, and relationships. Click here to receive an email that guarantees you’ll get Bella’s newest stories delivered straight to your inbox.

LET’S CONNECT

Don’t forget, there are Writing Sparks available in the Monthly Theme by ADEOLA SHEEHY-ADEKALE

And if you missed last week’s prompts by Dr. Casey Lawrence, you can find it here.