WRITING PROMPTS | PROMPTLY WRITTEN
Prompt Yourself: Weekly Prompts November 27-December 3
Prompts to tempt your muses
Welcome to the 48th week of Weekly Prompts here at PW, everyone! For me, it’s coming up on “crunch time” — and I don’t mean the leaves outside! Deadlines and exams and plans you meant to get done this year all feel like they’re running out of time; I’m getting married in January, so final preparations for that have been in the works, but I also have other work with looming due dates. This week, I was inspired to write some prompts about slowing down and avoiding that crunchy, rushy, out-of-time feeling — if we can!
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:
— Falling leaves — Hot cocoa — A pressing deadline — A welcome distraction
Tuesday Twosome
Write a story inspired by the following:
Concept — Contract Twosome — Conditions and Agreements
Wednesday’s Either/Or
Either forgive or forget
Bonus: incorporate both concepts in one story or poem
Thursday’s Thoughts
“Your engagement is a fun season, but it’s just that: a season. As you make your plans, keep the big picture in perspective. Marriage is about building an entire future together, not just a wedding… Don’t allow yourselves to get so consumed by planning a party that you lose sight of the life you want to plan. Make time to talk with one another about the future beyond your wedding. What are your dreams and goals? What experiences do you want to have together? Take a little time away from wedding talk and dig into the life you want to build.”
— Drs Les & Leslie Parrott, “7 Secrets to a Peaceful Fun Engagement”
Fiction Friday
Use any or all of the following quotations in a story, either verbatim or as inspiration:
- “Slow down! What’s the hurry?”
- “Just so you know, I’m probably going to cry.”
- “I’ve been waiting a long time.”
- “The last time I stopped to ‘smell the roses,’ I got stung by a bee. I won’t be making that mistake again!”
- “You’re a lucky man, you know that?”
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):
- Parole
- Animated
- Scope
- Offer
- Pine
- Crunch
- Shift
- Bumble
- Forlorn
- Warmth
Spiritual/Secular Sunday
I keep getting asked, “Why bother getting married, if you’re not religious?” My partner and I have been living together for almost six years. For some people, that’s enough. For others, marriage means something, whether it’s about making a public commitment, religious significance, legal protection, potential parental rights, taxes, or something else entirely.
Do you ever plan on getting married, if you aren’t currently? Write a personal essay about what ‘marriage’ means to you, in either a spiritual or secular context.
Alternatively, write a fictional story about a character with a strong opinion about marriage. Do they really, really want to get married? Or are they set against it? Does the character’s partner have a different stance?
Bonus Prompt — Write a ‘slow’ 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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