Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello THE EPISTOLARY EXERCISE Write a story entirely in the form of a letter to an individual addressing a specific conflict between you both. The addressee can be your imagined reader, a character, creature, object, place, or…
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Mary McLaughlin Slechta WRITING PROMPT I have a small wooden drawer long detached from its bureau. It’s a great catch all for things I’ve kept past their usefulness and others discovered on walks around the neighborhood, especially in a…
David Hollander THE UNDELIVERED MESSAGE: A WRITING PROMPT Many of the prompts that I’ve had the most success with involve the institution of formal rules or limitations, which have the odd effect of liberating writers from having to…
Sarah Freligh WRITING PROMPT Write a life story in three brief scenes involving hair. Sarah Freligh is the author of four books, including Sad Math, winner of the 2014 Moon City Press Poetry Prize and the 2015 Whirling…
Nicole Callihan WRITING PROMPT Often prompts focus on content, but today, I’d like you to think about form. Write a story in exactly two grammatically correct sentences. One of the sentences—perhaps the first, though if not the first, certainly…
J.L. Scott WRITING TIPS Writing Tip Stuck? Ask your kids to help you out. No matter how old they are, they can help you with ideas for a new piece, how to get a character out of a…
Margo Berdeshevsky WRITING PROMPT Create a connection/conversation with an object, real… or virtual, from your childhood…hold it in your hands or in your arms … and talk with it/to it…tell that object what was the saddest moment of your life…
Laura Geringer Bass WRITING PROMPT Since the publication of my novel, THE GIRL WITH MORE THAN ONE HEART (Abrams 2018) I’ve taught a writing workshop called “Finding the Heart of Your Story.” While on tour, instead of speaking about…
Kim Addonizio PEAKS AND VALLEYS Sometimes, when you’re having trouble getting started writing, it’s helpful to begin with a list that doesn’t ask you to immediately come up with brilliant poetry. So for this prompt, start by listing…
Tara Lynn Masih FLASH PROMPT The pandemic has forced many of us to either stay indoors or to explore the outdoors. Write about a vacation. A vacation inside a home (a “staycation”) or a vacation in the wild.…