Writers are a little crazy. We create stories, weaving together words into worlds and characters into friends (or enemies), from nothing more than imagination, research, and 26 characters (occasionally I’ve used cyrillic and kanji).
So it is with a combination of excitement and nervousness that I start writing a short story a month based on a prompt from one of you, my wonderful readers!
If you want a story based on your suggestion, here is what you do: send a one word to one sentence prompt to my email at mlfarb.author@gmail.com with the subject line “short story prompt”. Please also include the name you’d like to be used to acknowledge your contribution, if I use your prompt.
The prompts can be almost anything (as long as you keep it clean):
- A setting
- Is there a setting from one of my books you’d like to explore more?
- Is there a setting you’ve dreamed about and want to see it in a story?
- A character
- Do you have a favorite character from one of my books and you’d like to see a short story about them? It can be a side character, or one you only briefly saw.
- Describe a person with a unique characteristic and I’ll write a short story about them.
- An idea: I can go sci-fi if you want–I took calculus as a 14-year-old
- A single word: often these are the most interesting to work with
I will choose between the prompts on the 10th of each months and write a story (1000 words or less) which will be included in the next month’s newsletter. I will also mail a signed copy of the short story to the person whose prompt I used. (I’ll email you to ask for your address at that point).
What are you waiting for? I’m excited to see what prompts you send and to create a story inspired by you!
Tell your friends so they can join the fun too.
PS You can sign up for the newsletter here: https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/74715c6a-70c5-11e9-8307-03a7e997bade
M. L. Farb - Author 