Prompt Me

[writing-prompt-s]

When their kid gets abducted, it’s up to their guardian angel, the monster under their bed, and their favorite stuffed animal to save them.

[writing-prompt-s]

A classic princess locked in a tower protected by a dragon, except there's a good reason why this princess is locked away...

[writing-prompt-s]

For the past 16 years, you’ve always woken up exhausted like you haven’t rested at all, even though you sleep the whole night. When you start your junior year, you decide to figure out why this is happening by any means necessary.

[writing-prompt-s]

“It was just extra credit, Mom! I didn't mean to start a cult!”

[writing-prompt-s]

The world is ruled by cats. After many, many years of plotting to conquer the world, they have finally done it. It has been years since then. now, humans are kept as pets. You are one of these humans. One day you discover a very ancient book that depicts humans as the rulers of the world.

[writing-prompt-s]

A writer has slipped into a coma. All the characters in their head are fighting to keep them alive

[hgk477]

A guide to working the night shift

Check it there is going to be a full moon. If there is not, go in as normal. You will be okay.

If there will be a full moon, it is essential to follow this guide.

Get lots of sleep the day before.

Bring a fully charged phone, snacks, and water. Do not bring any flavored drink. The spirits will turn it to water, anyway.

About an hour before work, drive to your nearest Church. Do not walk or take the bus. If you must, ignore anyone who tries to talk to you on the way. They will be spirits trying to learn more about you.

Enter the Church and put some holy water on your hand. This will not do particularly anything, but it is nice to have some reassurance.

If there is an old man in the pews, ask him for his greatest piece of advice. If he ignores you, and he will, ask him again. He will tell you to be careful at work tonight. Make sure to thank him for his time, he will appreciate your manners.

Drive to work. Be a bit early, the spirits will not expect you to be early.

If you know your co-worker(s) well, ask them for gum. If they give you mint, back away slowly and continue working as normal. They are a spirit in disguise. Any other flavor, tell them to leave early. Do not take no for an answer.

If you do not know your co-worker(s) well, do not get too attached. They will be dead before 11pm. Do not feel guilty, there is nothing you can do.

Keep an eye on the clock. Do not walk or talk loudly, it can hear you. Do not wonder about what “it” is, you wouldn’t be able to fathom it anyway.

Once the clock hits 11 pm, the lights will go off. Do not worry, they will go back on soon.

When they come back on, your co-workers will be gone. Do not cry. The spirits will not pity you. There will be 3 customers left. 2 are spirits, one is real. You should help the real customer escape, he will give you something you need. However, you cannot leave with them. It will not allow you to.

Approach the first customer. Ask him if he needs any help. Slowly tap your foot while talking with them. If they cover their ears, apologize. They are a spirit. Spirits hate foot tapping. They will not hurt you, at least for now. Repeat until you find the real customer.

Tell the real customer that Bob sent you. He will know what you mean. He will begin to exit the store with his items in hand, unpaid for. Remind him that he must pay. He will glance at you, then begin walking out again. Do not worry, he will have paid you. You will find out what he gave you soon.

Now, you will be alone with the two spirit customers. Relax for a little bit, the worst is yet to come. Drink your water, but not too much. You don’t know what the spirits could have put in there.

Once the clock hits midnight, the lights will shut off again. Except this time they will not come back on. Leave the register, go to the back of the store. You will see a bottle of water that is upside down. Take it and drink it, for that is not water. You will be able to see better now.

Items from the shelves will begin to fall over. Pick them back up. You are, after all, working the night shift. If items from the fridges begin to fall, the spirits are extra angry. You must have wronged them. I told you to follow the guide exactly. I am sorry. Death is not what you should fear. What will happen to you is much worse than death.

If the fridges stay intact, you are safe for now. Do not talk or yell. Do not bother calling the police. Call your mom. Mother knows best. She will pick up. Although, it will not be your mom. Nevertheless, listen to her. She will tell you how to contact the spirits. I cannot share that information with you.

Use her instructions and contact the spirits. Ask them to spare you. They will say no. That is expected.

Spirits do not spare people willingly. They take trades, however. It is not easy to trade with a spirit. They only accept souls. People are only born with one soul, their own.

Put your hand in your right pocket. You will feel something indescribable. Do not pull it out. It is what the real customer paid you with, a soul. Do not feel bad, he has many.

Contact the spirits using the method from before. If you do not remember how there is nothing you can do. I am sorry. Your fate is sealed.

Tell the spirits you have a trade. Take the soul out of your pocket, and hold it up above your head. You will feel your legs begin to weaken. You will fall to your knees, and eventually you will pass out. You will wake up with the soul gone and the lights back on. Continue working as normal, the spirits have spared you.

Do not speak of this event to anyone, the spirits will not take kindly to that. They will appreciate your silence. Make sure to call your mom and thank her. She will not have any idea what you are talking about, but she will appreciate the gesture.

More guides

A Guide to Keeping your Heart Soft

How to enter your subconscious

If you are a researcher or adventurer and want to share a guide, join our subreddit!

[viterant]

These are so creepy but so good holy shit

[writing-prompt-s]

You, a spirit, are haunting an old house. One night, a ghost hunting crew comes along, and tries to contact you. Describe how you spent the night utterly trolling them with your powers.

[writing-prompt-s]

You find an iPhone someone left on the street. You intend on returning it to the owner, hopefully. You see if it unlocks. It needs a fingerprint. Yours works.

[writing-prompt-s]

Princesses lock themselves in towers when they lose hope in humanity. They need a dragon to guard them from toxic relatives trying to force them back into society.

[writing-prompt-s]

Write about a subject you know nothing about with the most detail possible. Bonus points if you act like you know exactly what you’re talking about, and your narration is that of a smarmy college professor who’s “never wrong.” The more innacurate, the better.

[frognonbinary-deactivated202412]

i’ve been doing my homework on how to break into a writing career and honestly. there’s a Lot that i didn’t know about thats critical to a writing career in this day and age, and on the one hand, its understandable because we’re experiencing a massive cultural shift, but on the other hand, writers who do not have formal training in school or don’t have the connections to learn more via social osmosis end up extremely out of loop and working at a disadvantage. 

[frognonbinary-deactivated202412]

like, i didnt know about twitter pitch parties!! i didnt know about literary agents and publishers tweeting their manuscript wishlist, in hopes that some poor soul out there has written the book they really want to read and publish!! this isnt some shit you learn about in school! you really need to know the ins and outs of the writing community to be successful! 

[frognonbinary-deactivated202412]

for anyone interested, here’s what i’ve learned so far in my quest for more writing knowledge:

1. Writer’s Market 2019 is a great place to start– it gives you a list of magazines and journals that you can send your work to depending on the genre as well as lists a shit ton of literary agents that specify what genres they represent, how you can get in contact with them and how they accept query letters. this is a book that updates every year and tbh i only bought it this year so i dont know how critical it is to have an updated version  

2. do your research. mostly on literary agents because if you listed on your site that you like to represent fluffy YA novels and some asshole sends you a 80k manuscript about like…gritty viking culture, you will be severely pissed off. always go in finding someone who you know will actually like your work because they’re the ones who will try to advocate for you in getting published.

3. learn how to write a query letter. there are slightly varying formulas to how you can write an effective query letter. you’re also going to want to get feedback on your query letter because its the first thing the literary agent will read and based on how well you do it, it could be the difference between them rejecting you outright and giving your manuscript a quick read

4. unfortunately, you’re gonna want to get a twitter. Twitter is where a lot of literary agents are nowadays, and they host things like twitter pitch parties, where you pitch your manuscript in a few sentences and hashtag it with #Pitmad #Pitdark, some version of pit. a lot of literary agents and publishers will ALSO post their manuscript wishlists, which is just the kind of books they’d like to represent/publish, and they hashtag this with #MSWL (it is NOT for writers to use, only for agents/publishers)

5. connect with other writers, literary agents, publishers at book events. you will absolutely need the connections if you want to get ahead as a writer. thats just kind of the state of the world.

[elephant-writing]

alright so i’ve got these two characters that hate each other. long story short, they’ve known each other their whole lives and a childhood feud has turned into a devastating hatred that’s been lasting for like twenty years. the thing is, they’re both a little unstable and they kinda hold onto this everlasting conflict because that’s the only thing that’s stable in their lives, and because they do not know how to interact otherwise. they do not want to live without each other and they do not want their relationship to evolve because hate is simple and it can’t get any worse. 

i would like one of them to die for the other, or protecting the other. i feel like that would feel right, at some point of their arc, for one of them to give their life to save the other.

my problem is, everything is set in a real-life setting. no adventurous quest, no impossible monster to fight (except the ones in their heads), no unbreakable spell. just real life. 

does anyone have any idea on how to get them in a life or death situation that would be dramatic and heart breaking and that would result in the survival of one of them thanks to the other’s sacrifice ? 

i don’t want to fall into the over used trope of the robbery gone wrong or smth but my mind has been kinda blank on the subject lately.

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Person A: “I cant keep doing this.”

Person B: “Cant keep doing what?”

Person A: “This! I….I’m not sure I can trust you anymore…”

[elephant-writing]

That’s when the world crumbles. You look deep into their eyes, unable to recognize the person you thought you knew so well. When did it slip away ? When did you two fall apart like this, to the point you no longer recognized each other ? 

Two strangers, shakily and awkwardly standing in front of the others, the few inches separating you feeling like an ocean of pain, filled with pillow tears, night cries and chest pains. How did you two end up like this ? When did the tide shift, separating your two souls, crushing the powerful entity they had merged into only to leave you breathless on the shore, weakened and desperate ? 

The world crumbles and you no longer know how to stand. You dive even deeper in their eyes, those eyes you thought you loved so well, only to find the harsh truth you feared to be unable to face. 

It was over. The lies, the mind games, it was all over. You were over. Loving them would never be, but you’d never be able to look at them the same. This page had to be ripped off - burned even. 

Love is only the cover of the book. That’s what you said. That’s what you promised, so long ago. Tear off as many pages as you want. The book will never be over as long as we love each other. And you still see it, even deeper into their eyes. Love. It’s still there, raging, screaming, under all the pain and the fears and the anger. It’s not enough. It’s no longer enough, it never will be again - it never should have been. But it’s there, still. 

Go then. Leave. I’ll do better. I’ll be better. You do the same. You go, be happy. Grow. Live. Love. Heal. Cherish our book. Open other books. Let’s meet again someday. For now, you just leave, because I’m not sure I can do it. I’ll just stay there until my body is willing to move again. Go be the beautiful person I always saw you were. I’m sorry. I love you. 

And just like that, it’s over. The world crumbles and it all falls apart. It feels like dying inside ; you’re not scared though. You’ll build it back up. You’ll build a castle. The most beautiful castle, for them to feel welcome again, someday. Maybe. 

In the meantime, you’ll cherish the book. 

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Absolutely beautifully done Darling. I love it. Again, wouldn’t notice that you weren’t a native speaker until you said so.

[elephant-writing]

Thanks a lot ❤ I'm not used to writing in English (yet?)🙊

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Person A: “I cant keep doing this.”

Person B: “Cant keep doing what?”

Person A: “This! I….I’m not sure I can trust you anymore…”

[elephant-writing]

That’s when the world crumbles. You look deep into their eyes, unable to recognize the person you thought you knew so well. When did it slip away ? When did you two fall apart like this, to the point you no longer recognized each other ? 

Two strangers, shakily and awkwardly standing in front of the other, the few inches separating you feeling like an ocean of pain, filled with pillow tears, night cries and chest pains. How did you two end up like this ? When did the tide shift, separating your two souls, crushing the powerful entity they had merged into only to leave you breathless on the shore, weakened and desperate ? 

The world crumbles and you no longer know how to stand. You dive even deeper in their eyes, those eyes you thought you loved so well, only to find the harsh truth you feared to be unable to face. 

It was over. The lies, the mind games, it was all over. You were over. Loving them would never be, but you’d never be able to look at them the same. This page had to be ripped off - burned even. 

Love is only the cover of the book. That’s what you said. That’s what you promised, so long ago. Tear off as many pages as you want. The book will never be over as long as we love each other. And you still see it, even deeper into their eyes. Love. It’s still there, raging, screaming, under all the pain and the fears and the anger. It’s not enough. It’s no longer enough, it never will be again - it never should have been. But it’s there, still. 

Go then. Leave. I’ll do better. I’ll be better. You do the same. You go, be happy. Grow. Live. Love. Heal. Cherish our book. Open other books. Let’s meet again someday. For now, you just leave, because I’m not sure I can do it. I’ll just stay there until my body is willing to move again. Go be the beautiful person I always saw you were. I’m sorry. I love you. 

And just like that, it’s over. The world crumbles and it all falls apart. It feels like dying inside ; you’re not scared though. You’ll build it back up. You’ll build a castle. The most beautiful castle, for them to feel welcome again, someday. Maybe. 

In the meantime, you’ll cherish the book. 

[write-it-motherfuckers]

You’re sitting quietly at your desk, in the middle of the night, when you hear low singing begin. You know you should be alone in the building, everyone else had gone home and left you behind to lock up since you wanted to stay late. You also know for certain that you have heard that song, that voice, before. Its the same song and voice you hear every night as you sleep, even when no ones around.The one you’ve heard ever since you turned 18.  This is the first time you’ve heard it while awake.

[elephant-writing]

You’re a fearful person. You’ve always been, even when you denied it as a child, lifting up your trembling chin, always ready to fight whatever scary monster life might throw at you. You’ve grown used to them. Or maybe you grew out of them, slowly forgetting those monsters you saw at night. You’ve always been scared, but it had never stopped you from facing your terrors heads first. 

This time is different though. You no longer know whether you should be afraid or not. You’ve long forgotten what this melody awakened in you ; it had just became a part of you, a daily rendez-vous, your own backside story. You had learned to sleep the questions away, mindlessly trying to remember the melody while waking up, forgetting it a few minutes after, only to hear it again when you fell asleep at night. 

You had spent some extended periods of time without hearing it. Everytime you slept with someone by your side, the voice kept silent. It never sang to anyone but to you, and it came back relentlessly every time sleep came to grasp you alone in its arms. 

But today, today is different. You’re alone, that’s one thing. But you’re definitely not asleep. 

That’s when you make the connection. It was all you needed : conscience. You get it now. The song started when monsters disappeared. The nightmares had stopped ; you no longer saw the blood red eyes in the dark, nor did you feel your body being grasped and pulled and scratched every time you closed your eyes - and sometimes even when you kept them open. The song came, and the monsters flew. 

A few more seconds into the song, that’s when you realized again. You knew that voice. It was yours. 

You had taken the habit of singing the monsters away. You had kept yourself safe, finally, from the point where you could no longer hide behind childhood and candid eyes to justify what you saw. Each night, every night, you sang your heart out, protecting yourself from what lied in the dark. 

Which led to the last question. 

Why were you singing now ?

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Late last night, a global alert was sent out. No explanation was given, and all phone and internet services shut down moments later. The alert simply says, “all people to remain indoors until further notice.”

[captainofsalt]

i was at first like, “oh, that’s easy, i never leave the house anyways.” until i re-read it and saw that phone and internet services were shut down??? excuse me??

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Ahaha prepare to go stir crazy Darling.

[storymylory-deactivated20220220]

You fools, I have a plethora of books I’ve never read, boards games I’ve never opened, a hoard of hot cocoa, a healthy digestion for human interaction, and my dogs. I’m more prepared than any of you will ever be.

[write-it-motherfuckers]

Yes…. but how long will it last?