“You come home, make some tea, sit down in your armchair and all around there’s silence. Everyone decides for themselves whether that’s loneliness or freedom.”
“If you planted hope today in a heart that felt alone, if you caused a laugh that chased some tears away, if someone’s burden was made lighter because of your kindness, then your day was well spent.”
Use the prompt as the driving force and theme for your piece. How you interpret the prompt is up to you. While the prompt is written in gender neutral language, first person, and present tense, you may change it to suit your writing style. There’s a handy summary graphic below for a checklist as you work.
Prompt: The time for celebration is nearly at hand and the anticipation is so great you almost burn with it. You wish there could be more days like this. No, you ache for more days like this.
THEME: The prompt above must inform your theme and be a driving force in your plot.
PLOT: Focus on world building and characterization. Show us who they are and their world.
WORD COUNT: 300 - 800 words. That’s right, the world builders and dialogue lovers are getting some wiggle room. Use it well!
GENRE: Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy as the main or sub-genre.
TENSE: Any
PERSPECTIVE: Any
CHARACTER: Show us their scars, internal and external. Don’t just write what they do, show us what they are capable of.
DIALOGUE: Minimum 150 words, at least 2 characters, make it probing and realistic. Show me lies.
SETTING: This is world and character building, evoke all of our five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, feel), give me drama and contrast, make it vivid.
“Oh my god.” I whisper. “This is it. It’s really happening.”
I’ve been waiting for this night to arrive for months. For years. Heck, I might have been waiting for this night my entire life. Idelia Vanderklempt was hosting a masquerade in celebration of her engagement to her soon-to-be third husband.
I begged and begged my father to let me use the tickets he won in the raffle.This was going to be the night of my dreams.
The Vanderklempt estate shone in the moonlight, perched on its hill in the countryside. The grounds were decorated in shimmering ribbons that catch the light, and fountains flank both sides of the drive as we approach. My younger brother sat beside me, the cost of receiving the tickets from my parents.
Ugh.
“If you ruin this for me, you’re going to wish you’d never been born.” I warn him.
He was stuffed into an old suit from father’s closet, wearing a glittery mask and a large hat but staring down at his phone instead of relishing the chance to be in the presence of the upper class.
“Chill out,” he said, not bothering to look at me. “I’m not going to mess up your perfect princess evening. I’m just here to keep an eye on you.”
“Liar.” There was no question that he was going to embarrass me. If I caught him sticking so much as a finger out of line I was going to wring his scrawny neck.
We park, and I follow the sounds of distant laughter and live music up to the main house. A footman came out to greet us and check our tickets. An actual footman!
He escorts us to the ballroom and announces our arrival to the other guests. It was so fantastical to hear the name ‘Miss Grace Franklin’ called out into a room filled to bursting with ballgowns and tailored suits.
I hear the click of a camera beside me, and scowl.
”Andy! Get off your phone, you’re ruining the moment!” I hiss, shooting him a glare, checking to see if he was at least taking good photos. But no, there he was, making dumb faces into the camera. Read the room!!!
I grab his arm and tow him towards the table of refreshments, grab a glass, and push him towards an empty table. If he was determined to ruin this night for me the least he could do was stay somewhere out of the way.
I try to relax, sipping the flute of champagne and savouring the tingle as I make an effort to center myself. Benji would have heard the announcement, so he’d be on his way over soon. I can’t let him see me like this.
Unlike us, Benji got his tickets through merit. He was the youngest in a long line of politicians, and had the trust fund to do practically anything he wanted.
It was a dream come true that he was dating me.
Now, here, tonight, he has the chance to make me the happiest woman in the world, even more than Idelia herself. If the rumors my friends told me were true, she won’t be the only one getting married.
I lean forward to smell the floral centerpiece, eyes darting around trying to pick Benji out of the crowd.
"These ones are nice, aren't they?” I point one of the plants out to Andy, trying to get him to pay at least a little attention to the party. “They look like hearts.”
He raises his phone and takes a picture, because of course he would. I roll my eyes at the click.
“It’s Siberian Bugloss,” he reads off the screen
“Bug-loss? Gross name.”
“Also called False Forget-Me-Nots, or a Heart-leaf Brunnera.The leaves can grow with some interesting patterns.”
“Cool, cool. Can you see Benji? He was supposed to meet me here. We planned to coordinate our outfits and everything.”
“Nah. Oh hey, according to this site, Bugloss in a flower arrangement can mean deceit or insincerity. Maybe that's a sign.” He laughs.
I punch him in the arm as I get up. I could see Benji across the way, talking to a group of other women. My eyes must have been mistaking me, because I swear he had his arm around one of them.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Someone at the front announced, “Our first event, the Moonlit Treasure Hunt, will begin on the grounds in ten minutes!”
Benji laughs, kissing the woman on his arm. Deeply. Passionately. It was unlike any kiss I had ever received, despite my long line of failed romances. Benji is supposed to be different.
Andy’s camera clicks.
My blood runs cold, and I grab him. “Come on.” I command. “It’s time for us to find that treasure.”
Use the prompt as the driving force and theme for your piece. How you interpret the prompt is up to you. While the prompt is written in gender neutral language, first person, and present tense, you may change it to suit your writing style. There’s a handy summary graphic below for a checklist as you work.
Prompt: The time for celebration is nearly at hand and the anticipation is so great you almost burn with it. You wish there could be more days like this. No, you ache for more days like this.
THEME: The prompt above must inform your theme and be a driving force in your plot.
PLOT: Focus on world building and characterization. Show us who they are and their world.
WORD COUNT: 300 - 800 words. That’s right, the world builders and dialogue lovers are getting some wiggle room. Use it well!
GENRE: Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy as the main or sub-genre.
TENSE: Any
PERSPECTIVE: Any
CHARACTER: Show us their scars, internal and external. Don’t just write what they do, show us what they are capable of.
DIALOGUE: Minimum 150 words, at least 2 characters, make it probing and realistic. Show me lies.
SETTING: This is world and character building, evoke all of our five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, feel), give me drama and contrast, make it vivid.
writer culture is not knowing how to write mean characters because I'm not mean, no one I know is mean, how does one be mean please tell me I need more interesting characters
-🐝
Perhaps try think about what you would do in a given situation the character is in, and have the character do the opposite.
So if you would hold the door open for the person behind you, don’t let your character do it. Let the door slam shut.
If you would wait patiently for someone to finish their sentence before speaking, have your character interrupt and talk over people.
If you feel bad when others are hurting, have your character find pleasure or joy in it.
Show us how little they care for the happiness of others and the impact that has on the people around them. Their mean-ness can often be seen more in the reactions of those around them to what they say and do, than in their actual words or actions.
Go against your very nature. Have them do the unkind thing until it’s the only kind of thing that character does.
Up for a writing exercise? “Fall on Your Sword” is available now and “Celebrations and Lies” is posting November 1. (Free challenges to exercise your writing brain!)
Without any further ado here is a fun little graphic for “Fall on Your Sword”, feel free to give it a whirl!
Just finished handpainting this mythic mug (sculpt by Ars Moriendi 3D) and I’m so stoked! I haven’t varnished it yet but I had to share. It’s the second one I’ve done, the first was a turquoise one for my sister. I adore this, it’s so RED!!!
Do you have a preference? Red Dragon or Turquoise Dragon?
Red
Turquoise
Love them both the same.
Voting ended onOct 7, 2025
My sister @geekytendencies 3d printed this for me to paint (mythic merchant 524) and she has some shows coming up, this red one will be at the shows until it sells, there’s only one like it!
A horror story about someone who has lived in apartments all their life moving to a secluded little house in the middle of nowhere, who takes quite a long time to notice that something is off - being used to living with and sleeping through the sounds of other people living their lives, it takes a minute to process that the footsteps from above are not normal. There is no upstairs neighbour.
i hope they never stop using floppy disk icons to indicate saving your file. doesn't matter how obsolete they are it's like honouring someone with a portrait on your currency
kianamaiart
theartofmadeline
ellievsbear
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