Image source: Pixabay on Pexels
Hello! We are Write Club, an online writers’ workshop for short story authors, and this article shares a little bit about us as well as our writing prompt of the month.
For starters, here’s a brief intro to Write Club. We are a small group, but we are distributed across the globe, so we communicate, share our stories, and critique one another’s work, all through the Discord platform. Discord makes it possible for us to connect with each other and benefit from involvement in a writing community, so we get support and feedback for our stories, without traveling or taking too much time away from everything else going on in our lives — especially writing!
The Focus of Write Club
In Write Club, we are all short story writers, and we all have a focus on writing for mainstream publications, literary journals and genre magazines. We are committed to publishing our work in the many professional publications and short story anthologies accepting submissions. Some of our members are successfully published, and others are on their way, with the help of the honest yet caring critiques from our workshop members.
If you are a writer of short fiction looking to improve your chances of being professionally published, read on!
How Does Our Writing Community Work?
Write Club is an international group, and we operate 100% online. We connect with one another through our Discord server. Some of us have been working together for many years without ever meeting face to face. It’s pretty amazing how close-knit you can become in an online forum.
Here’s how we work. Each month we launch a new writing prompt. Write Club members are required to write a short story based on the prompt, and then review and critique each other’s stories. These requirements are central to who we are. Every writer needs an outside eye to help them see what they may have missed and to provide perspective. This invaluable feedback can make all the difference in taking a story from promising to published.
The next phase is to revise our own stories based on the workshop feedback, and (optionally) do another round of critiques. This method helps us to prepare our manuscripts for professional editors.
If you are a short story writer and are intrigued by Write Club, here are two options:
- Watch for our monthly writing prompts, which are published at the beginning of each month on jaynalocke.com. Feel free to use them to inspire your short stories. You can post them on Hive, Medium, Vocal, your WordPress blog, or wherever you like. Note that we do not offer critiques for those who are not members of our workshop. This is just for inspiration!
- If you are serious about short story writing and want to submit your work to publications such as literary, sci-fi or horror magazines, you are also welcome to check out our Write Club workshop.
Is the Write Club Workshop Right for You?
Write Club purposefully remains small. This enables us to read and provide thoughtful critiques on every story. However, we nearly always have room for one or two additional writers who are looking for an online writing workshop and want to get their work published professionally.
If you’re interested, the next step is to review the prerequisites:
- You should already have a strong foundation in short story writing, excellent English skills, and a desire to continue your development as a fiction writer.
- You should have the goal of publishing your work in professional publications.
- You must be ready to commit to monthly deadlines, including drafting and revising stories.
- You must be willing to provide helpful feedback to other writers and support their journey as well as your own.
- Most importantly, you must have an open mind to accept critique of your own work so that you can revise and polish your stories.
To connect with us and check out our workshop, just pop in as a visitor to our Discord server and tell us about your interests. We would love to connect with you to see if it seems like we’re a good fit for your writing journey!
Our April, 2024 Writing Prompt
That brings us to the prompt. For the month of April, 2024, Write Club members must write a story based on this prompt: spring cleaning
What should you do with this prompt? Well, of course that is up to you. But you’ll want to think about a main character, a good setting, and something your character wants or is struggling with. Once you have those pieces in place, your story will begin to take shape.
Not sure where to begin? Here’s a jump start for you. Pick one item from each category below — in any combination — and see if it gets your creativity flowing.
| Character | Setting | Conflict |
| A single mother | A tenement in a slum | An abundance of cockroaches |
| A young boy | Grandma’s house | Ghosts come out after dark |
| A teenage girl | Spring break in Tahiti | Inner guilt and angst |
| A 90-year-old man | A rest home | Wants a forbidden cocktail |
Get Your Engines Running
Start thinking about your character, how they came to this place and time, and what will happen to them in the course of the story. What stumbling blocks will materialize to thwart the character’s goal? The more your conscious and sub-conscious brain are working on developing your MC (main character), and defining the scenario, any subplots, and how it will all resolve, the sooner your story will take shape.
You could write out some loglines — one-sentence story plots — and then choose the one that resonates the most with you. Or write down a few potential storylines and then step away and let them simmer. Most likely, one will emerge as the most promising one to move forward.
If you’re intrigued by our online writing workshop, again, just stop into the visitor section of our Discord server to inquire further. Otherwise, feel free to use our prompts for your own purposes.
Looking for Writing Resources?
I love to share tips and ideas about creative writing! Here are two treasure troves for you:
- You can find many of my tips and resources on my website, in the On Writing section.
- I also share writing tips in The Ink Well community on Hive. See the complete catalog for the full list of articles.
Have fun and keep writing.