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Where does your inspiration come from? I like prompts, photos, songs, expressions, and things that capture my attention as I’m out and about in the world — like seeing someone slowly pushing a shopping cart through a grocery parking lot. In a world where everyone is bustling and in a hurry to get somewhere, that scene is eye catching. It makes me stop and wonder what is going on with that person, and before I know it a story is shaping up in my mind.
But mostly I write from a prompt. There’s something so centering about it. A prompt gives focus to your writing, even when you have no idea what you’re going to write about. For example, last month’s prompt was rain. So many initial ideas came to mind. I thought of a couple at a table in a café, sitting in silence with their coffee while outside the rain is pouring down. I thought of a child jumping in puddles and getting heck from his parents when he arrives home, soaked and muddy. And finally I decided to write about a family on a camping trip, and how a middle of the night downpour affects each of their perceptions about the experience.
What gets your pen moving? I’d love to hear from you. Just join me on Instagram with an answer to the question on this post. I’ll be writing some blog posts on the writing life in all its challenges and its glory, so I’m looking forward to hearing from writers.
And that brings us to the topic of this blog post: The Write Club writing prompt of the month.
Write Club’s June, 2024 Writing Prompt
For the month of June, 2024, Write Club members (and anyone who follows our prompts) must write a story based on this prompt: wedding
Was there ever a prompt that had more opportunity for conflict and drama? The possibilities are delightfully limitless. You’ve got your bridezilla and momzilla story lines, just for starters. Too obvious? I think so too. Branch out. Consider what it would be like to get married for the at the age of 75 and to get cold feet. Imagine being thirteen years old and falling in love for the first time and thinking you absolutely must marry your math teacher or die.
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.
Get Your Motor Running
Start by thinking about ways in which a wedding can go wrong, or how things can fall apart on the way to the alter. 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 teenaged girl | A city park | Unrequited love |
| A middle aged woman | The backyard of a home | A change of heart |
| A gay man | A forest | Fear of commitment |
| A Catholic priest | A beach in Hawaii | A text from an old flame |
Put Your Subconscious to Work
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, the central conflict, and how it will all resolve, the sooner your story will take shape.
How to Learn More About Write Club
Write Club is an online writers’ workshop for short story authors. We are purposefully small, but open to writers with experience who are looking for an online writing community for mutual support, writing critique and comradery.
Although Write Club is small, we are distributed across the globe, and we connect with one another through our Discord server. Discord makes it possible for us to 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: Getting Our Work Published
In Write Club, we are all short story writers with 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.
How Does the Community 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 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.
How to Check Out Write Club
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!
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!
About Jayna Locke
Jayna Locke is a Minnesota writer who has had a lifelong love of fiction. Her short stories have appeared in a range of literary journals, including Great Lakes Review, Portage Magazine, and Bright Flash Literary Review, as well as several anthologies.
Her collection of short stories, Somewhere in Minnesota, is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kirk House Publishers, and indie bookstores. She is reachable through her contact form at bit.ly/ContactJayna or on X at www.x.com/@jaynatweets.