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Writing is such a fascinating journey, isn’t it? I think that pretty much every time I’ve tried to put a finger on just what it is about writing stories that fuels me so, I simply had to shrug my shoulders and give up. It just is.
This quote from Madeline L’Engle put a smile on my face:
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
What are you writing? And why? I would love to hear what fuels 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.
So, what’s this blog post all about? Well, first and foremost it is my monthly writing prompt for my long-time writing workshop, called Write Club — which anyone can use. And secondly, it’s an invitation to check out our group. We are very small, and would absolutely love a few more dedicated writers to join us who love the craft of short story writing. It can be any genre, including sci-fi, horror, or even creative nonfiction. I’ll come back to this later on.
And that brings us to the topic of this blog post: The Write Club writing prompt of the month.
Write Club’s September, 2024 Writing Prompt
For the month of September, 2024, Write Club members must write a story based on this prompt: zodiac. And anyone else who chooses to do so can write for this prompt as well.
What might you do with this prompt? I don’t know! In fact, my brain has been on overdrive around other things I’m working on, so let’s just see what ChatGPT has to say. I don’t use AI for actual writing, but it’s a great idea generator! So here you go — three free zodiac-based ideas from my friendly neighborhood bot!
- The Guardians of the Zodiac: Twelve mystical guardians, each representing a zodiac sign, must unite every thousand years to restore balance to the universe. However, the guardian of Aries has gone missing, and the remaining guardians must race against time to find them before a cosmic catastrophe occurs. Each character’s traits reflect their zodiac sign, and their journey involves navigating their elemental powers.
- The Astrological Heist: A team of thieves, each born under a different zodiac sign, are brought together by a mysterious mastermind to pull off an impossible heist during a rare astrological event. The heist must take place over 12 hours, with each person’s strengths and weaknesses aligning with their zodiac sign. As the stars shift, so do their fortunes, creating chaos and tension among the group.
- Celestial Love: A star-crossed love story between two people whose astrological signs are astrologically incompatible — Virgo and Sagittarius. Despite being told by everyone around them, including fortune tellers and astrologers, that they’re doomed to fail, they embark on a journey to challenge fate, learning along the way whether love can transcend the stars or if they’re destined to follow their signs’ predictions.
Does that get your imagination fired up? I’m not sure I would use any of those ideas myself, but it does expand the horizons for me. I hope it does the same for you!
A great way to get started crafting your own ideas is to 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
Another great way to get started on a story is to select a character, a setting and a conflict — something your character wants or is struggling with, or a sudden drama. 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 fortune teller | The scene of a crime | Alcoholism |
| A mad scientist | A Byzantine chapel | Ghosts unleashed from a tomb |
| A teenager who never smiles | The Salem witch trials | Poverty |
| An ancient widow | A nunnery | The villagers are out for blood |
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
As I mentioned earlier, our tiny little writer’s workshop is open to a few new members. Here’s a little more about us.
Write Club is an online writers’ group for short story authors. We are seeking a few 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 in 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.