Image source: DanielKirsch on Pixabay
It’s time for a new fiction prompt of the month from Write Club. Each month we publish a new prompt to inspire writers, and of course launch our own story writing. Our prompts tend to be simple, but sometimes they are “deceptively simple,” meaning they can be interpreted multiple ways. And this month’s prompt is no exception!
You’re welcome to write for our prompt, even if you’re not a Write Club member. We love to inspire others to get the pen moving (or the keyboard keys), and create something from mere inspiration and creativity. What a wonderful thing, this magical world of writing is. We never know what will tickle that muse and remind us that we have the imagination and the gift within us to create lives, experiences, worlds, conflicts and resolutions with nothing more than time, a writing implement and our imaginations.
In this blog post, I’ll share a little information about our group (yes we are open to new members), and provide the prompt of the month as well as some inspiration and a framework to launch your writing process.
Let’s start with the prompt of the month!
Write Club’s November, 2024 Writing Prompt
For the month of November, 2024, Write Club members must write a story based on this prompt: skin in the game. And anyone else who chooses to do so can write for this prompt as well.
What might you do with this prompt? Great question. The phrase “skin in the game” would seem to refer to sports, and of course you can use it that way. But more often it connotes investment and risk. According to Wikipedia:
To have “skin in the game” is to have incurred risk (monetary or otherwise) by being involved in achieving a goal.
In the phrase, “skin” refers to an investment (literal or figurative), and “game” is the metaphor for actions on the field of play under discussion. The aphorism is particularly common in business, finance, and gambling, and is also used in politics.
That said, anyone can be in a situation where the trade-offs are evaluated based on risk and reward.
For example, if your character is told she must walk a tightrope across a steep canyon if she wants to win $100, she is likely going to say, “No thank you. You can keep your lousy hundred bucks.”
But let’s shift the narrative a bit. Let’s say someone has kidnapped her five year-old son, and the reason to walk the tightrope across the steep canyon is that it is the only way to rescue her little boy and get him back in her arms. She’s going, of course. Right away. Now she has skin the game, and it’s absolutely worth the risk.
Or let’s say a young woman is about to get married. The man is not the one she loves, but she has lived on the financial edge all her life, and the one she is betrothed to will change all that. The risk is a loveless marriage (and the pain of not being with the one she truly loves), but she has skin in the game of marrying this man, due to her goal of financial freedom.
Now, if you’re a horror writer, like some members of our Write Club group, you probably already have ideas brewing for this prompt. It is certainly one that lends itself to potential stories in that genre!
I hope that helps you get started on some ideas.
Get Your Motor Running
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.
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 |
| An aging athlete | A school room | Ambivalence |
| An attorney disillusioned with this line of work | A sports field | Lack of money |
| A woman considering her boyfriend’s marriage proposal | An operating room | A desire for something greater |
| A child considering a future career | A church, one month before the wedding | A cancer diagnosis |
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!
If you’re not on Discord yet, it’s super easy to set up an account. Just start at the link above. However, if you’d prefer to get in touch directly, you are welcome to reach out via this contact page. https://bit.ly/ContactJayna.
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. We are all required to critique every story produced within the community.
- 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.