Writing Prompt Mondays: Prompt 20

I can’t believe this is the twentieth prompt, Detectives! Amazing! I’m really glad to see how much you’re enjoying these, and I definitely want to keep going with them, although I may switch to once every two weeks or once a month soon.

First of all, as you may have noticed the website has been updated to a new look! I love it, but it does seem like it’s made Prompt 19 revert to an earlier draft, where I hadn’t chosen my favourites – I’ve done my best to put everything back the way it was but if your name has vanished from that post that’s why. Sorry!

Death Sets Sail has been out in the world for a week, and it’s been absolutely incredible to hear your thoughts on it. I’m so honoured that you’ve all seemed to enjoy it so much – thank you!

Of course, you’ve also been working on your own stories under the theme of new beginnings – and what you wrote was fantastic! I really loved Polly’s Pandora’s Box retelling, Sasha’s story about Detective Henry’s first day, Erin’s story about next steps and Niamh’s new friends story.

For your twentieth prompt, I’ve once again been inspired by a Detective Society member: Kaia, who suggested the prompt fairy tales. I think that’s a great idea, and it gives you a lot to work with. You can retell a famous fairy tale from a different character’s perspective, or with a different ending, you can have a character from one fairy tale break into another, you can create your own entirely new fairy tale or twist up the concept of fairy tales into a mystery or a horror story – anything you want!

I’m about to go on holiday for two weeks, to take a break after the excitement of the Death Sets Sail launch, so once again this prompt will run for TWO WEEKS instead of the usual one.

And once again, please remember that if you HAVE read Death Sets Sail, this is NOT the place to post spoilers about it. My spoiler post is here, and that’s the ONLY place that I’ll allow you to share thoughts on Death Sets Sail‘s plot. Any spoilery comments here or on other posts will be deleted.

The rules …

It can be as long or as short as you like, and take you as much or as little time as you want.It can be any genre (type) of story you want. If you have an idea for something that I haven’t mentioned (writing a poem! Being inspired by a song you love! Writing non-fiction!), don’t wait for my permission – just go for it! This is your creativity working!You are not allowed to worry about grammar or spelling.You are not allowed to worry if it isn’t perfect, or criticise yourself as you’re writing.You are encouraged to make a plan before you begin, to make it easier for you to get to the end of the story. This can be two words or a whole page! But if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.Get to the end of the story without stopping to go back and fix bits you don’t like. Once you’ve finished, read it through again. If you still don’t like those bits, you can edit them now!If you want (and only if you want!) you’re allowed to post the first 500 words of your story in the comments below. I have to moderate the comments so it may take a while for them to show up – please be patient. I don’t want to see you apologising for your story or minimising what you’ve done when you post – writing a story is a triumph and you should be proud!Please do not use your full name when you comment – first names are fine, or you can make up a username that you like! Also remember to stay safe online and not get into private discussions with anyone you don’t know in real life without telling an adult first.If you like someone else’s story, you are allowed to comment to say so! If you’d like to give them ideas that might make their story even stronger, that’s OK, but please be kind and remember how deeply we all care about our writing. A good format for feedback might be something like: ‘I loved ****! Have you thought of ****? I think it might make your story even better!’ I will delete any comment if I feel it’s critical without being constructive.I can’t promise to give feedback on any individual stories – I’m not marking them!This isn’t a competition, and there will be no winners and no prizes, though I may choose a story or two to highlight in future posts.

Here’s to new beginnings, Detectives …