A rather impish story prompt

The other day, a fellow writer and I were looking through prompts to get the creative juices flowing. It reminded me of a 600-word story I wrote based on a prompt for a contest in Writer’s Digest Magazine. The story was to begin with the prompt, “If you can guess what’s in my pocket, you can have it.” I wanted to be particularly different with my approach to that prompt; I wanted people who read the resulting story to think, “Whoa…did not see that coming!” and be pleased with the result. The few readers that gave me first comments reacted that way.

The story didn’t place in the contest, unfortunately. But that happens, even when we submit something good. There are only so many spots, and the magazine has to cater to its readers to some extent, so the winning stories can’t be too bizarre, even if they’re good. (At least, that’s what I told myself when I found out my story wasn’t among the winners.)

Anyway, going through those prompts the other day inspired me to re-read that piece. I chuckled at it, seeing how my writing has improved since then, but also feeling pleased with it still. That’s what we want in anything we do, right? To be able to look back and see the progress we’ve made, but also be pleased with our product at the time. I think that’s a quality of a life well lived.

Here’s that story, called “The Imp,” in case you’d like to read it. Only takes a minute or two, and I’d love to know what you think.

Do you have any old prompt-inspired pieces you’d like to share?