One Prompt. Five Stories. – A Six-Phase Short Story Writing Challenge
- Jerrica Black
- Jun 17
- 6 min read
I love the wide range of stories that can come from a single prompt, but we usually see this from a multiple writer’s perspective. I thought it might be fun for an individual to see what different stories they can come up with from the same idea seed. So that’s the basis of this challenge.
One prompt; many ideas; one finished story.
This is a writing challenge that takes you from idea generation, through the outline and writing process, and all the way to (fingers-crossed) publication. I’ve been posting blog posts with this challenge in mind to help you at various steps. They'll be linked throughout for your convenience!
Rather than providing a timeline in which you have to finish this, I’m proposing phases and time suggestions. But I think this challenge is fun no matter how long it takes you to complete. While writing regularly is the key to being successful, what is considered regular or consistent is different for every person and I highly recommend setting your own goals.
But! It is important to set those goals. So, Phase Zero of this challenge is to read through and set your timeline up. If you want to be really good about things, I suggest scheduling in your writing time for the first and maybe second phases (or, heck! all of them) now too, so you know you’re ready to go. I’ve even created a nice little schedule for you to fill out if you so choose.
Phase One: Idea Generation
Suggested timeline: 1 week (5 to 15 days)
The first step is to find a writing prompt. There are so many places to do this, but I highly recommend checking out one of these spots:
The Prompt Menu
Summer Writing Prompts (coming soon)
My Instagram (a few that haven’t made it to Pinterest are here)
The second step is to sit down on five separate occasions to do a writing sprint with the prompt. Choose a time somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes. You don’t actually want a finished piece, just a general idea of where the story may go. I’ve found 10 to 15 to be my sweet spot.
You want to experiment with writing as wildly different a story as you can each time. You may be surprised by the depths of your creative pool.
Phase Two: The Outlines
Suggested timeline: 1 week (3 to 9 days)
Take your five ideas and decide which three make it to the next round. What's your favourite? Which one surprised you the most? Which has the most potential? Which has the most solidified idea?
This next phase takes us into a bit of planning: create three outlines. These outlines can be as in depth as you’d like; it’s really up to your style. If you’re more of a discovery writer, just a few jots about the world and characters you’ve already set up is fine or maybe picking out the parts of the piece you like and leaving the rest behind. If you are a meticulous outliner, then create a scene-by-scene (or whatever you usually do.) This is just to flesh out the idea generation that came from the prompt work.
I find that not every piece of writing that comes from a prompt has a story, sometimes it’s more of just a scene. So if you’re struggling to create an outline from one of your faves, that’s okay. Especially since we’re knocking the number of projects down once again in the next phase.
Phase Three: To the Climax
Suggested timeline: 2 weeks (4 to 10 days)
Take a look at the outlines you’ve created. Not every story is built equally. Even if you love an idea, that doesn’t mean it has all the makings of a great piece. Now’s the time to look at some story elements.
Are your characters interesting and well-rounded? Is there clear conflict and stakes? Are there relatable themes? Is one outline just not as fleshed out?
Something else to consider is how long your story is. Not every story can be a short story.
So pick your two best outlines (rather than your two favourite, but don’t let me talk you out of anything you believe in) and write the first 500-1000 words. This word count is more of a guideline than anything else; what I really want you to be thinking about is writing up to the climax of your short story.
I suggest not tacking on to your original writing here but writing from scratch; you can always refer to the initial idea generation piece if you feel the need, but after outlining you probably have a better idea of what needs to go into the beginning.
And stop there, we’re only finishing one story as part of this challenge. (Though of course I encourage you to revisit your other ideas and flow through the same process.)
Phase Four: Get it all on Paper
Suggested timeline: 1 week (5 to 10 days)
This phase is simple. Pick the one that feels the best and finish writing your story. There’s nothing else to it. Get the whole story down on paper. It’s a little guy, so don’t start going back and editing, just write it.
My suggested word count is between 2 and 3 thousand simply because most journals won’t take anything longer than that, and the goal with this writing challenge is to submit to journals!
Phase Four & ½: Take a break
Suggested timeline: 1 week (3 to 14 days)
We’re about to enter the editing phase and, as I'm sure you know, I think taking a break between writing and editing is super important. Step away from your story, and come back when you feel that distance, when you’ve started to forget the minutiae of the piece.
Phase Five: Edit
Suggested timeline: 3 weeks (14 to 21 days)
This phase is likely to be the longest one. Editing isn’t quick or easy and it isn’t (usually) a one and done process. I’d like to suggest at least three rounds of editing.
One - Big picture - Read through your whole story taking notes on structure and story elements. Think themes, event order, and pacing.
Two - Stylistic - This is where you start to look at the prose rather than the story. It’s a good time to think about passive versus active voice, showing versus telling, adjective and adverbs versus stronger nouns and verbs, dialogue tags, clarity and rhythm to name a… few.
Three - Copy Edit - This is the final round where you double check spelling and grammar. You’ll want to keep an eye out for clarity and consistency in content and structure. Make sure every sentence says what it means and means what it says, wrangle your commas, double check spelling, if you use a serial comma in one place you must use it in all (and vice versa,) proper nouns are capitalized, foreign words are italicized… that sort of thing.
(Of course you can always get some outside help with editing wink wink nudge nudge, but some self-editing is always necessary)
Once you’re happy with the state of your story, we begin the task of getting it out there!
Phase Six: Research and Submit
Suggested timeline: 2 weeks (3 to 9 days)
This final phase is a bit of a two-parter. The first is to research where you can submit this story, paying close attention to whether you can submit simultaneously or not. The second is to write your cover letter(s), reformat your story (if necessary), and actually submit.
Submit to as many places as you can, but make sure you’re keeping track of where and when you’ve submitted and wait to hear back! (The suggested timeline does not include waiting time.)
Now, you also have the option to self-publish either on the web or as part of your own anthology so keep that in the back of your mind! Phase six is really all about letting the public see your work.
The real challenge-part of this challenge is writing multiple stories from one prompt, but I think making getting to the end of things and actually submitting part of it will lead to you actually doing it rather than saying you will (I’m saying this to myself too!)
I’m so excited to hear about your experiences writing many stories from the same prompt, helping edit some of your stories, and hearing about your successes in submitting them to literary journals!
I plan on starting this challenge on July 1 (when my summer prompts come out!); I will be documenting the phases on Instagram/Facebook, YouTube, and Substack, so be sure to follow me there if you want to see how I make out!
And I want to hear about your time with the challenge! Chat with me in the various comment sections, send me an email with the title One Prompt Five Stories, or use the hashtag #OnePromptFiveStories and tag me (on Instagram @jerrica.has.a.way.with.words
or Facebook @jerrica has a way with words).
Jerrica is a writer and editor who inspires up-and-coming writers to create compelling fiction and creative nonfiction works while providing them with the confidence to do it themselves or ask for a helping hand when they need it. She enjoys speculative fiction, horror, and gut-wrenching emotion with a side of food & drink and the cozier things in life.
Comments