Prompt Images
Look, the internet is a crowded place. Lots of good ideas get trampled by a busy news day or the latest meme to catch fire. But, not today, Satan. Today, we’re reviving the dead. The underappreciated. The pieces that deserve a second look because we’re proud of them. So, we’d love it if you gave these unassuming underdogs a look. We think you’ll really like them.
Sarah Razner: A story of legends and lies.
Dear Esteemed Readers,
I put forth for your consideration a story of legends and lies: “The Spirit of the Woods: Running from the Ghosts.”
I wrote this last year, when along with struggling through a pandemic rut, I was in the midst of a writing one as well. Every idea seemed contrived and cliché, a reiteration of my same old pattern. The fount of inspiration was running dry.
Until one day, I woke up with an idea: urban legends, specifically, the ones I had grown up with: a car pushed up a hill by spirits, the dead who were waiting to take your breath from you when you drove past their resting place. Did it have potential? I thought so, and picked up my pen and notebook to begin scribbling down a story. When I finished that night, I read it over, and among the metaphors and the darkness, I found pride in myself. It’s not a hopeful story, but it gave me hope.
Now, I hope that you’ll give it a chance.
Your grateful writer,
Sarah
Josh Bard: Perfectly derivative TV show ideas I have
Hey Everyone,
Can you do me a quick favor and check out this piece I wrote for The Prompt Magazine. Especially if you are in television production, a bigwig at a TV network, or have an extremely rich aunt or uncle. It’s a list of half assed TV show ideas that I promise I could full ass if you or someone was interested in developing one. Also, they’re all pretty spectacular, so you’d really be doing you a favor at the same time. Nothing like a favor that pays favor dividends.
Anyways, here is An Incomplete and Growing List of Perfectly Derivative TV Show Ideas I Have, thanks and you’re welcome.
— Josh
Sheeva Azma: Science, journalism, and quitting.
I was surprised to learn, recently, that one of my most trusted journalism mentors is actually leaving the industry. She explained her career choice in an essay about quitting.
As someone who has undergone many career transitions in my life, I saw parallels between the experiences Jenni had as a journalist and my own experiences as a cognitive neuroscience researcher for ten years. You can read my reflections on these industries, as well as quitting more generally in this essay, Journalism, Science, and Why It’s Good to Quit, Sometimes.
— Sheeva
Ariel Cross
Do your imagination and your nonbinary friends a favor and check out this killer flash fiction I wrote recently for The Prompt! A Space of Safety: The Thorns of Spring
Eric Mochnacz: Grief is a complicated creature.
Do me a favor?!
Feel ALL those feelings and vomit them into a Google Doc like I did.
Grief is weird, bruh. Especially when you think you’ve worked through it in therapy—but then a pandemic hits—and ohhhhhh boy, were you ever wrong!
But with catharsis comes release. And this piece about missing my mom initiated me into a unique writer’s club that has helped me push my creative limits as I move out of darkness and into light. It’s called An Incomplete and Growing List of Things that Remind Me of My Mom.
My Mom was a cool lady. And I ate Starburst jelly beans this Easter.
Jennifer Racusin: Coming home.
Would you do me a favor? Would you please read this piece that I wrote? I needed something mid-pandemic to inspire myself, and maybe even you, to push past limitations. I needed to connect to my creativity, to my community, to my art. So I wrote Coming Home as a love letter to the things I hold most dear. As we move towards our new new normal, I hope you find your voice once again. The courage to create. Ways to connect with your fellow human beings in a way that makes you feel alive. May we all set aside fear, drop into the moment, show up for life, and once again, thrive.
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