Prompted

Meet PROMPTED

Featuring winning works from the world’s most popular weekly short story contest and guest edited by Dawn Raffel (author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney and former editor at The Literarian), PROMPTED celebrates the power of inspiration and the places our imagination can take us with the slightest nudge.

The weekly Reedsy Prompts contest has a simple thesis: Whether an opening action, a common phrase, or a specific setting, the smallest kernel of an idea can spark creativity. The stories in PROMPTED are living proof — each was spurred by a one-sentence prompt, written in a week, and crowned a winner. As Raffel puts it, "Taken together, the pieces in this anthology might also be seen as a celebration of the short story, an art form in which an entire world is conjured in just a few pages.” 

Pick up PROMPTED and discover what’s possible when writers face a deadline armed only with their talent, craft… and a writing prompt.

In this issue

Chris Kelley’s AFTER THE ROCK · Stephanie Kaye’s MYTHES · Shuvayon Mukherjee’s THE HEART SPECIALIST · Zack Powell’s LOVE AIN’T BLIND, GRIEF IS · Adam El Nabli’s INSHALLAH · Howard Halsall’s CIGARETTES: A ROMANCE · Jay Wayne’s MY FELLOW PASSERINE · Thom Brodkin’s HOME OF THE BRAVE · Allie Erickson’s A MAN’S MAN · Amanda Lieser’s BIRTH MOTHER · Dena Linn’s THE PROBLEM IS · Christian Jerome’s WHEN THE SEA TAKES YOU, I WON’T COME WITH

About the authors

Christian Jerome is a psychology graduate and lifelong reader dabbling in writing and digital art. He lives in Metro Manila, Philippines, where he takes his dogs on night walks thinking about which hobby to jump to next.

Howard Halsall is a night owl and father of three currently living on England’s northwest coast. In addition to writing fiction, he enjoys cycling and plays the piano. His view on life is: “keep it simple.”

Dena Linn is a writer whose passion is exploring the fragility of human nature. Her stories delve into humans and those not-so-human as they discover and live through love and hate, loss and rage, insanity, and heartbreak. 

Shuvayon Mukherjee is a writer and doctor from New Zealand. His current work explores romance, horror, and mental health - sometimes all at once.

Amanda Lieser is an Asian American who was raised by two incredible mothers. She would like to thank her dear sister, beloved husband, and all the amazing English teachers who have supported her on this journey. 

Stephanie Kaye is an author whose physical location is in northeast Ohio, but is often in her head.

Jay Wayne is a young, self-taught writer from Wisconsin with a passion for fantasy and drama. Their favorite writing practices include juggling multiple projects at once and leaning shamelessly on their D&D characters for inspiration.

Christopher Kelley is a writer and video producer from the beer belly of Illinois, USA, where he with his wife and four villainous cats.

Adam El Nabli is an Egyptian writer living in Berlin whose stories explore identity, masculinity and morality. He enjoys experimenting with different genres and narrative forms including short story, long fiction and screenplay.

Thomas Brodkin is a relatively new writer still trying to learn where the commas go. His first foray into writing was nothing more than sentimental Facebook posts which led a friend to invite him to enter a writing contest. He took second place and was hooked.

Zack Powell is a freelance writer from Tacoma, Washington, who enjoys writing about the human condition. His favorite authors are Raymond Carver, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders. In his spare time, he enjoys baking, bowling, Wordle.

Allie Erickson was born and raised in Washington state: the perfect setting for a cliché writer. She love chai and cozy blankets and sharing small pieces of never-to-be-finished stories with her loved ones. 

About the editor

Guest editor Dawn Raffel is a developmental and copy editor with a passion for short (and long!) stories. When not editing, she teaches creative writing and mentors emerging writers. She is also the author of six books, including three short story collections. You can view Dawn's Reedsy profile here.

Interested in being featured?

All of PROMPTED's stories are selected from submissions to Reedsy's weekly Prompts contest. Enter for your chance to be printed in a future issue!