Write about someone who summons the creative muse through a convoluted ritual or method.

Posted in Short Story on Aug 30, 2024

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✍️ 57 stories

“inspirAItion” by Derrick M Domican

🏆 Winner of Contest #266

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“Clarity” by Arthur Ingham

Submitted to Contest #266

Author's note: This story should be in the prompt: "Someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break." I can't change it. New member mistake, sorry.The tunnel was pitch black, save for the faint glimmer of the enforcers’ flashlights bouncing off the damp walls. My lungs burned with each breath, the cold air of the Swiss Alps slicing through my throat like a razor blade. The train was coming. I could hear it—a low, distant rumble that echoed through the darkness, growing louder with every second. There was no room to ...

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“The Writer’s Stone” by Jim LaFleur

Submitted to Contest #266

In the quiet solitude of his cluttered study, Tom sat hunched over a keyboard that seemed to groan under the pressure of unmet deadlines and unrealized potential. Beside him, a teetering tower of empty coffee mugs testified to the caffeine-fueled desperation that had consumed his life these last few weeks. Tom was a sci-fi writer—a profession that, despite its often romanticized allure, had lately felt more like a Sisyphean struggle beneath an avalanche of creative paralysis. And there it was, mocking him: the blinking cursor on the otherwis...

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“The Phantom Storyteller of the Ship Destiny's Dreams” by Kristi Gott

Submitted to Contest #266

Below the clipper ship's deck, deep in the darkness of the steerage, Ana turned up the flame on the wick of her lantern.Light shined through the blue etched glass. In the indigo glow, Ana felt the ancient stories begin to awaken within her.Characters seemed to waver and dance in the shadows. Patterns flickered on the walls from the light of the blue lantern. The ship's passengers gathered there turned toward Ana and the source of the blue light.A girl named Liliana and her younger brother called Juan crawled closer to see Ana and her blue la...

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“The Picture of Daria Cray: A Professor Deshpande Mystery” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #266

The Dancer entreats the audience with a blossoming left hand, and although the blazing lights at stage’s edge render invisible the bedazzled masses, She feels the silence, the moment of transit, when observer becomes one with the Dance, believes the doors have opened to a universe of possibilities. With one inviting gesture, The Dancer has become the Conductor of Dreams…Her fingers pause. A double-tap, and a blue nail hovers over the keyboard. It descends, and all begins again…**“These mitigating circumstances,” Curtis murmured. “Whyn’t you ...

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“The Right Thing to Say” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #266

The cogs were turning, that was for sure. She’d serrated the edges of her doodled flowers and had begun to fill in the gaps in between. One great black swirl of ink after another. The words would come soon. They always did. And this time they simply had to…Trust me, trust the method…Okay, so that was a start, the kick up the butt Gertrude felt she needed scrawled diagonally across the lines of the facing page. But what next? Swirl round some more, add a spear-headed arrow…Can’t get over this… but it’s not about me… It’s Sandra who’s lost her...

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“Sinew and Silence” by Emma Morgan

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #266

I drop the pen, its tip scraping across the paper as I step back, paralyzed by a vast nothingness that grips my being. The emptiness is turbulent and numbing. It takes my breath away while keeping it flowing through my mouth and nose. I must break free. I must find the muse who waits for me on the mountain. She must call my name, and I must call in response. I must go. Go up the mountain. --- The mountain beckons. Its silhouette falls upon itself under the full moon’s gaze. Light shines onto the valley floor below, reflecting the snow that’s...

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“careful what You wish for” by KA James

Submitted to Contest #266

You, yes you, the supposed writer, illustrious creator of thrilling adventures as well as chronicler of romantic dalliances, equally capable at short story or novel length, you who are the magnanimous master of intrigue and the veritable reincarnated Vonnegut of satire; or perhaps, are you the imposter extraordinaire, lucky if you can manage to string two coherent sentences together, create a believable character who, when they speak, doesn’t sound like their dialogue came straight out of a ‘60’s TV melodrama, or even pen a decent adjec...

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“Where to Start, Exactly?” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #266

Martin had absolutely no idea where to start.“What ya doin’?” said Clara, cheerily, as Martin started descending the stairwell to the basement, coffee in one hand, phone and notebook in the other, a scowl on his face. She knew what he was doing; it was the same thing every day.“Going down,” said Martin, making it sound like he was on a one-way trip to the underworld. His mind was on this week’s creative-writing story prompt.“Have fun writing! I’m going to the market, then visiting Trish. We’re having halibut for dinner.” ...

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“Oh, Muse. Oh, Catharsis! ” by Lonnie Russo

Submitted to Contest #266

My legs were on fire by the time they left the ground. I surged upward like a spark, stretching my arms toward the ceiling—grabbing, reaching. I landed hard on my calloused soles. Once more, then, I leapt, gaining height. The third jump took me higher still, and as I returned to the floor, catching sight of myself in the mirror, I rolled my whole body downward.I found a strange foundation there in the scuffed surface, and I allowed this discovery to take root in the depths of my stomach. It tugged me to the ground like a magnet, providing mo...

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“Harmony in Darkness” by Joseph Ellis

Submitted to Contest #266

In a basement, in the dim light, in a home for hungry artists. Lies a painter, with a passion, and the will to spill her thoughts out.See the easel in the dim light. See the palette by her right side. A lack of blue upon the palette, a hue the artist chose to banish. No morning skies or crystal lakes for this aesthetic’s special tastes. No gray as well. No pale or silver in her sights. No shades between the starkest black and white. Instead, red. Red for blood, for vile streaks. Every hue of scarlett: ...

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“Hair Soup in Tupelo” by Philip Alexander

Submitted to Contest #266

*There are mentions of sexual themes.Gorky sang a hymn at the altar of Saint Jude's Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was the only pale-skinned teenager in a congregation of African American churchgoers. His voice was ineffectual, and the choir kept sneaking glances when it cracked and whined. Patrice, the soprano, shot a vexing look, prompting Gorky to lip-sync the rest of the chorus. You're right, Patrice. I should banish myself to the fires of hell where my voice would serve as a torturing device. And so he held his tongue. Finally, "I wi...

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“The right stuff” by Juliette Ikss

Submitted to Contest #266

She had everything else ready. A playlist of ambient music long enough 7 or 8 epiphanies, a bottle of tropical juice, the mirror on the table, fresh and clean from any dust and residue, a metallic tube, the luminosity from the screen computer has been set to turn itself down after 60 seconds and socks had been rolled up in front of the control lights of the speakers. The curtains are drawn shut.Everything is there apart from the key element. And key it was indeed. It opened the door to another world inside the mind, where the muse liked to d...

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“Behind Every Great Man...” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #266

I’m not the only one, but it feels like I am. Writing is a supposedly lonely occupation but you’d think you’d get a bit of support from your own bloody wife! Sometimes I feel like a burden. A deadweight. A strange loner child whiling away my life in the pursuit of a stupid, childish fantasy. She makes me feel like that. She makes me feel bad and worthless. She’s crushing my dream, even as I try to realise it. I need someone to boost my belief. Mine alone is not enough. I’m only human after all. I am frail and have moments of weakness. I some...

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“Finis historia” by Laura Ethington

Submitted to Contest #266

Evelyn stared at the blank page on her laptop, her head in her hands, staring at the keyboard, praying for some divine spark to ignite her creativity—or at least the first sentence. The blank page mocked her as she watched the cursor blink. The words wouldn't come, and they hadn't for days. She's done everything she normally would to inspire her next psychological thriller. Baking, drinking, numbing with casual dates on dating apps, even visiting her mind-numbingly boring sister and her 3 kids in Omaha. But nothing. She'd been suitable for t...

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Ended on 23:59 - Sep 06, 2024 EST

Won by Derrick M Domican 🏆

Title: inspirAItion

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Write about someone who summons the creative muse through a convoluted ritual or method.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 57 stories

“inspirAItion” by Derrick M Domican

“Clarity” by Arthur Ingham

“The Writer’s Stone” by Jim LaFleur

“The Phantom Storyteller of the Ship Destiny's Dreams” by Kristi Gott

“The Picture of Daria Cray: A Professor Deshpande Mystery” by Martin Ross

“The Right Thing to Say” by Carol Stewart

“Sinew and Silence” by Emma Morgan

“careful what You wish for” by KA James

“Where to Start, Exactly?” by Luca King Greek

“Oh, Muse. Oh, Catharsis! ” by Lonnie Russo

“Harmony in Darkness” by Joseph Ellis

“Hair Soup in Tupelo” by Philip Alexander

“The right stuff” by Juliette Ikss

“Behind Every Great Man...” by Jed Cope

“Finis historia” by Laura Ethington

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone who wants to give up on their career right before their big break.

Your protagonist discovers that everything they type comes true. What happens next?

Write from the POV of a character in a story who keeps getting re-written by their second-guessing author.

Your protagonist has the perfect day scheduled — but things don’t go according to plan.

Contest #266

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

282

Contest entries

108

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: