Reedsy Prompts: One Year Update

NOT THE PROMPT

In early 2021, I discovered a website called Reedsy Prompts. 

While watching a writing advice video on the Reedsy YouTube channel, my interest was piqued by the mention of a no-entry-fee writing contest. A family member had recommended I enter a writing contest of some kind, but the idea of an entry fee had deterred me. Free entry? I clicked the link. 

Hmmm. Prompts. You fit your story to a prompt. Not sure if I like that . . . I guess these prompts are okay. I get ideas just reading some of them! Not that I don’t have ideas of my own, I’ve just never really finished any of my personal projects, besides a few poems. 1,000 to 3,000 words? Doesn’t sound hard. Easier than the entire novels I want to write. I started reading some of the stories and author bios. 

After careful thought, I made a Reedsy account, sometime in April of 2021. I picked the prompt “Write a story that spans a month during which everything changes,” and brainstormed the idea of a pagan girl losing her family in the Great Fire of Rome, then being taken in by Christians. I somehow wrote the 1,000 words, and titled it From Ashes to Hope.

Time passed, A LOT of time. Months. My family took a three-day road trip to visit relatives. I intended to pack just one book in my backpack for the trip: “The Lord of the Rings”. My goal was to finish the Appendixes. In case I succeeded, I put “The Silmarillion'' in my suitcase for the way home. Then I added another book: C.S. Lewis’ “Out of the Silent Planet”, which I was reading out loud to my family, mostly in the car.

Shortly before the trip, we went to the library, and I found a cool-looking animal fiction book: “Darkwing”, by Kenneth Oppel. I’d previously glimpsed this one, next to Oppel’s “Airborn”. I enjoyed “Airborn'', but never picked up “Darkwing”. It came up in the online card catalog when I searched bats, fiction.

Once I started reading “Darkwing”, I was riveted, and didn’t want to stop. The opening was intriguing, with a father and son chiropter (fictional prehistoric bat) climbing their home tree for the son’s first gliding lesson. The descriptions were beautiful – I could see the world so clearly.

 Right away, it became clear the protagonist, Dusk, was different than all the others. Though there’s danger in being too different, Dusk’s father Icaron protects him, and his twin sister Sylph sticks up for him. At least, in public. In private, she teases him mercilessly about his bald sails, too-big chest, and strange attempts to flap like the birds. Chiropters go down, never up, everyone tells Dusk. Only birds fly.

When a flying saurian crashes in the clearing, Dusk’s idyllic world is turned upside down. Saurians should be dead, the elders say. Dusk is more excited by the fact that something without feathers was flying. Its wings look like his sails. 

While I was reading this book, I would occasionally tell myself, “That's enough for now,” and force myself to put it down. I didn’t want this story to end.

Of course, it had to end somewhere, and Kenneth Oppel ended it nicely. As soon as I finished the Author’s Note, I wanted to flip back to page one and start again. Like a kid climbing out of a pool just so they can jump in again.

This desire is familiar, though not every book sparks it. Some books that do are: anything by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Michael D. O’Brien, and Robert Louis Stevenson, “Kensuke’s Kingdom”, by Michael Morpurgo, and “Watership Down”, by Richard Adams. Those are the ones that come to mind right away.

In late October, the father of one of my dad’s friends from work died. We went to the wake and funeral on a Wednesday, and strangely, the details were vividly impressed on my mind. 

The next day, Thursday, I looked at the prompts again, and was struck by “Start your story with the words ‘Everything was ready for the ritual.’” A funeral is a ritual, I thought, and began writing. 

On Friday, I typed furiously, racing the clock for the word limit. Upon ending the story, I scrambled for a title, then came close to panicking when it wouldn’t post - I had forgotten the tags! With mere seconds to spare, I chose tags, clicked the Post button, and sighed with relief as confetti burst across the screen. I had no time to enter “The Last Call” in the contest. 

Things had changed since I entered From Ashes to Hope. Now there was an entry fee. 

My dad sent a link to "The Last Call” to his co-worker, and he texted back shortly after, saying thank you, and “You are an amazing writer.”

In November, I wrote my third Reedsy story for the prompt “Start your story with someone saying ‘Thanks a lot’ (sarcastically or sincerely).”

I had been scribbling about a girl who basically worked at a dinosaur zoo, but it was NOT a Jurassic Park/World fanfic. I gave her a friend, made him a junior supervisor of sorts, brainstormed a conflict, and so began my Dinosaur Conservation & Rescue League series. I didn’t enter “Tour Guide” in the contest, telling myself, “It can’t possibly win, so I shouldn’t waste the money.” I did not enter any of the next four, either.

December 

Inspirational Message

Two people told me this helped and encouraged them. 

New Arrival 

The second installment of DCRL was well received. Several people asked me to alert them when the next part came out. 

February 

Recent Writings #1| 2-3-2022 

Dhwani Jain was offering a writing challenge - a month in which to write a story from a prompt she came up with. I got busy with a project for my church, a summary of the life of Saint Agnes. Dhwani granted my request for an extension of her challenge, and I posted her story and the Saint Agnes summary together. 

March

Bible Excerpt

As soon as I read the prompt “Set your story on a day when the sun never sets,” I thought of Joshua Chapter X (In the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible, chapter numbers are Roman numerals), when the sun stood still. So I posted that. 

April 

“Write about somebody who likes to work in silence.”

My first thought? Owls! I went to the Easter Vigil, and had my story. My Mom encouraged me to enter Vigil in the contest, so I did. My first time with the entry fee. 

My goal now became to enter or post something every week. 

I feel that over the last year, my writing has grown and changed, and so have I. I’m writing a lot more now than I used to, which is good, since I want to be a published author. There are several novel ideas I’m working on, but I mostly write for Reedsy. Without Reedsy Prompts, and the people on here, I don’t think my writing would be where it is now. 

A few special thank yous are due. 

The first thank you goes to Wolf Warrior. She was the first person to comment on any of my stories, back when I only had one! We’ve had long conversations about lots of different stuff. Also, my first long-term follower! 

Thank you to Katie W, for reading my stories whenever I ask, commenting, and following me!

Thank you, Endellion, for commenting, and following me, and especially for the shout-out in your bio!

Thank you, Dhwani Jain, for commenting and following me! Your critiques are always appreciated. 

A very sincere thank you to Alex Sultan, for the time you take to carefully read my stories, and the further time you take to write your detailed critique comments. I am so grateful to you. One thing which is truly ours, to do with what we will, is time. Your suggestions and encouragement have been invaluable. I doubt I would be writing as much without your example. 

Thank you to everyone who has helped me in any way.

“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings