Five Weeks With Friends
Create a narrative that follows a character who, after a fire destroys their home, must stay with five different friends over the course of five weeks. Explore how each household changes the character's perspective on life and relationships.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Write the scene everyone else would skip: the morning after.
- End on a small gesture rather than a speech.
- Give your main character a job you know well, and use its details.
Writing literary fiction
Who is this person, really?
Literary fiction cares most about character, language and meaning. Plot still matters, but it serves the inner life. These are the books that win prizes and start arguments in book clubs, and they ask to be read slowly.
What readers expect
- Rich inner lives
- Prose that rewards attention
- Themes that linger
- Endings that may stay open
A tip before you start
Read your pages aloud. In literary fiction the rhythm of a sentence is part of what you're promising.
More Literary Fiction prompts
- The Gardener’s Secret KeepDetail the life of a small-town gardener whose daily routine is disrupted when they inadvertently become the keeper of the town’s secrets, shared with…
- The Siblings' Last WeekendCraft a narrative centered around a family gathering that reunites estranged siblings after many years. Explore the tensions and latent affections…
- Postcards from Unknown CitiesTell the story of a character who begins receiving postcards from cities they’ve never visited, all signed with the same enigmatic initials. As they…
- Coincidences on the City BlockDevelop a narrative where the protagonist, after experiencing a profound loss, begins to notice peculiar coincidences that suggest an underlying…
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