The Podcast and the Buried Secret
Write a story about a small Midwestern town where everyone knows each other, and a secret buried for decades suddenly resurfaces when someone starts a local history podcast.
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 contemporary fiction
People like us, now, in trouble we recognize.
Contemporary fiction is set in the present day and deals with life as it's actually lived: families, marriages, friendships, work, loss. It sits between literary and commercial fiction, often shelved as book club or upmarket fiction.
What readers expect
- A present-day, realistic setting
- Relatable, flawed characters
- Emotional stakes over action
- Issues readers face themselves
A tip before you start
Today is your setting, so use it: the group chat, the parking ticket, the brand of cereal. Specifics make it feel true.
More Contemporary American Fiction prompts
- Saving the Route 66 DinerImagine a scenario where a family-owned diner on Route 66 is threatened by a big interstate development. Tell the story from the perspective of the…
- The Teacher's InheritanceEnvision a scenario in which a middle-aged school teacher in Chicago receives a mysterious inheritance from an unknown relative, leading them on a…
- The Rust Belt PodcastImagine a scenario where an out-of-work journalist decides to start a podcast investigating everyday lives in their struggling Rust Belt city. One of…
- Letters from a Secret AdmirerYou discover a series of letters at the back of your grandmother's closet from an unknown admirer sent during the 1960s. As you read through them, you…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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