The Garden on Main Street
Write about a woman who starts a community garden in a struggling, economically depressed town and how the garden becomes a unifying force for the residents, helping them heal old wounds and forge new 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.
- Keep what the hero wants and what they need in tension.
- Tell it through the messages, notes or voicemails the characters leave.
- Write the scene everyone else would skip: the morning after.
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
- Secrets at the Louisiana ReunionCreate a narrative centered around a large family reunion in rural Louisiana, where deep secrets are revealed and old tensions resurface. Focus on one…
- Neighbors in a Changing NeighborhoodCreate a narrative about two neighbors living in a gentrifying neighborhood. One is a long-time resident resisting the change, and the other is a…
- Notes in the Returned BookWrite a story about a small town librarian who discovers, hidden in a returned book, a series of handwritten notes detailing someone's plan to leave…
- The Artist Goes ViralDescribe the life of a struggling artist in a bustling New York City who gains unexpected fame from a viral social media post. Explore the impact of…
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