Story Prompts | Fascinate Me Fiction
Story Prompts: September 2024
Let’s explore the unknown in the shadiest places.
August 30, 2024
The summer’s waning and it’s getting darker. While it doesn’t feel like spooky season to me just yet (100°F here in TN), I am trying to get in the right mood.
So let’s ease in to the spooky and ominous. For this month’s prompts, call to mind moments when you were creeped out. Not outright scared — save that for October’s prompts — just a little uneasy.
You don’t want to walk down that alley because you have a bad feeling. You don’t trust that person because they put off a bad vibe. Play around with feelings of uneasiness and apprehension in your character-driven stories.
Special shout-out to my friend and co-worker SALAMI-dawg😎 for helping me put the prompts together this month!
Before we get going with September, let’s try something new here! For those of you who tried your hand at last month’s story prompts, I’ve showcased them below:
Mira St. Clair offers us an inconceivable meadow we can really get behind. Would you make the same choices as the main character in The Exchange?
And Ninad Kulkarni had us drifting off into another world with Navigating Sleep using the same prompt.
And then there’s little old me! I also like to respond to the monthly prompts from time to time because the very act of writing the prompts can sometimes inspire me.
I recently wrote Weird Lights in response to the first prompt.
Without further ado, here are September’s prompts. Try your hand at one or all. If you tag me, I’ll see when you post a story inspired by the prompts on another pub.
Please also link this page if you use a prompt here. Then, you can be included next month when I showcase prompted stories!
Have fun!
Prompt #1: Fickle Feeling
Have you ever looked through a screen or a thin curtain and thought you saw one thing, but it became something else before your eyes? Was that thing being deceitful on purpose, or was it all just a big misunderstanding? Can your character trust their feelings about what they see through the veil?
Prompt #2: Volatile Views
In the distant future, the new drug of choice is synthetic emotions. Do you struggle to feel an emotion? Do you want to feel happy when you’re sad? For a heavy price, you can feel any emotion instantly — if you can find the right dealer. How does your character(s) experience this world? How do they cope?
Prompt #3: Mystery Meat
As cheerful as the corner food vendor’s sign is, you know there is something more ominous going down than baking the best pizzas in town. While trying to figure out the truth, your character(s) stumble upon a much bigger sub-culture or conspiracy. You’ll never think of pizza the same way again.
New Around Here?
If you’re not already a writer at Fascinate Me Fiction and would like to be, take a look at the Submission Guidelines to get started! You’re free to play with the prompts either way, but please link this page in your story if you find inspiration here! Thanks!
If this month’s prompts didn’t do it for you, check out the story prompt archive and see if our past themes fascinate you more. There’s no statute of limitations on creativity!
