Welcome to the first week of the Spring Writing Challenge!
We’re so excited to get started on these stories. It’s time to roll up your sleeves, set your fingers on your keyboard, and get writing. Will your story contain aliens? A prince in disguise? Maybe even a sweet summer romance? Whatever happens, we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
So, without further ado, here’s your very first prompt!
Week One Prompt – The Dialogue Prompt
“If you know something bad is going to happen, do you have to try and stop it?”
“I just got here.”
Wait…what’s a dialogue prompt?
A dialogue prompt is a conversation between two characters. It doesn’t matter who says it, or if it takes place in the beginning, middle, or end of your story. However, one character must say the first sentence, and the second character must respond with the second sentence.
Before you start writing, there are some important rules to follow.
Writing Rules
1. Please keep the content of the stories you post to a PG rating. Please avoid real curse words. Violence/fighting should be limited and purposeful. Please do not include any spice. Moderators may remove stories and comments for any reason at any time. Moderators may remove any member from the challenge at any time.
2. Your story must be 1,000 words or less, and must contain the prompt to be counted for the challenge. You’re not required to post it in order to “win” the challenge, but if you want it to count for your team, your story must be posted by Sunday at 11:59 PM ET, and you must include your team name.
It’s time to post your story as a comment down below! We can’t wait to see all the fun directions you guys take this dialogue prompt. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at info@writers.company!
Happy Writing!
Ava,
Your story was very well written! I enjoyed reading it! 👏
Melissa
Ooh, what a fun story, girl! Fantastic job!
Wow, this is beautifully written!
I love your writing style!
Wow, I’m very impressed. The worldbuilding here feels grounded and real, the characters fleshed out, and the prompt just flows so smoothly with the rest of the narrative. Great story here!
I hope this part of something larger. I was totally sucked in.
Thanks for sharing your work. 🙂 Enjoyable read.
great opening line!
Beautiful story! Great job!
Absolutely loved it
i NEED the rest of this asap! i would love this as a book series. its excellent! The world-building is so good. you did a great job. i especially love how the characters are already full of the knowledge of the world and there is no need for any one character to outright explain things. again, have i expressed how i literally want this in my life so much!
Great details! I was brought right into the world you built!
Such a fun story! Loved the comical banter between characters
Bagel with a Side of Prophecy
Juli
Rebbe Kalonimus Kalmans left the synagogue feeling guilty. Normally after morning prayer, he’d stick around philosophizing with the older talmidim about the prophets and whether they still spoke today. Kalonimus often encouraged new students, testing their Hebrew knowledge. Not today. He was preoccupied in his heartbreak over the argument he had last night with Feile. Feile was about to make a disastrous mistake, putting their marriage at risk and throwing the congregation into chaos. And he felt powerless.
Kalonimus couldn’t sleep. All night he gazed upon his six, sleeping children. Before daybreak, he’d scratched out a note. Please wait until I return. He left early, to pray before Adonai in the sanctuary until the minyan arrived for morning prayer. Afterward, he excused himself and left on foot.
Now on Paragon Street, the scent of freshly baked bagels wafted through the air. His stomach rumbled. In his haste to be at the synagogue, he’d forgotten all about eating breakfast. Just ahead was Café Kaffeebaum. There, he could be alone. If he went to the back room, he was not to be interrupted. A rule Sylvia Kaffeebaum enforced.
At the doorway, Kalonimus touched the mezuzah affixed there, kissed his fingertips, mumbling a brief prayer. The café was quiet, with soft seating. On his way to the counter, he noticed only a few occupied tables. Their heads nodded at him in recognition.
“Boker tov, good day,” he said, as he passed by. Sylvia stood smiling at the counter.
“Boker tov, Rebbe Kalmans. How are Feile and the children?”
“Boker tov, Sylvia.” Kalonimus looked down and rubbed his forehead. “She… the children are…”
Sylvia raised her eyebrows, able to read his behaviors since they were children. Based on his few words, whatever he was working through was huge. She filled the silence.
“Your usual bagel with the works?”
“Yes,” he said not meeting her eyes.
“Anything else?”
“Just some peace. And coffee—in the back.”
“I’ll bring it to you,” she said gently. She turned away to get his coffee, and Kalonimus trudged to the back room leaving the door ajar.
Kalonimus laid the prayer book he always carried on the table and removed his hat checking his kippa, the skullcap Feile had knitted for him. As he removed his jacket, he heard someone clear his throat.
“Boker tov, Rabbi.”
“Boker tov. Ruben, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Kalonimus sighed.
“Is there something I can do for you?”
“If you know something bad is going to happen, do you have to try and stop it?” Ruben asked.
“I just got here,” the Rebbe said. “Already with the questions?”
“It’s just that—”
“Ruben, let the rebbe have his breakfast in peace,” Sylvia said, breezing in. “You know why he comes here.”
Kalonimus sat heavily, his back to the door, while she filled his cup. Sylvia watched as Ruben slipped out the door to the front of the deli. She left a small carafe on the table.
Kalonimus blew on the steaming brew before taking a sip.
“Thanks, Sylvia.”
“You look tired.”
Kalonimus sighed. “Would you bring me the Tanakh?”
“Coming up next with your bagel.” When Sylvia returned moments later with his plate, and the Bible Kalonimus kept there, his head was bowed over his prayer book. She tiptoed out of the room and shut the door.
“Baruk atah Yehovah, Eloheinu Melek ha Olam,” he said, “Blessed are you God, King of the Universe. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your Torah.” He finished his recitation, then read the Holy Book, until he came upon the third chapter in Ezekiel.
Son of A’dam, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Yashar’el: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. Just as he finished the eighteenth verse, the door squeaked. His stomach growled even louder.
“Excuse me, Rebbe?” Ruben asked, hand on the doorknob. “My question is urgent.”
Listen to him, God whispered to Kalonimus. Without turning, he waved the young man over and gestured for him to sit.
“Have you eaten?” Kalonimus asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you mind if I eat while you talk?” Kalonimus reached for his untouched bagel. The young man shook his head.
“What’s so urgent?” he asked, unfolding a paper napkin. He lifted the lox and cream cheese bagel and took a bite. While he chewed, he carefully wiped his mouth and checked his long, squared beard. He held the bagel in one hand, the napkin in the other.
“Rebbe, I know you don’t take much stock in dreams.”
Kalonimus nodded.
“Neither do I but dreamt about your tallit last night.”
Kalonimus returned the bagel to the plate. “Continue.”
“There were two people arguing on a very high wall, a man and a woman. The man shouted something and the woman removed her wedding ring. Suddenly a baby appeared in her arms. When the man turned away, she dropped the baby over the wall. I woke, asking Adonai to reveal the meaning to me.”
“Did he?”
“Not then. I fell asleep and dreamed the same people arguing as before. This time she said something, and the man took off his ring and held it out to her. When she saw it, she fell to her knees and wept. He pulled her to her feet and hugged her. When they separated, a baby appeared in her arms. This time, he put your prayer shawl over her. They walked away, followed by many children.”
“Did Adonai reveal the meaning of this dream to you?”
“Only that a baby’s life in our congregation is in danger and to tell you alone.”
“You did right, Ruben. If you know something bad is going to happen, yes, you must try to stop it. I know what to do.” Ruben got up and crossed to the door.
“See you at prayers,” he said, shutting the door.
Rabbi Kalmans left his bagel, his books and ran out the backdoor toward home, hoping he wasn’t too late.
“Team Herbert”
Tov me’od!
Todah Sarah!
To Change the World, by Ava Murbarger
P.S.- sorry I missed the meeting, we were out of town. I hope to be at the next one!!
The sky was bleeding again.
Rust-colored clouds hung over the City like bruises, pulsing faintly. Rael kept her eyes fixed on them, one hand on the rail of the Watchers’ Tower. Her gloves were too thin. The steel was cold enough to bite.
Behind her, a door creaked open.
“You’re late,” she said without turning.
Boots scraped against the stone. A new recruit, probably. They sent one every week now. Fresh eyes, fresh loyalty.
“I got lost,” the boy said. He sounded too young to carry the badge. Too soft to hold a blade. “Sorry.”
She turned and looked at him.
Dust-colored coat, too long in the sleeves. Wide eyes. Not from the City, then. One of the Outer Rings. Maybe even farther. She sighed.
“If you know something bad is going to happen,” she said, “do you have to try and stop it?”
The boy blinked. “I just got here.”
“Well, obviously.” She crossed her arms.
He shifted nervously on his feet.
Rael turned back to the cityscape. “The answer is yes, by the way. At least, if you’re cursed with a conscience.”
He joined her at the rail. Together they watched the distant flicker of drones weaving patterns in the smog. A red warning rune glowed briefly on the horizon, then faded. Rael knew what it meant. The Reclamation Agents were moving again. Soon, another neighborhood would vanish.
“Why do you do this?” the boy asked.
She laughed without humor. “Because no one else will. Because the High Council stopped caring two winters ago. Because someone has to.”
A long pause. Then, “Is it true the Watchers can see the future?”
“We read the signs,” she said. “Patterns in weather. Seismic anomalies. Political shifts. The Council says it’s superstition.” She paused. “But when the streets burn exactly seven hours after the rats vanish, over and over again, you stop calling it chance.”
He was silent. Good. Maybe he was listening.
“You said you got lost. But you still came up here. Why?”
“I heard the bells.” He hesitated. “They said you can’t hear them unless you’re meant to.”
Rael glanced at him. The brass bell on the tower hadn’t rung in years. She narrowed her eyes.
“Name?”
“Wren.”
“That’s not your real name.”
“It is now.”
She smirked. “Fine, Wren. Welcome to Watcher’s Hill. Welcome to the losing side.”
Another alarm rune lit the smog. Closer this time.
Rael pulled her scope from her belt and scanned the eastern edge of the city. “Sector Four. They’re burning the food lines again.”
“That’s the second time this week,” Wren said quietly.
She lowered the scope. “Third.”
He didn’t speak for a long time. Then he said, “My sister was there.”
Rael’s fingers tightened around the rail. She didn’t ask if the girl had survived. That wasn’t the kind of world they lived in anymore.
Instead, she reached into her coat and handed Wren a folded map, inked with lines and red X’s.
“There’s a storm tunnel under the old trainyard,” she said. “It’s not on any schematics, and it’ll get you to Sector Four faster than any street. But it’s dark. And crawling.”
Wren took the map with trembling fingers. “Why are you helping me?”
Rael looked at him, really looked. The wide eyes weren’t wide with fear, not completely. It was fire. Just hidden under the ash.
“Because sometimes the only thing worse than seeing the future,” she said softly, “is doing nothing to change it.”
Wren nodded. His jaw set. “Then I’ll go.”
Rael watched as he turned, vanishing back into the tower’s dark. When the door slammed shut behind him, the bell gave a soft chime. Just once.
And far below, the wind began to shift.