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
Norman and the Milk Way Man
Team 1
“If you know something bad is going to happen, do you have to try and stop it?”
“I just got here.” I said as I glanced up from my pad at the alien who had just spoken.
“We’ve been talking for an hour.” The being said.
“I just transported in so no, we haven’t.” I said.
“Oh,” the being scrunched its face in some form of emotion I couldn’t read. Confusion? Disappointed? “All you Milky Way types look the same with your [untranslatable] limbs and [untranslatable] heads.”
Like it was one to talk. Its jelly body looked like it would fall through a sewer drain if it walked over one and its eye stalks were ridiculously skinny.
“It doesn’t matter.” The being continued “You can answer my question instead.”
“Yah, no thanks.” I said. “I’m busy.”
“The question is important.” The being said. “I need an answer immediately.”
“Or what.” I challenged.
“Someone is about to die.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.” The being said, “It’s a Milky Way Man but like I said you all look the same to me.”
“So how are you going to stop a bad thing from happening if you don’t even know who is in danger?” I asked.
“This is why I have asked you.” It said. “You are from the Milky Way are you not?”
“Me and a hundred billion others.” I muttered.
“The one before you was unhelpful.” It continued, either not hearing or ignoring my remark. “And I am beginning to think it is not worth my time to continue.”
“So I transported in while you were having a crisis.” I smirked.
The alien’s large eye bulbs stared at me for a moment.
“You are trying to be funny.” It said at last.
“Ummm, yes?” I said while hoping I hadn’t offended it and was about to be melted or shot.
“I see.” The being said. “We are bonding. Milky Way types often use humor to make and strengthen relationships.”
“Well,” I tried to interject.
“So you will help me find the Milky Way man.” It continued.
“Fine.” I said as I glanced at my pad. “I’ll help you for 15 minutes and then I have to get to my meeting.”
“Thank you Milky Way man.” The being said.
“My name is Kyo.” I said.
“I am called [untranslatable].” The being said.
“I can’t understand that so I’m going to call you Norman.” I said.
“I also can not understand your name so I will call you [untranslatable].” Norman said.
“Great.” I said, glancing at my pad again. “Now tell me about this person you’re looking for.”
“The being I am looking for has [untranslatable] body and [untranslatable].” The being paused and looked at me.
“Let’s try again.” I said as I grabbed a lock of my short hair. “What did this look like?”
Norman leaned his eye stalks closer to me. I resisted the urge to step back and let it examine my hair.
“It looked like yours.” It said at last.
“The same color? Or the same length?”
“Your kinds hair is not always the same color?”
I wanted to rip my own hair out.
“How tall is this person?” I said.
Norman shifted his eye stalks then said “I would guess about as tall as you.”
“Did they have anything special about them like weird hair or jewelry?” I asked.
“No.” It said.
“Okay, I’ve tried to help but clearly this isn’t going to work.” I said as I checked my pad again. “And I need to get going or I’ll be late for my meeting.”
I turned and began to walk away.
“Milky Way man, wait.” Norman said, his voice changing to a gurgling pitch.
“My name is Kyo.” I said without turning around “And I need to go.”
I hurried away before Norman could try to stop me again. I half ran down the hall, keeping an eye on the bay door numbers as I sped past.
Ahh, bay 56. I skidded to a stop and checked my reflection in my pad. Hair? Check. Teeth? Check. I took a deep breath and then tapped the button letting the occupants know I had arrived. With a quiet ding the door began to slide open.
“Wait [untranslatable]!” An all to familiar voice called out.
I looked over my shoulder to see a gelatinous blob rushing toward me.
“Norman!” Was the only word I could gasp out before I was tackled by the blob. The right side of my body felt like it was encased in gel.
“Norman!” I gasped out as I tried to pull my body out of his. It was then that I noticed a red rimmed hole straight through were I assumed Norman’s stomach was.
Norman’s eye bulbs bulged as I frantically tried to remember my intergalactic first aid class. Just as I was about to call for aid, I noticed the hole shrinking. Staring in disbelief, I watched the hole get smaller and smaller until it disappeared and there was no sign of a hole existing.
I looked up at Norman’s face. An expression I could only take for a grin filled it.
“My kind heal different from yours.” He said. “Now we should leave.”
With only a swift glance at the shocked faces and more guns being pulled out by the occupants of bay 56, I followed Norman’s advice and took off running behind him.
“How did you know to save me?” I gasped out when we finally stopped running.
“You were the man I needed to save.” Norman said in a particularly gurgling voice. “The Milky Way man from my dream.”
Norman pointed to the patch on the shoulder of my jacket as his words sank in.
“You are a Visionary?” I asked.
“Yes.” Norman said.
“I might just have a job for you.” I said.
And that is how I met the first mate of my ship, the Argonaut.
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.