Welcome to Week Three! Can you believe we’re at the halfway mark for the challenge?
You all did so well with your stories last week! There were so many interesting and unique ways you interpreted the prompt. It’s now the third week, so it’s time to do it again! Will your story have aliens? Zombies? Maybe it’ll have a dragon in it! Whatever you decide, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
So, without further ado, here’s your next prompt!
Week Three Prompt – The Starting Sentence Prompt
Write a story that starts with the
following sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
Wait…what’s a “Starting Sentence” prompt?
A sentence prompt is a prompt that uses a particular sentence. It doesn’t matter where your story takes place, who’s in it, or what’s said. The only thing that matters is that your story must start with this sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
Before you start writing, we have some important rules for you 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.
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.
Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and post your story as an “answer” to this question, not a “comment”. 🙂 You’re all doing such a great job! I’m so proud of all the stories you’ve posted.
Happy Writing!
Will you notice if someone is like 1-25 words over the 1000 word limit (asking for a friend hahaha)
what if i accidently posted my story as a comment last week lol? does it still count?
Hey Izzy and Ava,
If you accidentally post your story as a comment instead of an answer, you should get an email to alert you! It will still count for points for your team, but no one will be able to vote for it.
And, to answer your question for your friend 😉 As far as word count, for your story to count for the challenge, it does need to be 1,000 words or under. Great questions!
Team A
“So this is what drowning feels like,” the harried mother thought as she looked at her calendar for May. Every Saturday had birthday parties and recitals, every evening had sports practices (that would hopefully lead to championship games in already crowded weekends), concerts, PTA meetings (“We have to go all out for Teacher Appreciation Week this year!” the president declared back in March), and she needed to feed everyone. She only had two kids, they weren’t even in high school yet, how did her life become so unmanageable?
She would have to be doing it all mostly solo. May also included a two and a half week business trip her husband could not miss to three different sales conferences in two different states. Technically he could come home between the second and third, but honestly that would likely just compound her stress so it was better he took the two days between conferences to be a tourist to whatever city the last conference was in that year. This was the third year his company had been sending him so they already knew adding to her stress with his urgent laundry was not helpful, nor were his pictures of relaxing at the beach while she juggled the end of the school year schedule.
Of course there was Mother’s Day immediately before the trip began and in theory she could expect a day of being pampered. In reality she could expect a badly made breakfast in bed she’d be forced to eat or risk the tears of her children, her husband asking her to plan whatever else she’d like them to do for her that day (also could she help him find the things he needed to pack?), and all the mess left for her to clean up on Monday. They did try to clean up their messes as they went, another treat for mom on her special day, they just weren’t very good at it. This year might be better, she’d made it clear last year that packing for his trip was not on her approved Mother’s Day activities list and neither was him asking what she wanted for dinner when it was already dinner time. The real gift to her would be a little forethought of figuring out those things the day before, or just letting the kids decide. She was trying to drop the mental load, not add to it.
“Time to put on my floaties,” she thought as she turned away from the calendar. May would happen whether she was ready or not, and then she could face June with the kids home from school and the summer camps already full before she’d tried to sign up for them back in February. There wasn’t any job she’d rather have.
Wait so if we like accidentally post our stories as a comment here, will it count or be ignored?