The Write-In: 2022 Prompts

2022 Writing Prompts

Editors' Note (00:01 Monday, 20 June BST 2022): The Write-In is now closed for submissions! Our editors are taking a little sleep break, but will be back in the morning to read and post your responses. We aim to finish reading and responding to everything sent to us by Tuesday at the latest. Thank you again for sending us your work; we're so excited to be reading all this new flash!

Here are all the 2022 writing prompts, collected together in one place. If any (or all!) of them inspire, you have until 23:59 on Sunday, 19 June 2022 to submit your work for possible publication here at The Write-In. Happy writing!

0. Short and Sweet

Welcome to the first of this year's Write-In prompts! Throughout National Flash Fiction Day, we'll be posting one prompt on the hour every hour from now until midnight (BST), for a total of 25 prompts in all. You have until midnight on Sunday (BST) to submit your responses for possible publication here at the Write-In. We'll start posting responses on Sunday, 19 June 2022.

This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

Without further ado, here is the first challenge:

Write a flash of exactly eleven words.

No title is necessary, but if you have one, it does count toward the eleven-word total. Hyphenated words count as one word (so 'self-imposed' counts as one word and 'short-term plans' counts as two words).

Your flash needs to be short, but despite the title, it need not be sweet!

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 0: Short and Sweet.

1. Reactions!

Sodium has an atomic number of 11, and it's so highly reactive, it's never found on its own in nature, only in compounds with other elements.

For this prompt, write a flash that involves some sort of huge reaction. This doesn't have to be a chemical reaction; it can be a unexpected emotional response, stock market fluctuations, a literal explosion, or whatever else you can come up with.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 1: Reactions!

2. Once Upon a Time...

Although our 11th National Flash Fiction Day Anthology contains all manner of stories, styles, genres and themes, the title conjures fairy tales and fable.

Just for fun, we challenge you to run with this and write your own fairy tale or fable. It can be set 'once upon a time' or be a modern day (or future!) rendering.

And, of course, if you don't yet have a copy of this year's anthology, you can find it at the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 2: Once Upon a Time...

3. Numbers Game

How easy is it to count in binary? It's as easy as 1, 10, 11!

For this prompt, write a flash in which one of the main characters is a computer, phone, robot, or other programmable device.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 3: Numbers Game.

4. Found Flash

This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

For this prompt, find 11 books, flashes or other written materials. Find the 11th word of each. Weave these 11 words into a flash...the shorter the better!

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 4: Found Flash.

6. Blue Poles

Jackson Pollock's painting Blue Poles is also known as Number 11, 1952. The choice of title has been the subject of much discussion; from Wikipedia:

According to art historian Dennis Phillips, the specific rather than ambiguous title "limits our field of comprehension and does the painting a singular disservice. Because we look for the poles and miss much of the rest, the name is simply too distracting."

For this prompt, we challenge you to write a flash and find two different titles for it. Each title should bring out something different in the flash, or make the reader think about it in a different way. (You are welcome to veer into prose poetry or hybrid work if you like.)

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 6: Blue Poles.

5. Hit the Highway

You can find Highway 11s and Route 11s all over the world; some of them are listed here.

For this challenge, write a story about someone (or something!) travelling on a real-world Route 11. This can be a highway, a bus route, a path, or whatever you like, as long as it's labelled '11' in the really real world.

Use at least one specific place name in your story, to tie the action down to a particular route.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 5: Hit the Highway.

7. Steel Anniversary

This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

According to those lists that try to get you to spend lots of money on anniversaries, the traditional gift for eleventh anniversaries is steel. (The modern gift is apparently fashion jewellery, but we digress.)

For this prompt, write a story about an eleventh anniversary, and a gift that misses the mark.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 7: Steel Anniversary.

8. Living in the Past

This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

Write a historical flash based on something that happened exactly eleven years before you were born.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 8: Living in the Past.

9. A Picture is Worth...

A picture is worth way more than 100 words, but for this writing prompt, 100 words is all you have!

Below (at the very bottom of this page) are eleven images that our National Flash Fiction Day Artist-in-Residence, Jeanette Sheppard, has made for our anthology covers and website, or has shared with us as writing prompts. Pick one (or more) of these pictures for inspiration and write a flash of up to 100 words.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 9: A Picture is Worth... When you're sending in this response, make sure you tell us the number of the image you're using!

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 19 June 2022 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.

10. One Little Paragraph

Write a flash in the form of a single paragraph with exactly eleven sentences, where each sentence is no more than eleven words long. (They are allowed to be shorter, but extra points if they're all exactly 11 words!)

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 10: One Little Paragraph.

11. Elevenses

If you're joining us from the UK, it's now about time for elevenses*...which seems to us like a perfect time for a spot of tea and some flashy nibbles.

Write a flash in the form of a recipe, ingredients list, shopping list, menu, wine list, or something else that has to do with food or drink.

* For those not familiar with elevenses, it is a very sensible eleven o'clock break for tea or coffee, and possibly a snack.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 11: Elevenses.

12. The Back Catalogue

This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

To start us out, write a flash using at least three of the titles of the National Flash Fiction Day anthologies in your story. Here they all are!

2012: Jawbreakers
2013: Scraps
2014: Eating My Words
2015: Landmarks
2016: A Box of Stars Beneath the Bed
2017: Sleep is a Beautiful Colour
2018: Ripening
2019: And We Pass Through
2020: Root, Branch, Tree
2021: Legerdemain
2022: And We Lived Happily Ever After

(If you're missing any of these from your collection, you can purchase print or electronic versions of these titles at the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop.)

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 12: The Back Catalogue.

13. That's Not Cricket!

The word 'eleven' can refer to a cricket team...but what if the cricket team was made up of actual crickets?

For this prompt, pick a phrase, expression, or idiom and interpret it literally. If it's raining cats and dogs, let's see the fur fly. If you're stealing someone's thunder, maybe the victim is Thor. If it's the last straw, then show us what happened after all the vegetation apocalypse. Feel free to play with magical realism, fable or down-and-out silliness, whatever you fancy!

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 13: That's Not Cricket!

14. Make a Wish!

Some people say that 11:11 is a lucky time, and that if you see this time on the clock and make a wish, your wish will come true. Write a flash in which someone makes a wish that comes true in an unexpected way....

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 14: Make a Wish!

15. Pairings

To mark our ten year anniversary last year, NFFD hosted our first ever novella-in-flash competition. To celebrate our eleventh anniversary, we're launching the winning novella, Sybilla, by Joanna Campbell.

While writing an entire novella-in-flash is a bit ambitious for a project with a 24-hour turn-around, we can at least get you started....

For this prompt, write not one but two separate flashes of up to 150 words each (shorter is more than fine). Both flashes should be completely separate, stand-alone pieces, but there should be an element that connects them. Maybe the main character in the first appears in the second. Maybe they take places in exactly the same location, 11 years apart. Maybe they each involves the same selection of strange, unusual words....

If you haven't already bought a copy, you can find Sybilla in the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 15: Pairings.

16. Downing Street

Here in the UK, Number 11 Downing Street is the address of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. For this prompt, embrace your inner treasury and write a flash that includes — or is in the form of — of a financial document. This could be a budget, tax forms, a price list, a chequebook register, or anything else money-related that you might fancy writing about.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 16: Downing Street.

17. Freedom

The theme for this year's National Flash Fiction Day Anthology is 'freedom'. As editors Karen Jones and Christopher Drew put it:

Flash fiction offers the writer a freedom not often seen in traditional, longer form fiction. Freedom with language, with structure, with character and point of view. Freedom to experiment and to arrange thoughts on the page in new and surprising ways.

For this next prompt, we invite you embrace this freedom and sense of exploration.... Write a flash about a very unusual freedom.

And, of course, if you don't yet have a copy of this year's anthology, you can find it at the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 17: Freedom.

18. Up to Eleven

The amps in This is Spinal Tap go up to eleven instead of ten. ("It's one louder, isn't it?") For this prompt, write a flash in which someone goes beyond what is possible (literally or metaphorically).

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 18: Up to Eleven.

19. Fast Forward

We've gone back in time; now it's time to flash forward!

Write a flash set eleven decades in the future.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 19: Fast Forward.

20. By the Year

Write a flash from the point of view of a person (or thing!) who is eleven years old.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 20: By the Year.

21. The Beginning's End

Eleven is the first number that starts and ends with with same digit (and indeed is the first non-trivial repdigit, if you're into such things). In this prompt, we play homage to this: write a flash that starts and ends with the same sentence.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 21: The Beginning's End.

22. Repeat After Me...

If you've been following our prompts all day, are you bored of the number eleven yet? Fear not! We're nearing the end...though we're not quite there yet!

For the final task, let's embrace this ridiculous eleven fixation by writing a flash that uses the word 'eleven' in it...eleven times.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 22: Repeat After Me...

23. The Eleventh Hour

We're nearing the end of this year's series of Write-In prompts (though stay tuned; we'll have a bonus prompt at midnight).

For this prompt, write a flash about someone who is trying to finish something at the very last moment.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 23: The Eleventh Hour.

24. Happily Ever After

This is the final eleven-related writing prompt of the year for National Flash Fiction Day, and what better way to end this year's series of Write-In prompts than with the title of our 11th National Flash Fiction Day Anthology: And We Live Happily Ever After, named after Damhnait Monaghan's story by that title within.

Write a microfiction of no more than 50 words in response to the prompt 'And We Live Happily Ever After'. (You do not need to include these words in your flash.)

And, of course, if you don't yet have a copy of this year's anthology, you can find it at the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop.

If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 24: Happily Ever After.

Pictures for Prompt #9: A Picture is Worth...