Hello, Safety Engineers and Stress Handlers!
What? You’re just going to stand there? I thought you could handle this stuff! Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now! Aw, am I pushing your buttons? Good. I think it’s time to see just how much you can take, because…
This week’s Writing Group prompt is:
Breaking Point
RULES AND GUIDELINES BELOW!
Make sure you scroll down and read them if you haven’t! You may not be eligible if you don’t!
We’ve all had our limits tested, our buttons pushed, and sometimes that one sensitive spot gets hit. We go through trials and tasks in our daily lives, where the breaking point may change.
Look at a single parent handling three rowdy children. They’re all yelling and running even though they’ve been asked to sit down and eat breakfast several times. At what point does this parent start yelling, or grounding them? What point does this parent just… break down in tears from the frustration? Can they get through the entire hectic morning and keep it together? Perhaps an employee at work is constantly doing all the grunt work, staying late again and again, when they know they should have been promoted a long time ago. What if someone else got that promotion instead? Would they keep pushing on, would they quit, or would they finally confront their boss about the unfair work conditions they’ve been put through? What about a young mage who is teased by the rest of their class for their clumsiness? How long do they put up with it before telling the Arch Mage, or just taking it into their own hands and getting into spells too advanced for them?
You could even explore what it’s like to be a simple piece of wood that someone is trying to snap in half, bending you further and further, how they cringe and brace themselves for the snap that’s coming any second. Maybe someone’s favourite hiking trail includes a very old suspension bridge. It’s held every time before, but the chances of it breaking are getting higher and higher. Will this next crossing be safe just like before, or will this be the time it snaps? Perhaps you choose to explore the world of a Crash Test Dummy, and how they are sick and tired of always being put in life-threatening situations just to test the durability of a vehicle.
There’s limitless potential to this prompt, and we’re excited to see where you will take it.
Oh, and help yourself to a stress ball. They can be quite helpful.
—Shawna
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Remember, this is part of our weekly Writing Group stream! Submit a little piece following the rules and guidelines below, and there’s a chance your entry will be read live on stream! In addition, we’ll discuss it for a minute and give you some feedback.
Tune into the stream this Saturday at 7:00pm CST to see if you made the cut!
The whole purpose of this is to show off the creativity of the community, while also helping each other to become better writers. Lean into that spirit, and get ready to help each other improve their confidence in their writing, as well as their skill with their craft!
Rules and Guidelines
We read at least four stories during each stream, two of which come from the public post, and two of which come from the much smaller private post. Submissions are randomly selected by a bot, but likes on your post will improve your chances of selection, so be sure to share your submission on social media!
Text and Formatting
- English only.
- Prose only, no poetry or lyrics.
- Use proper spelling, grammar, and syntax.
- Your piece must be between 250-350 words (you can use this website to see your wordcount).
- Use two paragraph breaks between each paragraph so that they have a proper space between them (press “enter” or “return” twice).
- Include a submission title and an author name (doesn’t have to be your real name). Do not include any additional symbols or flourishes in this part of your submission. Format them exactly as you see in this example, or your submission may not be eligible: Example Submission.
- No additional text styling (such as italics or bold text). Do not use asterisks, hyphens, or any other symbol to indicate whether text should be bold, italic, or styled in any other way. CAPS are okay, though.
What to Submit
- Keep submissions “safe-for-work”; be sparing with sexuality, violence, and profanity.
- Try to focus on making your submission a single meaningful moment rather than an entire story.
- Write something brand new; no re-submitting past entries or pieces written for other purposes
- No fan fiction whatsoever. Take inspiration from whatever you’d like, but be transformative and creative with it. By submitting, you also agree that your piece does not infringe on any existing copyrights or trademarks, and you have full license to use it.
- Submissions must be self-contained (everything essential to understanding the piece is contained within the context of the piece itself—no mandatory reading outside the piece required. e.g., if you want to write two different pieces in the same setting or larger narrative, you cannot rely on information from one piece to fill in for the other—they must both give that context independently).
Submission Rules
- One submission per participant.
- Submit your entry in a comment on this post.
- Submissions close at 12:00pm CST each Friday.
- You must like and leave a review on two other submissions to be eligible. Your reviews must be at least 50 words long, and must be left directly on the submission you are reviewing, not on another comment. If you’re submitting to the private post, feel free to leave these reviews on either the private or the public post. The two submissions you like need not be the same as the submissions you review.
- Be constructive and uplifting. These submissions are not for a professional market, and shouldn’t be treated as such. We do this, first and foremost, for the joy of the craft. Help other writers to feel like their work is valuable, and be considerate and gentle with critique when you offer it. Authors who leave particularly abrasive or disheartening remarks on this post will be disqualified from selection for readings.
- Use the same e-mail for your posts, reviews, and likes, or you may be rendered ineligible (you may change your username or author name between posts without problem, however).
- You may submit to either or both the public/private groups if you have access, but if you decide to submit to both, only the private group submission will be eligible.
- Understand that by submitting here, you are giving us permission to read your submission aloud live on stream and upload public, archived recordings of said stream to our social media platforms. You will always be credited, but only by the author name you supply as per these rules. No other links or attributions are guaranteed.
Comments on this post that aren’t submissions will be deleted, except for replies/reviews left on existing submissions.
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