Hello, Legends and Luminaries!
Would you want to live forever? Watch the world change and evolve? What about being remembered for hundreds and hundreds of years? There’s so much you could do to be immortal. Ironically, you’ll need to race the clock to achieve it , because…
This week’s Writing Group prompt is:
Make Me Immortal
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!
The concept of immortality is almost as old as time itself. For as long as we’ve had the sundial and the clepsydra, the astrolabe and the hourglass, and the classic ticking wall clock we know today, we’ve had the desire to freeze such devices, halting the march of time itself.
Sure, making oneself immortal in the literal sense is a bit… uh… impossible. But stories go back as far as the stars can remember of beings who were— and possibly still are— alive and kicking for longer than their little red fleshy tickers should have allowed. There’s the vampire, of course; a being of the night that feeds on the blood of the living, turns into rats, bats, or other creatures, is fended off with holy water, crosses and garlic, and disintegrates in the sun. Plenty of stories have been woven with this creature, some even playing with the lore behind them a little. There’s the Gods themselves, sitting upon their thrones or doing whatever they desire simply to entertain themselves, though as many stories tell, this usually involves interacting with the humans who worship them, whether it’s playing tricks on them, making them prophets and “speakers” for the Gods, or simply wooing human women.
But there’s more than just these ways to be immortal, depending on how you want to look at the definition of the word. To be immortal, yes, one can be made to live forever, but there’s also the other definition for it; deserving to be remembered forever.
A person could be completely mortal in the literal sense, being born to human parents, growing at the normal human rate, exploring life’s many adventures, and eventually reaching their elderly years and passing gently in their sleep. But what if they did something great during their life? Perhaps they discovered a cure for some otherwise deadly disease. Maybe they were not only a huge stepping stone in the moving forward of technology, but even advanced it by leaps and bounds. Maybe they were a celebrity that everyone just loved, both on and off camera. Or maybe they weren’t even given a lot of attention in life, and only became immortal after their deaths. For whatever reason, they are immortalized in documentaries and movies, in books and awards. Or perhaps the immortal ones are simply that way because those still alive remember them, and celebrate them during Mexico’s Día de los Muertos festivities.
There’s plenty of ways one can become immortal. Whether those reasons are good or bad, is up to the person achieving that immortality.
So what are you waiting for? Time waits for no one! Get out there, and leave your memorable mark on the world!
—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 3:00pm 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! Get ready not just to share what you’ve got, but to give back to the other writers here as well.
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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