There is a pawn shop where people exchange prized possessions for more time added to their lives. But, once they pawn an object, the time they spent and the memories they have associated with it will vanish. Write a story or poem exploring what this means for the pawnshop owner or their customers. What can happen when time and treasured memories become a medium of exchange?...

Write a scene with at least three characters speaking to each other but do not use quotation marks. You may use dialogue tags (e.g., “he said,” “she replied,” etc.) but your main goal is to write the characters’ dialogue in such a way that the reader will know who is speaking and when, even without quotation marks. This is an exercise to challenge and develop character dialogue and personality as ...

For centuries, my people have spoken of the myth of the Galura, the gargantuan bird holding up the sky. Its wings send typhoons raging over our villages and storm tides swallowing our coastlines. It is a creature that never tires, never ceases flapping its enormous wings.

My lola (grandmother) told me the reason this bird works so tirelessly is to protect Alaya, the kingdom of Aring Sinukuan, f...

Write a story set in a world where everyone’s identity is assigned and dictated by their zodiac sign. Explore the challenges a character might face when their own personality and self-identity is not compatible with their assigned identity but they must conform anyway to avoid being rejected by their families, friends, and society and imprisoned by their government. ...

Palu was awoken by the smell of coconut milk. The rich, sweet scent was thick in his nostrils, and a sudden hunger blossomed in his belly. Breathing deeply, Palu detected the scent of fresh banana leaf, which formed a harmonious scent as it mixed with the coconut milk.

He lay flat on his back and opened his eyes, staring blankly at a spot above him. His mother had changed the banana leaf coverin...

I woke up in the middle of a large forest whose outer limits, along my long journey through it, I never found. It was filled with green, exceptionally fresh foliage. The grass beneath me was soft and crisp. An abundance of fruits hung from each surrounding tree.

I spotted the moving figures of people in the distance and walked cautiously toward them. The first thing I noticed was that they were ...

The Queen was found dead with the heel of a lady’s shoe plunged through her heart. The shoe was made entirely of glass and glinted with the reflected flames from the sconces on the Queen’s chamber walls.

A high-pitched, distraught wail carried across the grounds of the castle, tearing through the deep clanging of the clock tower announcing the hour of midnight. The guards outside who had been sta...

Distant fires, waking, searing

the ground beneath our feet.

Setting ablaze the barren, empty

domesticated wild.

Our sustenance grown cold

now razed, reborn.

Always a phoenix:

now in ash, now

suddenly transformed.

The fires creeping from the roof

that shelters hell, down deep

below, a distant roar, defeated

as our sweat and merriment rain

down upon the deadened grass

grown pale and parched,

now ar...

“Welcome, logicians! Artists! Puzzlers!”

The six members of the Puzzle Box Club stared at the gentleman on the raised platform. He was dressed in a decadent, well-tailored suit. His wide smile and shining eyes betrayed his excitement. He addressed them as if he had known them for decades.

But they had never seen the man before. They exchanged curious glances, asking silently where Master Enigma ...

Gideon sat on the roof of the tower, sweeping his eyes across the white expanse blanketing Barbania. The untrodden snow was peppered only with the black and green of dying trees, clinging to life and failing miserably.

The remaining villagers inhabiting Barbania lived in the same manner: Much as they hunted and scavenged, they still remained hungry. The scraps of sustenance in their barren, white...