Dramatic Writing Prompts

Twinkling

Setting the backdrop

Of our last life

Of reminiscent smiles

In the life before.

Clinking, softly

Unsettling, clearing

Of our dinner dishes

Of our candlelight wishes

Scintillating.

From the soufflé bistro

Way back in a French rue

To the authentically remote

Italian trattoria

Where we ate “real” pizza.

Illuminating

The lost nights

From the tried and true

Taverna in old St. Pete

To the ...

The day I turned 18, sweet sunny, summer day!

Was I by forest’s edge, kept saying I’m okay,

That day, from all of days, wasn’t supposed to cry!

That day, unlike the others, wasn’t about goodbyes!

I wanted, one more time, first time in adulthood,

To hug a special oak tree, my friend so strong and good,

To tell him that I’m sorry I didn’t come to see

The forest, I was busy to grow and simply be…

...

“Oh that’s so cute..!” I munch on a fry. “And a little cheesy.”

He chuckles, a playful glint in his eye. He scrolled though his phone, looking for his cute date photos. “They usually like it.”

“I’m sure. Do they get to take one too?” I asked.

“Yeah, sometimes. Oh here they are!” He turns the phone towards me. The photo is of him and a pretty brunette in some night club. He swipes, to another wit...

The voices calm

My back is sharp

I have been impaled

On this street corner

I cannot sit

I cannot slump

The pole has been jabbed into my back

Propping me up

Like a doll in a case

People pass

But do not look

They do not see what has happened

My gasping is not loud enough

I cannot catch my breath

People pass

But do not look

Now I know

They do see what has happened

They do not care

My final breaths...

“You’ll be going back to your Mother, then?” the housemaid asked as she set down the bowl of fresh fruit.

“I will,” Persephone replied. Zoe had become a good friend and confidente during her time in the foul, sulfur-smelling place.

“I hope your stay hasn’t been all bad.”

Persephone smiled. It hadn’t, actually. Hades had been a kind god, in his own way, living among a land of ghosts. In some ...

the thrill of thin ice

the familiarity of worry

the comfort of self pity

the yearning for what is always sliding away

the relief of not yet cracking through...

Beach detritus. You always hope you’ll find Aladdin’s lamp or the corner of a buried treasure chest when you comb the beach. But there is always just beach detritus. And people’s garbage. People can be so disgusting. That’s when I saw it. Lying there amongst the mostly empty food containers and wrappers. A gold ring with a diamond.

The diamond ring glinted in the sunlight. A special ray o...

I have always dreamed of revolution.

Something that would send ripples through the world, tear it at the very seam— and turn it upside down.

Think of an hourglass. If there‘s a quake, it will shake, shake, shake and, if the quake is forceful enough, it will flip.

How wondrous! My hands ache for the sense of new discovery, of breakthrough!

That is why I schemed. A grand scheme indeed it is that ...

The nausea crept up her throat

From the pit of her stomach;

The realisation that yesterday was real.

And the nausea went to sickness

When the walls began to peel,

Like those ailing, painted boats.

Up came yesterday and last year with it

A mess of promises,

Or maybe hopes glued together.

There was peace in burning

Letting go of her tether,

Emptying the first-aid kit.

And there she lay

Counting...

I had always been a useless alchemist. As an apprentice to the Royal Alchemist, my father, everyone expects great things from me. I knew all the recipes and techniques but my potions were never as strong as they should be. My father says that I’m just inexperienced but I know that it’s because I’m only half elf. Because of my human mother, I don’t have the inherent magic that all Elves should. I h...

“I love you. Buh-bye.” I say to my youngest son as I put the phone down. I walk through the hall of the house I’ve lived in for most of my life, although it used to hold a whole family. For the past few years, it’s been just me and these paint-chipped walls. I love this place, but I miss my family. My wife passed just a few years ago, and my children have been out of the house for many years now. ...

I met you on one of the worst days of my life,

But you didn’t know that yet.

I pretended to be busy when you walked by my desk,

So you wouldn’t see me upset.

But little did I know, you would soon save my soul,

One eye roll and sigh at a time.

When I needed a life vest, you jumped in instead,

Pushed me up when I couldn’t climb.

I was drowning in grief with so many unknowns,

Five kids hung in t...