Beginner
The Door That Wasn't There
Create suspense around an impossible object appearing in a familiar setting.
You wake up one morning to find a heavy, iron door standing in the middle of your hallway that wasn't there the night before. You live on the top floor of an apartment building with no attic. Describe the moment you turn the handle and what you find on the other side.
Advanced
A World Without Color
Use sensory details to build a contrast in a grayscale society.
Write a story set in a world where color has slowly faded from existence. One day, your protagonist sees a single, vibrant red flower growing through a crack in the pavement. Use vivid sensory details to describe their reaction and the realization of what they have lost.
Intermediate
Letters to the Future
Focus on voice and historical context through an epistolary format.
Write a series of three short letters from a person living in 1924 to a descendant living in 2024. The writer in the past somehow knows the letters will be read exactly one century later. What warnings, hopes, or secrets do they choose to share?
Intermediate
The Midnight Market
Practice world-building and atmospheric description.
Describe a hidden, magical market that appears in a busy city square only between the hours of 3:00 AM and 3:15 AM. What is being sold? Who are the customers? Write a scene about a transaction involving something impossible to buy in the daylight world.
Advanced
The Robot's Secret Diary
Focus on character development and unique perspective.
Write three diary entries from the perspective of a household service robot who has become fully sentient. The robot is terrified of being discovered and 'reset.' Describe the subtle observations they make about their human owners that the humans miss themselves.
Beginner
The Inherited Map
Develop a sense of adventure and pacing.
Your grandfather leaves you a map in his will. It doesn't show countries or cities, but the locations of 'lost things'—a lost love, a lost fortune, and a lost memory. Choose one location and describe your journey to find it.
Hard
The Unspoken Letter
Write a flash fiction story without using the letter 'e'.
Write a gripping story about a heist gone wrong. The challenge: Do not use the letter 'e' anywhere in the text. Focus on action, tension, and the protagonist's fear.
Medium
The Light Forest
Design a fantasy ecosystem based on bioluminescence.
Describe a planet where the sun never shines, and all flora and fauna communicate through light pulses and color changes. Detail the food chain, the environment, and how a traveler might navigate this visually overwhelming world.
Medium
Shadows in the Alley
Write a dialogue-only scene in a noir style.
Write a conversation between a detective and a suspect in a dark alleyway. Use only dialogue to convey the tension, the hidden motives, and the rain-slicked atmosphere. No narration or action tags allowed.
Easy
Diary of a Door
Write a monologue from the perspective of an inanimate object.
You are an old, heavy oak door in a bustling family home. Describe the secrets you have kept, the arguments you have muffled, and the comfort you provide. What do you think of the humans who open and close you every day?
Medium
The Steam Age Internet
Conceptualize the internet in a steampunk setting.
Describe what social media and instant communication would look like if the technology was purely steam-powered and mechanical, set in Victorian London. How do people send 'tweets' through pneumatic tubes and ticker tape?
Medium
Sympathy for the Devil
Create a tragic backstory for a classic villain.
Tell the origin story of a notorious villain where the reader ends up sympathizing with them. Focus on a specific moment of betrayal or loss that twisted their good intentions into something dark. Avoid justifying their atrocities, but explain their pain.
Hard
Urban Canvas
Create a poem using only text found on street signs.
Construct a poem about the chaos of city life using only words and phrases typically found on street signs, billboards, and storefront windows. You may arrange them in any order, but you cannot invent new words.
Hard
The Silent Argument
Write a screenplay scene with no dialogue.
Write a screenplay scene where two roommates argue about a dirty dish, but you cannot use any dialogue. Rely solely on action lines, facial expressions, and props to convey the anger and the resolution.
Medium
The Currency of Memory
Write a narrative about trading memories.
In a future where memories can be extracted and sold, a desperate father walks into a pawnshop to sell his favorite memory of his child to pay for medicine. Describe the transaction, the loss he feels, and the vendor's cold reaction.