This week: One Prompt, Infinite Possibilities Edited by: Jayne  
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Hello, I'm Jayne! Welcome to my short story explorations. My goal with these newsletters is to explore the techniques and concepts that make short stories great. Some issues will connect as part of a larger series, while others will stand alone. I aim to keep each newsletter both informative and fun, and I hope to spark your curiosity along the way.
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It's no secret that my writing often veers into strange territory, like a stream-of-consciousness piece about pigeons in parking lots. Why would I do that?
Because someone gave me a prompt: SERENDIPITY.
(It was Lilli ☕. Blame her for giving me something awesome to run with.)
But the real point of my pigeon nostalgia isn't that I did something weird. It's that sometimes, I forget I can do something weird.
When I first tackled that serendipity prompt, I wrote multiple variations. None of them clicked. They felt flat, like I was forcing myself to respond to a prompt just to answer it.
Worse, I was answering it in a way that felt generic.
Now, my version of "generic" might not look like yours. Maybe you don't want to write weird. Perhaps you aren't interested in subverting anything, but you still want to push yourself a little outside your comfort zone.
So, let's play a game.
I give you:
WATER DROPS.
I picked this image because, at first glance, it did nothing for me. It's raining. It's pouring. The old man is snoring (look it up, young'uns).
My first thought was a petrichor-laden love story, but I've done that before.
I got stuck. It's three water droplets clinging to a rail. Big whoop.
Maybe you've had the same experience with prompts. The image, the word, the topic — it just didn't spark anything.
The prompt was probably fine.
But no matter how you tried to square it, you kept circling back to:
What am I supposed to do with this?
Here's the bad news: that's the wrong question.
Here's the good news: there are better ones you can ask.
The Reality of Prompts
The magic of a prompt isn't in what's shown. It's in you deciding what it means.
You get to choose what matters. You decide if it's about a melancholy rainy day—or if it's even raining at all.
Subverting a prompt means stepping back from the obvious or zooming in closer to something tiny but overlooked.
You can ask yourself:
 What isn't this showing me?
What's happening just outside the frame?
What if I focused on only one tiny aspect?
Could this image or word hint at something much bigger?
What if this isn't what it looks like?
What if everything about it is a lie?
6 Ways to Subvert The Water Drop Prompt
Here's how we could take the water droplets and flip the script:
1. They're not raindrops.
A shapeshifter is transforming back into a human, drenched in sweat from the effort. These droplets fall from their forehead as they lean against a tree.
2. It's a Microcosm of a Bigger Disaster.
The droplets aren't rain; they're the first leaks in a crumbling post-apocalyptic shelter. Outside, something worse than a storm is coming. Inside, three kids whisper about what to do next.
3. They're Old School Folklore.
Migrating water sprites, trapped in droplets, moving from place to place. Some days, they grant wishes.
4. Sometimes, You Gotta Blow Stuff Up.
The "drops" are containment fields holding unstable materials. If one falls, the explosion will be catastrophic. Who made them? Why? What happens next? That's your story.
5. An Entire Story in a Reflection.
Each droplet captures a reflection. Something—or someone—is moving toward the cabin in one of them. A scream echoes across the field. The story unfolds through the warped lens of the water, giving you an unreliable narrator in the middle of an important tale.
6. The Personal Is Monumental.
A child waits on the porch, staring at the raindrops, overhearing an adult conversation that will change their life forever. We find out at the end the moment replays every time a raindrop plunks on something metal, and we've been listening to a retelling from the POV of the rain, not a live moment. It's as though the raindrop captured the audio of that moment and rippled it through the clouds.
(That last one melted my brain a little. That's part of the fun, though. Dig around until you find something that speaks to you).
Why Bother Subverting?
Because the most memorable short stories transform the ordinary into something unforgettable.
It keeps your ideas fresh.
It keeps you excited to write.
Most importantly, it trains you to find stories anywhere, even in unlikely places.
Subversion isn't about being weird for the sake of it. It's about recognizing that your first instinct is probably the same instinct everyone else has—and that's okay. And it's about giving yourself permission to dig deeper.
The gold usually isn't in the first layer. It's two or three layers down.
So go dig. Go subvert some prompts.
I'll be over here, happily staying weird.
As always, happy writing!
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Short Stories: April 30, 2025 Issue [#13112]
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