Written by November 21st, 2013

Prompt: Inheritance

If you are writing a novel, you can give the main character a break and use him or her in this writing prompt. If you don’t have any characters at your immediate disposal, create one for this prompt.

In this prompt, the main character receives an inheritance, not from a parent but from a wealthy uncle or aunt, someone they barely know. This inheritance is not money, or jewels, or even valuable antiques. This inheritance is a strange device.

What this strange device is exactly is up to you. You can make it a robot, or a hovercraft, or a portable time machine, anything strange and electronic will work for the purpose of the prompt.

It is up to you if the device itself works or not. You get to decide if it is functional, and how functional it is. Perhaps it is a ten minute time machine, or the robot just ends up being able to sweep.

This is the sort of prompt that has a lot of flexibility built in. You can make it a funny story, or a tragic one, it is all up to you!

Happy writing!

 

We Send You Publishers Seeking Submissions.

Sign up for our free e-magazine and we will send you reviews of publishers seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and books.

Subscribe now and we'll send you a free copy of our book Submit, Publish, Repeat

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: December 2025

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: December 2025

This monthly column is published on the fourth Thursday of every month, and is a space to share information that doesn’t fit anywhere else in our publication. This includes a wide range of opportunities for writers, news and information, and subscriber’s recent success stories. Opportunities: Tokyo Poetry Journal is open for submissions from now through…

30 Magazines Accepting Flash Fiction

30 Magazines Accepting Flash Fiction

These magazines publish a wide variety of flash fiction, up to 1,500 words. Many of them publish other genres as well, like nonfiction and poetry. They are a mix of literary and genre magazines. Many, but not all of them, are open for submissions now. A few of these magazines pay writers.Ink In ThirdsThey publish…

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in December 2025

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in December 2025

These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They’re a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all are open through the month. The Ex-PuritanThis Canadian literary magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, experimental/hybrid work, interviews, reviews, poetry, and poetry in translation. The deadline is 25 December, or until filled, for the next issue; they accept a…

Lamp Lit: Now Seeking Submissions

Lamp Lit: Now Seeking Submissions

A journal of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. They nominate writers for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.