Written by Emily Harstone October 9th, 2014

Writing Prompt: Anyone’s Ghost

The National wrote a song called Anyone’s Ghost. I write a lot based on music that I am listening to, but rarely do I do this in a formal way. However this song, in my opinion, is a great basis for a prompt, not in terms of the music but in terms of the lyrics.

Your prompt this week is to take the following phrases “Didn’t want to be your ghost, Didn’t want to be anyone’s ghost” from the song Anyone’s Ghost and turn these two lines into the foundation for a short story or a poem.

You can use an abbreviated version of the lyrics for the title, or you can embed part of the lyrics in the work your writing, or you can just incorporate the ideas contained in the lyrics in your short story or poem.

Have fun with this. Experiment with this idea. I think this prompt works best if you set a ten minute timer before starting. 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

14 Magazines Accepting Climate and Environmental Fiction

14 Magazines Accepting Climate and Environmental Fiction

Magazines seeking short stories and poetry.

Sontag Mag: Now Seeking Poetry Submissions

Sontag Mag: Now Seeking Poetry Submissions

Seeking poetry and poetry in translation. The deadline is July 31st.

Case Study: How The Coat Check Girl Came to Life

Case Study: How The Coat Check Girl Came to Life

An author's publishing success after 16 years of doubt and rejection.

27 Literary Journals with Fast Response Times

27 Literary Journals with Fast Response Times

It is good to start out by submitting your work to literary journals that have fast response times. It is rewarding to hear back from journals within a month, rather than a year later, when you have forgotten all about them. Submitting to journals with fast response times helps keep you motivated. All of these…