Written by Emily Harstone December 29th, 2014

Writing Prompt: Running

I want you to write a short story or a scene where your character is running the whole time. That is the only thing that the story or scene must contain – a main character running.

Why that character is running is up to you. How well they run is also up to you. If they are a good runner, in a non-dangerous situation, they could have lots of thoughts and ideas not related to running. If they are in bad shape and running for their lives, they are probably not thinking much at all. It just depends on the details of the situation.

Depending on the situation, this prompt could be more about ideas, more about character development, and more about plot. So take that into consideration when you are figuring out what kind of story you are going to tell.

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

Verso: Accepting Proposals

Verso is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world. They publish 100 books a year, and have editors based in Brooklyn, London, and Paris. They participate in all of the major book fairs. The majority what they publish is is nonfiction, and they are not open to unsolicited submissions of fiction of…

Quills & Quartos Publishing: Accepting Submissions

Quills & Quartos Publishing was founded in 2019. They started with a very specific vision, to focus on publishing the best Austenesque romance fiction. This is of course a niche market within a niche market, so if this is not the right fit for your work, please don’t submit or read further. However if you…

University Press of Mississippi: Accepting Submissions

The University Press of Mississippi was founded in 1970. They are currently the largest and only nonprofit publisher in the state. They are supported by Mississippi’s eight state-run universities. They publish work on a variety of subjects and are open to submissions in all nonfiction categories. They are interested in fiction or poetry submissions. You…

Elk Lake Publishing Inc: Accepting Proposals

This small press’s motto is “Publishing the Positive”. They were founded in 2016 by Deb Haggerty, whom you can learn more about here. Elk Lake focuses on publishing positive Christian books. Their website is a little out of date, and poorly organized. Although the main page clearly focuses on highlighting recent books, I didn’t find…