Mid-Month Short Story Challenge: An Update

I’ve been doing the Mid-Month Short Story Challenge since July of 2017. In that time, I’ve posted 16 prompts covering a decently wide range of genres, story styles, and other gimmicks to try to challenge both myself and others who were participating in the challenge to create unique stories. During that time, I’ve enjoyed developing my own writing skills based on prompts that were often created in collaboration with other people.

I put the Mid-Month Short Story Challenge on hiatus in December because I didn’t expect to have time to write a new short story around Christmas, nor did I expect anyone else to do so. That said, as I was creating my writing goals for 2019, I came to a realization. While the MMSSC has been a great way to build my own skills as a writer, it has not taken off in the same way I had hoped it would. Through 16 editions of the prompts, there have been a total of 4 stories other than mine written from those prompts. Total, that is, not per prompt. And while I do enjoy the challenge myself, I don’t feel the need to produce new MMSSC prompts if no one is writing for them aside from me. I already have a work in progress I procrastinate on a ton.

While I may bring back the MMSSC in the future, it likely won’t be soon. If you are interested in writing a short story based on one of the old prompts, that’s awesome! I’ve linked the prompts below, along with a very short description of each. After the prompt, I’ve also linked my responses to each prompt, in case you want to read those. 

• Prompt 1 – On recapturing feelings that are long gone| Foxtails, Extended Version
• Prompt 2 – Write a fantasy story about a sacred weapon| In Training
• Prompt 3 – There are demons inside us all| Mathair
• Prompt 4 – Pen a letter to a stranger| You
• Prompt 5 – “I’ve never seen anything quite like it”| Dialogue Only
• Prompt 6 – People watching (Part 1)| Your Order is Ready
• Prompt 7 – A mad dash through the airport| Time Crunch
• Prompt 8 – Dealing with the ghosts of your past| The Isle Charon
• Prompt 9 – Your take on film noir| The Order of the Sacred Jade
• Prompt 10 – A date that doesn’t go as expected| Carroll and Carroll
• Prompt 11 – Explaining first world problems to aliens| Earth: A Study in Simulated Planet Behavior
• Prompt 12 – Writing a story based on a song you picked| Laramie
• Prompt 13 – Writing a story based on a song I pick for you| Vita in Morte Sumus
• Prompt 14 – Tell a story centering on change| Like Clockwork
• Prompt 15 – You’re the ghost. Dress yourself for a haunt.| Another Haunt
• Prompt 16 – People watching (Part 2)| Eyes Upon Us

As for my favorite stories that I’ve written as part of this challenge, I’m quite partial to the weirdness that was Earth: A Study of Simulated Planet Behavior from prompt 11, as well as my first attempt at a true fantasy story with prompt 2’s response, In Training. The other notable thing that these prompts allowed me to do was to expand on abandoned projects I’d used for other things, such as The Isle Charon as well as Foxtails.

Thank you to everyone who has read the Mid-Month Short Story Challenge posts over the past year and a half or so. It’s been a lot of fun to do. I’ll make sure to give a heads up before restarting the project if I do reboot it in the future.