Hello writers! Today’s story prompt takes a cue from a classic poetic form.
Day 17 Prompt: Write a “sonnet story”–a story in 14 sentences.
As you may recall from Day 24 of NaPoWriMo, there’s quite a bit more to an actual sonnet, which is measured in lines, not sentences. But we’re writing prose here, so no need to worry about meter or rhyme. Like writing a 100-word story, this is an extreme limitation that will force us to consider what the essential parts of a story are and how directly they can be set on the page.
For an added challenge, you might also want to borrow from the thematic structure of a sonnet.
Petrarchan (Italian) sonnets, for example typically start with 8 lines setting out a proposition/problem/question, followed by a turn, or “volta,” in the ninth line, signaling a transition to the corresponding answer or resolution.
In Shakespearean sonnets, the volta usually comes in the last two lines, which summarize the theme of the poem or give a new insight on that theme.