Dear YWP Writers and Artists,

As a young adult who recently moved to Berlin, Germany from the US, I’ve been thinking a lot about communities and how my perception of them has changed from my experience of relocating. 

I’ve realized how easy it is to take community for granted—particularly in places where we speak the native language or have lived for a while—and how necessary it becomes to seek community in times when these comforts are not present in our everyday lives. As a writer and student especially, activities which require a lot of focused time alone, finding support in communities is helpful and makes me feel more human.  

In an unfamiliar place, surrounded by people who speak an unfamiliar language, forming community can more often feel like a burden or a challenge, and the ease of the communities that patterened our lives before are often missed (for example: I miss the independent bookstore I used to work at and the regulars I knew by name, seeing friends when buying groceries, and the farmer's market in my hometown which is more of a social event than a shopping spree).

My experience of living abroad and working to enter communities, as an expat, as someone considered a “foreigner” or “outsider,” has made me consider more than ever the value and nature of communities. What does it mean to be part of a community of "outsiders"? How does my experience and the choice I made to move compare to the realities of people who were involuntarily forced to move to unfamiliar communities? How should I go about finding or forming communities that align with who I am? 

These are just some of the questions that go along with my considerations of community, but I would love to see the documentation of your own as well!  

...how have you considered the value or nature of communities in your own life? 

– Sam Aikman, YWP Alumni Advisor

ADDITIONAL PROMPTS TO GET YOU STARTED:

1. Have you ever moved? How did it feel to be temporarily community-less? How did you go about building your new communities?
2. What are some obstacles to community-building? What do you find hardest about forming relationships and communities, and what comes naturally?
3. What does your ideal community look like?
4. Have you ever felt foreign, excluded, or alienated from a community, and if so, why? Tell the story of this experience.
5. Tell the story of a time you sought out or worked hard to join a community.
6. When was a time a community supported you? Alternatively, when was a time you supported your community?
7. What community in your life feels the most important and why?  
8. Which community in your life often goes unnoticed or unappreciated? Write an ode for the people in this community.
9. Describe a community that gives you joy.
10. What is a new or radical form of community you’d like to see in the world? How would this community function, and how would you start it?
11. How do your communities compare to those of animals?
12. When was a time you realized the value of a particular community?
13. How do the communities you're a part of define who you are?
14. What is something you've learned while being a part of a community? Alternatively, what is something you learned while being excluded from a community?
15. Use an experience of community in your life as the starting point for a related fictional piece. 

Do you need some inspiration or examples to help you begin writing? 

CHECK OUT THESE EXAMPLES: 

• Eschatology by Eve L. Ewing 

• Octopus Empire by Marilyn Nelson 

• Excerpt from The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

• Breadmen's by Sy Safransky

• Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander

• Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

• Excerpt from Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton 

• Does Creativity Need Community? by Aaron Lelito

This challenge was created by YWP's Sam Aikman as part of the Tomorrow Project Contest.

TOMORROW PROJECT CONTEST DETAILS: 

• Open to teens, 13-19, who have a YWP account. (It's free to join!)
• ​Must be original work and not published elsewhere. No AI.
• No limit to number of submissions.
• Each submission will be considered for the Tomorrow Project's six grand prizes of $250 to be awarded when the first phase of the project is completed in October 2025.
• Prize winners and honorable mentions will also be published in The Voice.

Questions? Contact Susan Reid, YWP Executive Director: Reid@YWP on the site, or by email: sreid@youngwritersproject.org

ALL TOMORROW PROJECT CHALLENGES LIST