Weekly Challenges

Depict fire in your own imaginative way: the fire in a fireplace, a bonfire, a forest fire … Show its surreal beauty or its destructive force, or both.

Your character sets out to achieve a nearly impossible goal, which leads to humorous, surprising, and touching results.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of onomatopoeia is “the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz, hiss).” Use as many onomatopoeia words as you can in poetry or prose. 

Use any medium to depict either the feeling of an epiphany, or a character experiencing one themselves.

Write a story through text, email, passed notes in class, or any less conventional form of storytelling. Does some level of miscommunication occur in the process?

“If only…” What is the “if” that keeps you, or a character, up at night? Take the phrase wherever it leads you, through self-reflection, poetry, or prose.

Depict your own interpretation of the night sky. What you show is up to you: the moon, the stars, other planets; lightning bugs, skyline silhouettes, the world bathed in shadow.

Pause a second to think about what you are most proud of in life, whether a single moment or a prolonged effort. How has the experience shaped you?

Write about two or more characters trapped in an elevator, waiting in a dead-still traffic jam, or otherwise temporarily stuck together. Do they find humor or stress in the situation?

Reimagine your favorite cartoon or anime character from early childhood, or now, in a more realistic way. For example, redraw Courage the Cowardly Dog as a real dog with a sheepish-looking expression. 

Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound (“ch–,” “th–”) at the beginning of two or more words written closely together. Craft a poem, silly or serious, that uses alliteration in every line. 

Write about two characters pursuing the elusive sound of an ice cream truck that never comes into sight. Do they give up and trudge home in defeat? Do they eventually find themselves lost; if so, how do they navigate their way back?