It’s a brand new year of our month-long Let’s Write Together Prompt Party!
We had our LIVE Writing Prompt Party last night but there’s still more to come. If you are new to this whole thing, this is our monthly pattern:
A live Writing Prompt Party OPEN TO ALL WRITERS (DONE!)
A prompt post sharing the writing prompt with the entire community (THIS post!)
A thread post where you can share what you wrote based on the prompt for the community to read and share your fiction! (Next week)
Those of you who attended the party do not need this, but for everyone else, here is the prompt we selected this month!
Your Writing Prompt for January 2026
This month’s prompt is taken from a special edition of Rory’s Story Cubes that I had never used before: Rory’s Story Cubes Actions.
This box, like the classic Rory’s Story Cubes, contains nine 6-sided cubes with drawings on each side. The difference in this box is that each image shows a character doing something. The original Rory’s Story Cubes box has drawings that are mostly objects that can be interpreted literally or figuratively. The group present at last night’s Live call was quite surprised by how these action images shifted our thinking in new ways. It was a challenge for all of us, but, as it was a first time go around for everyone present, it has piqued our curiosity for further experimentation. Please let us know how this prompt inspires (or challenges) your creativity this month!
Your Prompt
Write a story including all nine of the actions shown on the cubes (see photo of the cubes in the next section). Here is the group’s interpretation of the images on the cubes.
brick laying | robbing | climbing a tree
cutting paper | hurt finger/hand | walking with friend/partner while pointing
sneaking/peeking around a corner | fighting/ “rough housing” | hanging or doing a pull-up
The Cubes
Below is a screenshot of the cubes rolled during the meeting. A description of our interpretation of what action is being shown in each, if you see something else, please feel free to use your own vision in your writing.
Our “Rules”
Our major goal is to get you writing, so, in the big-picture sense of things there are no real “rules” for how you use this prompt, however, for participation in next week’s story sharing thread, there will be guidelines in the hopes that it aids participants in not only writing each month, but also being able to read and share as many stories as possible.
If you wish to share your story next week in the thread:
We are looking for fresh flash fiction! In other words, the story must be written from this prompt. Of course, creativity wins the day and if all aspects of the prompt are not adhered to that is fine, but if you are just sharing stories you’ve written in the past that clearly have no connection to this prompt, you are missing the point of us WRITING TOGETHER!
1,000 words or less, please! I have high hopes to read through all stories in the thread and hope our community members do as well. Keeping our stories on the short side definitely makes this a more reasonable ask.
Share links, not stories! Do not copy and paste your story into the comments section. You may share a link to your fiction Substack page, or a read-only Google Doc of your story.
Don’t stress this. This is not a competition in any sense of the word, this is an opportunity to come together around a prompt and celebrate all of our creative minds and processes together. While I know there is no way for me to liberate you from any of the fears that may naturally come from sharing your fiction publicly, please know that this is not a forum for judgement, but for celebration. This is a PARTY and I am looking for cheerleaders all around. Critique is for another day, and a completely different forum.
***SPECIAL NOTE***
I will share this again on our thread post, but keep in mind that if you happen to fall deeply in love with the story that is birthed from this prompt and have aspirations to submit it for publication, many publications are not interested in previously published material.
THIS SHARING OF YOUR STORY WILL COUNT AS AN ONLINE PUBLICATION IN MANY CASES.
Please do not share your story if you think you may want to seek publication for it in one of these platforms! The absolute last thing I want to do with this party is stymie your publication growth!
If you have any comments or questions about this, please feel free to let me know in the comments section.
Subscribe & Share
If you want to make sure you don’t miss a beat with these monthly prompt parties, make sure you are subscribed to Stop Writing Alone.
And, if you know of another writer who would love to participate, please make sure you share this post with them so they can do the same!
Now… GO WRITE!
With all that said and done, LET’S WRITE TOGETHER! I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Check your inbox next Thursday for the thread post where you can share it with us!
HAPPY WRITING!
Happy New Year Nicole et al!