The Jot Club is a creative writing podcast for anyone who wants to write more. Every 22 hours, get a writing prompt, a little guidance, and ten minutes to put words on the page. Then visit thejotclub.com to share your jot and read what others wrote.
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Our prompt today asks you to write a list of character names, and the thinking behind it is that a name can be the seed of a whole story, with a setting or situation built around it afterward, or the other way round. Flip the order and see where it takes you.
Today's prompt opens in a cafe: a woman peers up as the doors open and a man walks in, talking into his phone, and her only words are "Is that right?" We also look at why plain "said" often works better than fancier dialogue tags, and how one action beat can add the context a reader needs.
Today's prompt comes from a single line of dialogue: "I can't. I showed up." Paired with a drooling, dragging look up into someone's eyes, it leaves you wondering what a character can't do when they've already arrived. The episode also takes aim at the urge to keep tinkering with your pens, notepads, and software before writing a word.
Today's prompt puts you inside a wedding as the cake, watching the guests, feeling the room, and deciding what it would say about the couple. We also get to share a few lines on Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which kept us up late.
Today's prompt is "If they say it, all hell would break loose," and it leaves you guessing what "it" is. We also explore writers who plan every twist in advance versus those who start with a name or a scenario and let it lead. Is the suspense in what gets said, or in the silence before it?
Today's prompt is a single line: "And then the power went out." We're pushing past the obvious version, so the real question is what would make that moment interesting to a reader.
Today's prompt asks what changes when someone arrives five minutes earlier than expected. Were you ever the early one, twiddling your thumbs, or did something unexpected happen in those extra minutes? Fiction or true, both are welcome.