✍️ Written Tales Member Challenge
🕰️ Prompt: What They Left Behind
Sometimes the most powerful memories come from what’s been left behind.
A worn jacket in the back of a closet.
A voicemail never deleted.
A name scratched into wood.
For this Member Challenge, we invite you to write about an object left behind, something ordinary or strange that carries unexpected meaning. Who left it? Why? What echoes from it still linger?
The heart of this prompt is emotional residue. Memory. Discovery.
What do we carry that isn’t ours?
🔹 Prompt: What They Left Behind
✍️ Write a short story, personal essay, or poem centered around an item someone else left behind. Use it to reveal something hidden, unresolved, or true.
🖋️ Word Count: Up to 1,500
📌 Deadline: Open; submit when ready
💬 Need Some Inspiration?
A woman finds her sister’s diary in a moving box.
A man discovers a strange locket under the floorboards of his new apartment.
A child keeps finding notes in library books, always signed with the same name.
🎯 How to Submit
Select “Member Challenge” under “Submission For” when submitting via the
(Reminder: You must be a paid subscriber to access this.)
🎁 Selected entries may be published in an upcoming newsletter or considered for future digital chapbooks.
Every object tells a story.
The one left behind might be yours to write.
🖤 Written Tales
Where your stories matter.
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