Every month, Switch-Lit releases new story prompts to help launch your next collaborative fiction journey. You can find them on the Switch-Lit “Prompts” page, or revisit our full archive of prompts here on Substack.
This month’s theme: Sprites
The word sprite is derived from the Latin spiritus, or “spirit”, and originated as a supernatural entity in European mythology. What distinguishes a sprite from other mythological beings is that they are ethereal and non-physical. They float like ghosts or flicker like fairies in environments that uniquely define them.
We commonly imagine sprites in nature, but may discover that they have made their ethereal way into computer graphics, the Earth’s mesosphere, and even soda.
– Ken
S••L Editor
Prompt 1
This is an origin story or creation myth for red sprites - massive electric discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds and give rise to red abstract shapes that burst up to 30 miles long in the night sky.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 2
A young boy grows up in a desert town and finds regular solace beside a river canal inhabited by a water sprite that only he can see.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 3
In April 1974, designer Tomohiro Nishikado wanted to go beyond the rectangle shapes of "Pong" so he created the first video game to represent character players as pixel-like human sprites. Write a storyline for a video game about a world of rectangles who suddenly discover they may rearrange themselves into something more.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 4
The gang of young goddesses set off a red sprite storm whenever they carried out their mischief.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 5
It was 1994 and Penelope Cashdollar was the kind of middle school girl who spent her lunch money on a pack of Twix bars, a roll of Lifesaver mints, and a can of Sprite.
by Switch-Lit