Story Prompts | January 2024
by Switch-Lit
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: Butterflies
With over 18,000 species of butterflies, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, butterflies have thrilled artists and scientists alike with their diversity and seemingly infinite variations on what it means to be a butterfly. Their range in size, color, shape, fuzz, flight pattern, powers of mimicry, and survival strategy are a revelation upon further study. And in spite of their wondrous diversity, their sole purpose is to make love and multiply.
Perhaps most relevant here, butterflies are an enchanting metaphor for our own life journey. Their metamorphosis from pesky caterpillar to magnificent creature remind us that anything is possible. We too may find our cocoons and transform.
As you explore our butterfly-inspired prompts below, consider these instructive words from famed Russian novelist and ardent entomologist Vladimir Nabokov: “A writer must have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”
Prompt 1
One writer is a rare butterfly, and the other its hunter. The story is a poetic encounter between the two.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 2
The Monarch family heard all sorts of stories on their way to Mexico.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 3
An old Japanese superstition: If a butterfly enters a guest room and perches behind a screen, then the person whom you love the most is coming to see you.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 4
Nothing brought back memories of my father’s youth like a flutter of clouded yellows.
by Switch-Lit
Prompt 5
Welcome to the Cocoon Motel. Enjoy your stay.
by Switch-Lit