One prompt. Three lines. Your name on a page.
Every Friday we send one writing prompt to a WhatsApp group of parents. On Monday we publish the three answers we could not stop thinking about, each on its own page, with the writer's first name on it. It is free, and it takes a child about four minutes.
Ages 7 to 11
Someone ties a thread around your wrist and says, “Now nothing bad can happen to you.” For one whole day, you believe it completely. Tell us the one thing you were brave enough to do.
3 lines. That is the whole ask.
Ages 12 to 17
A thread has been tied on somebody's wrist. Write the moment, years later, when it finally comes off. You may not say who tied it, or why. Tell us whether the promise came off with it.
3 lines. That is the whole ask.
No fee, no form, no account. Reply in the group and we read every one.
What this one quietly teaches: A small object can carry a promise, so you never have to say the promise out loud.
The wall is empty because nobody has sent one yet. Somebody has to be first, and being first is the easiest week to get published.
Send the first lineWe are a publishing house. So we pay in print.
Published on Monday
Your line gets its own page on this site, with your first name and age on it, and a note from the editor who chose it saying what you did well. Send that link to whoever you like.
Line of the Month
Once a month one line wins. We print it properly on a card, an editor signs it, and it goes to your house in the post. Nothing arrives in the post for children any more, which is exactly why it works.
Your name in a real book
4 published lines in one year and your name goes into The Friday Book, our annual collection, printed and bound. Contributors get a copy. No charge, ever.
None of the three costs a rupee. We do this because children write better when somebody they do not know is going to read it, and because a house that publishes children should be able to prove it every week, not once a term.
13 prompts, then it starts again. Use them at home, in a classroom, on a long drive. They are free to anyone, including teachers, and no attribution is needed.
Someone ties a thread around your wrist and says, “Now nothing bad can happen to you.” For one whole day, you believe it completely. Tell us the one thing you were brave enough to do.
Older: A thread has been tied on somebody's wrist. Write the moment, years later, when it finally comes off. You may not say who tied it, or why. Tell us whether the promise came off with it. (3 lines)
Your school bag has been keeping one secret from you. What is it?
Older: Write the school bag's account of an ordinary Tuesday, in its own voice. (3 lines)
This is the last line of a story: "And that is why we no longer talk about the second floor." Write the first line.
Older: Same last line. Write the opening paragraph that earns it, without giving away what happened. (3 lines)
You hear one sentence through a wall: "You said you'd bring it back." Who said it, and to whom?
Older: Write the two minutes on either side of that sentence. Dialogue only. No he-said, she-said. (55 words)
The monsoon arrives a month early. Tell us one thing it ruins and one thing it saves.
Older: The monsoon arrives a month early. Whole story, exactly 55 words. (55 words)
The lift in your building has started stopping between floors. It is doing this on purpose. Why?
Older: Everything in your world is normal except one rule, which you may change. Show us the change without explaining it. (3 lines)
Tell a story you love from the point of view of the one who loses.
Older: Take a villain everybody agrees about and write the paragraph that makes a reader hesitate. (55 words)
Use both of these: silence, cricket ball.
Older: Use both of these: silence, cricket ball. And do not mention a match. (3 lines)
Describe the smell of your grandmother's kitchen without naming any food.
Older: Write a place entirely through what it sounds like. No colours, no shapes. (3 lines)
Something in your house is older than everyone living in it. What has it watched happen?
Older: Write that object's shortest and least reliable account of your family. (55 words)
You find a note tucked inside a library book. Copy it out for us, exactly.
Older: Write the note, then the single line of the finder's reaction that tells us who they are. (3 lines)
Write a warning label for a feeling.
Older: Write a set of instructions for something that cannot be done by following instructions. (3 lines)
A dog has been keeping a diary all year. Today's entry, please.
Older: Write the last message a character sends before everything changes. Only the message. (55 words)
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