Three-minute writing challenge: Liminal spaces

A bi-weekly writing challenge. I'll supply the prompt, you supply the words: one sentence or paragraph. It's like a creative pot luck. Wherever this sends you is the direction you need.

I avoided writing prompts for years, which is ironic as someone who quite literally writes to keep the lights on. Always with a deadline (and perpetually running over those deadlines), I felt like words that weren’t going directly into my novel were a waste of time and time is something I had very little of. BUT I was WRONG.

Short writing prompts—and I mean short—have pulled me out of a rut more times than I can shake a third cup of coffee at.

I had the idea for a bi-weekly writing prompt after joining in with

Patrik L

’s photo challenge. Even when I can’t take part myself, I love seeing entries come in: one prompt, so many interpretations. It’s spontaneous creativity, but beautifully low-stakes.

Then, I got a message. I’m in a WhatsApp group with two writer friends (Holly McCulloch and Mary Hargreaves) who I met because we all published our debut novels in the Dumpster Fire Year of Our Lord 2020. Last week, we decided to create a weekly Write Club, where we take a prompt and write 500 words, but it can’t be part of our own work in progress. I gave myself fifty minutes and let me tell you—the weirdest, cultiest, darkest flash fiction came out and it made me sit up and realise that YES, my current project might feel like swimming through treacle, but I. Can. Still. Write.

So, I did what all self-respecting writers do and threw the idea out to the ether.

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Here’s what to expect:

• A bi-weekly writing prompt

• Launched on a Wednesday (for that mid-week reset)

• Submit one sentence up to one paragraph

• Favourite entries will be pooled and published on Not A Write Off every month

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Whether it’s for fun, for a laugh, for a reset, or to kick-start something new, I’ve got you.

If you stopped scrolling through Notes or your Instagram feed to read this, stay, just for a minute or so. Consider this a reset.

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How to tackle the challenge:

• Interpret the challenge however you like. There is no right or wrong. The prompt is there as a jumping off point, but go wild.

• Entries can range from one sentence to one paragraph (not like… a Dickens paragraph)

• To kick-start the challenge, set a three minute timer and stop when the bell goes off

• I encourage you to write in the moment, without pulling from any previous work

• Post your writing in Notes by restacking this post and tag

  Abigail Mann
  so that I don’t miss it

Tag anyone whose words you would like to see. Non-fiction writers, I’m looking at you! Here, fiction is your friend.

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Now, let’s take a moment to think about this week’s prompt word:

This week’s prompt: Liminal spaces

A person stands silhouetted on a ridge, looking up at a distant aurora borealis

Liminal spaces are the bits between. You might be able to see them. You might not. They exist through absence, sometimes through connection. You might pass through them. You might feel like you’re in one, but only in your head.

However you choose to interpret the prompt is true and correct for you. Don’t overthink it, just write.

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between them, there are doors.”

William Blake

What next?

• Subscription: You don’t need to be a subscriber to participate

• Deadline: Wednesday 6th December

• Sharing: I’ll amplify and re-post as many entries as I can, culminating in a monthly Library Shelf of Challenge Winners

• Community: Writing doesn’t need to be lonely. Collaborating is fun. Share widely, comment on each other’s entries, and connect with other writers.

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If you’d like to be notified when these challenges go live, subscribe to Not a Write Off

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About the author:

Abigail Mann is an author, book coach, and writing mentor. She is currently writing her fourth novel for HarperCollins and has a thing for sharp contemporary literature with a comic edge. Abigail coaches with the London Writer’s Salon and privately mentors writers who need to cloud bust their plots, clean up their submissions, or reach a fiction milestone. Her other internet home is here.