Here at Short Vine, spring remains coy. We may have a day here or there that flirts with seventy
degrees, but we haven’t yet seen the season’s first blossoms, though we’re patiently waiting.
You may have noticed that our spring ‘24 theme is SEEDS. This could be literal–as in, foliage–or
figurative. What seeds are you planting in your life, and when will they take root?
Here are five writing prompts themed around the idea of seeds. If you are inspired to write
something, consider submitting it to Short Vine by March 15th. We would love to see your
themed or general fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, or art.
Prompt #1: The Waiting Game
When you plant a seed, you invite anticipation and patience into your life. You can’t see what’s
happening beneath the soil, and you’re forced into a blind faith that whatever you planted is
growing. Write about a character who is waiting for their efforts to bear fruit and the
uncertainty they face while they wait.
Prompt #2: Unexpected Blossoms
Sometimes the seeds that we plant never grow, but other times, a sapling springs up in the
place we least suspected. Have you ever happened upon a blossom in a shady, uninhabitable
spot? How did you feel when you saw that green crawling out of the darkness?
Prompt #3: Foliage Façade
When the sun comes out and the birds start chirping, the world is submerged, bathed in a
tapestry of petals and pastels. When the blooms fall and the branches are bare, what are we left
with? What lingers beneath, ready to emerge?
Prompt #4: New Roots
Imagine that we are all branches on a tree. We grow on the foundation of roots left before us.
Are we planted in fertile soil, or are we suffocating from root rot? When it is our time to put
down roots of our own, how will we change the legacy we’ve been left with?
Prompt #5: Spring Resolutions
The promise of new life instills a sense of rediscovery. As we wake up from a long winter’s nap,
full of the hope of spring, how do we see ourselves differently? When it’s our time to bloom,
what changes do we make? Is it possible to change an entire life over the course of a single
season?