If you were in certain parts of North America today, you could have seen a total eclipse. I am lucky enough to be in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is right in the path of totality, so we got a good view of it here.

We all knew long in advance the exact minute that it was coming but even so, experiencing something like that is pretty freaky. As I watching the sun slowly get swallowed by the moon, I thought how terrifying it would be to suddenly experience it with no knowledge of what an eclipse was or that it was coming.

Fiction is filled with similar huge events that come out of nowhere to turn the world upside down, for good or bad. A mundane (but still very unusual) example is inheriting a fortune from a long-lost relative. A more fantastic example is Franz Kafka’s story Metamorphosis, where the main character wakes up one morning as a giant insect. I wrote a story a while back where the main character finds he is suddenly invisible.

Story Prompt: April 8, 2024

Write a story where something sudden and life-altering happens.

The consequences could be very good, very bad or surprisingly neutral. Try to think of some consequences that might not be obvious. In my story Invisible, one of the main characters main questions is what to do with this new ability (or disability). He doesn’t immediately become a superhero like in some movies.

If you write a story for this, you can send me a link to your story if you’ve posted it somewhere or send it to me at info@greenwalledtreehouse.com. You can also submit your story here for a chance to have it published on the site next week. I will post my story for this prompt next week as well.

Good luck and happy writing! Come back next Monday for another story prompt.