Hey friends,

Welcome to Writing Prompts & , a series where I share a writing prompt from one of the many writing classes I’ve taken over the years and the zero draft it inspired.

All of these zero drafts were written within a 10-15 minute span and have not been touched, edited, or revised. So, you are getting the real deal zero draft here.

The Prompt

Prompt: Write about an urban legend from when you were a kid.

This is what I wrote.

“Have you been to the fifth floor yet?”

The girl pushed her ponytail over her shoulder and stretched to touch her toes. It was a warm day for early October, and we were out on the tennis courts practicing for counties.

I shook my head.

“That’s where the swimming pools are.”

“But we were told the school doesn’t have swimming pools.”

The girl looked at us for a beat and smiled slyly.

“We do, but you can’t get up there. Pad locks and chains. Ever notice that on all the doors in the stairwells from the cafeteria?”

I thought about it for a moment. The girl sensed my fear and continued.

“You see. There was this girl on the swim team back in the ’70s. She was really talented. Her senior year she had scholarships and offers from a whole bunch of schools. She came in early one morning. You know. To spend some alone time with her boyfriend. She got there first and decided to swim some laps. Suddenly, something pulled her under. When they found her, her body was bloated. But the strange part was that there was a burn on her forehead. Almost like she’d been marked. After that they chained the doors and never let anyone back in.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. And they say that she haunts the pool. Her ghost paces back and forth waiting for her killer to come back. I saw it myself.”

A Brief Note

I wrote this for my first writing session with the LA Writer’s Group on April 25th, 2020, a few weeks into the pandemic.

I read stuff like this and am proud of how far (I feel) I’ve come in terms of my writing. It was at that first writing session that the seeds for my first novel were official planted after years of sitting on the idea.

Four years later, I’m two novels in with three flash pieces published and working on some other stories all the while.

What I hope for you is that whatever idea you’ve been considering – you plant. The story. The painting. The business. You will never be sorry that you tried.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for now, friends.

Wishing you a week filled with ideas a plenty and maybe one that begins to sprout leaves.

Until next time.