Writer's Prompts | Enter Stage Left

First Impressions, Flawed People, and One Very Polite Ghosting

Let’s be honest: meeting someone for the first time is always a potential disaster. Will they remember your name? Will you accidentally spit while saying hello? Will you both pretend to enjoy small talk while internally begging for a fire drill? This week on Alchemy, we dove into those electric, awkward, often-horrible first moments between two human animals—aka, character gold for fiction writers. Now it’s your turn to try it out. Just remember: we’re looking for character and subtlety, not a one-act play where someone shouts “HELLO I AM QUIRKY AND BROKEN.”

Keep it under 600 words. Send it to us at www.effigypress.com. If we love it—and we might—we’ll read it aloud on the podcast, possibly with sound effects, probably with dramatic flair.

Prompt One: Social Situations and Social Damage

Your main character meets someone for the first time. Maybe it’s at a bar. A social event where the food is weird and the music is worse. Maybe they’re stuck next to each other on a flight and one of them is silently praying the other has noise-canceling headphones. Now what?

Does your main character try to make conversation and get ghosted in real time? Is the other person charming but clearly networking them like a LinkedIn bot? Or do they hit it off—and it’s genuinely delightful, but with just a hint of “Hmm… is this too good to be true?”

Write that interaction. Make it human and real. We don’t want cartoon-level awkwardness or a romcom cliché. Surprise us—or at least make us wince for the right reasons.

Prompt Two: The Background Character Who Isn’t

Write the entrance of a character who’s not important. Or at least... not yet. The barista, the neighbor, the person next in line at the DMV who mutters something strange and never looks up from their crossword.

Give them a moment. One that matters—even if no one realizes it yet. Think of them as the future plot twist waiting in the wings. We want intrigue, not exposition. And no, they don’t need a tragic backstory involving a missing twin and a cursed compass. Unless that’s your thing.

Bonus challenge: Avoid every stereotype you were about to use. No wise old man with a secret. No sexy librarian with glasses she takes off at the end of act two. Do better. We believe in you.

Wrap It Up Like a Lost Sock in the Dryer Dimension

We can't wait to see what strange and brilliant first impressions you dream up. Just remember: don’t write us a meet-cute unless it ends in emotional confusion, mild dread, or an espresso-fueled existential crisis. Send us your piece, and maybe—just maybe—we’ll bring your characters on stage, awkward hellos and all.

Now go write something that makes us say, “Oh no… who is that and why do I love them already?”

Go to Submit Your Work @ Effigy Press