With only a few days left in the Short Story September Challenge there’s just enough time to get a few more shorts written. In case you need a little inspiration, I have an exercise at the bottom for you.

On the chance you need to review this month’s prompts however, let’s take a look back at each week.

One Word Prompts:

1. Rot
2. Moss
3. Entomb
4. Wither
5. Corrode
6. Ruin
7. Decay
8. Necrotic
9. Ancient
10. Mushroom
11. Corpse
12. Decimate
13. Wreckage
14. Abandoned
15. Salvage
16. Pollute
17. Rebuild
18. Destroy
19. Brittle

Long Prompts:

1. Moss replaced the intricate carpet of the forgotten hall.
2. Rot and decay took up residences people had abandoned.
3. “His morals rotted out long ago.” 
4. “Love can ruin the same man it makes.” 
5. “They stole and plundered and ruined the land.” 
6. We theorized the old stones could be ancient ruins.
7. The land had been fallow for years.
8. Mushrooms claimed the fallen trees overnight.
9. “Men like him ruin themselves.” 
10. “Don’t ruin a good thing for the rest of us.” 
11. The once great city lay in smoking ruins.
12. His own morals decayed in the presence of such wealth.
13. “Decay and rot are the only things left by that magic.” 
14. “The old house fell to ruin with no one living in it.” 
15. “Salt water corrodes magic with enough time.” 
16. Broken windows allowed the wilds into the old buildings.
17. Decaying beams struggled to hold back the encroaching vines.
18. A rotten smell started coming from the fields.
19. “I’d let it wither on the vine if I were you.” 
20. “Nature feeds itself on things left to ruin.” 

If you managed to write a short story for every prompt this month you’d have a total of 39 short stories. The goal for Short Story September is to write one short story a day. Even if you only wrote one or two shorts, well done! You put words on the page this month and that’s something to celebrate.

As promised, there is a writing exercise in case you need to get a few more in or even if you’d like to write more. Below you’ll find some additional long prompts to go along with this month’s theme of ruination. There’s a catch:

Some of the words have been removed. Your task is to take the above list of one-word prompts and fill in the blanks. Then use your new prompts to write a 1,000 word flash fiction.

Tip: you can also use alternate word forms, i.e. use ‘corrosion’ instead of ‘corrode’ where necessary.

Happy writing!

1. His ____ brought ____ to the entire kingdom.
2. Mushrooms ____ on the decaying under layer.
3. “His promises are ____.” 
4. “Like everything else you ____, it wasn’t worth ____ myself over.” 
5. “Stop blaming everyone for what you ____.” 
6. The ____ of such power ____ the land forever after.
7. Grandmother claimed a curse had ____ the land.
8. Under the creeping ____ lay remnants of everyday lives.
9. “I’d rather lay in my coffin than try and ____ your heart.” 
10. “It went the same way of ____ innocence.”