― Ralph Waldo Emerson

This week’s challenge is not to include the theme word in your story!

They say to err is human, and to forgive is divine. How are your characters divine? Or is it something they are seeking? Or something they don’t believe in, perhaps? Good words!

[IP] | [MP]

• Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.

Theme Thursday Rules

• Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.

• Deadline: 11:59 PM CST next Tuesday.

• No serials or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP

• No previously written content

• Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires

• Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when TT post is 3 days old!

Theme Thursday Discussion Section:

• Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.

Campfire

• On Wednesdays we host two Theme Thursday Campfires on the discord main voice lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!

• Time: I’ll be there 9 am & 6 pm CST and we’ll begin within about 15 minutes.

• Don’t worry about being late, just join! Don’t forget to sign up for a campfire slot on discord. If you don’t sign up, you won’t be put into the pre-set order and we can’t accommodate any time constraints. We don’t want you to miss out on awesome feedback, so get to discord and use that !TT command!

• There’s a new Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday related news!

As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.

• Plot - Up to 50 points if the story makes sense

• Resolution - Up to 10 points if the story has an ending (not a cliffhanger)

• Grammar & Punctuation - Up to 10 points for spellchecking

• Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms

• Actionable Feedback - 5 points for each story you give crit to, up to 25 points

• Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives, no cap

• Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations

• Join Discord to chat with prompters, authors, and readers!

• We are currently looking for moderators! Apply to be a moderator any time!

• Nominate your favorite WP authors for Spotlight and Hall of Fame!

• Love the feedback you get on your Theme Thursday stories? Check out our brand new sub, r/WPCritique

• Serialize your story at r/shortstories!

First by /u/Xacktar

Second by /u/Ryter99

Third by /u/sevenseassaurus

Fourth by /u/stickfist

Fifth by /u/katpoker66

Poetic Contribution: /u/pleasantmanatee

Poetic Contribution: /u/rudexvirus

Notable Newcomer: /u/Poelarizing

Notable Newcomer: /u/MosesDuchek

Notable Newcomer: /u/Mr_Bookkeeper

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Want to know how to rank on Theme Thursday? Check out my brand new wiki!