Writer's Prompts | Love in Full Color: The Emotional Landscape

Welcome, dear scribblers, to the emotional oil change you didn’t know you needed. In “Love in Full Color,” our podcast hosts Tim and LeeAnna bravely tackled the emotional combustion engine of being in love - complete with metaphors so layered, I had to call a mechanic. If you survived the talk of intimacy-as-lubricant and pedicures-as-emotional-high-watermarks, congratulations: you’re now qualified to write a rom-dramedy with feelings so complex, your characters will need therapy just from the outline.

Which brings us to you - yes, you. Time to crack those knuckles and write. But keep it to 600 words or less (brevity is the soul of wit and all that), and submit it to us at the link below. If your piece makes us swoon or laugh (or ideally both), we just might read it out on the podcast.

Prompt 1: The Superhero with Relationship Problems

Write about a superhero who can stop a missile with his eyelashes but can’t seem to fix things with his girlfriend. Or maybe he’s invulnerable to bullets but not to emotional distance. The point is: save the world, sure - but what about saving the relationship? Keep it understated. No big speech about love conquering all. We want microtension, miscommunication, that subtle ache when you realize the person who loved you might be drifting. (And yes, capes are allowed.)

Prompt 2: The Detective with an Awful Ex-Wife

Tread lightly - this one’s been done to death. But if you can find a fresh way to approach it, we’re all ears. Maybe he’s got a stack of unpaid alimony and a bleeding heart he hides under his trench coat. Or maybe she’s not awful - maybe he is, and she was just the last one who dared call him out. Give us conflict, complexity, and a whiff of bourbon-soaked regret. Bonus points if nobody gets murdered.

So there you go. Two characters, both emotionally constipated in their own charming ways, both screaming for you to excavate - not just what happened, but why.

Remember: we’re not looking for explosions. We’re looking for emotional exhaust fumes and relationship misfires. You know, the good stuff.

Now get writing, or so help me, I’ll make you diagram the metaphorical engine of love.

Go to Submit Your Work @ Effigy Press