Journals We Love — 2025

Bulletin of the Bizarre

Coop Flyer

Embrance

Enmeshed

Enter Center Stage

From the Archives

GG! Literary

Grave Hypnagogia

Junk Drawer

Otherworldly Scripts

Psychea

Ready, Set–

Thresholds

Your Eyes as Honey




Prompts

Bulletin of the Bizarre

When was the last or most significant time you experienced deja vu?

When was the last time you felt like you were being watched? Has anything you’ve experienced gave you the feeling of “uncanny valley”?

Have you experienced something unexplainable, as if it were supernatural? Share that experience.

Describe a day when everything felt out of place.

Write a story you would tell a group of preteens as a camp councilor around a campfire to scare them.

You inherit an antique mirror. Whenever you look into it, the reflection is just a little… wrong.

A hitchhiker you picked up won’t stop humming a tune you’ve only ever heard in your dreams.

A cornfield at night whispers your name.

Something in the air changes, but no one can agree on what changed.

The world develops a faint background hum one day. Only you notice when it stops.​

An object in your room has started moving slightly when you don’t look at it. You’re no longer sure which object it is.

​Write about your last paranormal encounter.

The horizon is closer than it should be.

You can hear a sound that no one else seems to notice. It isn’t loud, but it feels close.

There’s a door that leads to nowhere—yet every time you open it, the “nowhere” grows more familiar.

Every hallway seems just a little longer than it was the day before.

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Coop Flyer

Embrance


What’s something you used to hate and now love?

Write a letter to your future/past self

Tell us about the last date you went on

What does a journey of self-love look like to you?

Best piece of advice and what you did with it

Are you who you thought you’d be?

What’s been your biggest obstacle in life so far

Write a poem about how your style (fashion, music, self-care, etc.) has evolved

Make a bucket list…or maybe write a story about a bucket list..that could be cool

Biggest regret or fear…you could write about this along the lines of how your younger self would answer versus you now? A poem perhaps??

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Enmeshed


Write about a moment you realized someone in your family wasn’t what you thought they were. 

Write about a discovery or secret in your family that made something click for you when it came to light. 

What’s a relationship in your family that you wish was different in some way? 

Is there someone in your life who’s replaced the role of a family member? Write about the impact they’ve had on you. 

What’s something you’ve always wanted to say to a family member, and what’s stopped you from saying it?

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Enter Center Stage


We want to hear essays about the unsung creators about the theater-making process that people never see but defines the success of a production. Whether lighting design, costume construction, stage management or rehearsal, how did it shape the story on stage?

Share your experience as a Queer or BIPOC artist within theater. How has your identity shaped the way you perform, collaborate or create? What triumphs or challenges have you experienced in bringing stories to the stage?

Tell a story of a production that involved you from the first script reading to opening night. How was the show transformed along the way? Who were the key people who made the show happen?

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From the Archives


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GG! Literary

What was a game you used to play as a kid? Do you still play it now, and did it shape your life in any way?

Think of a game you have on your phone. Do you play it while waiting in line or do you play it every chance you get?

Imagine some characters you created taking a break from their journey. What kind of games would they play to pass the time?

Have you ever wanted to make your own game? What would it look like, what would the rules be, how would you play it?

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Grave Hypnagogia


A conversation between your childhood fear and your biggest fear now. What do they look like, sound like? Do they get along? Are they protective of you or seek to hurt you?

A renowned artist (does not matter their preferred medium—painting, sculpture, writing) is being hounded to make something new, yet suddenly they can only draw, create, or write the same thing over and over again; there may be small distinctions but it is the same every time. What is it that they are creating? Is the thing itself scary or does the horror come from repetition? Is this psychological or supernatural? How does this effect their life?

One part of your body begins aging more rapidly than the rest.

There has always been a melodic hum in the back of your head, some sort of gentle classical music that followed you everywhere that no one can hear. One day it stops. 

You are hunting something. You think it is running from you. It is running from something much bigger. It is your turn to run.

A small intelligent civilization lives in an open wound on your body. As you heal, you know they are dying. 

Recurring nightmare. Classic. 

Reality tv dating show but things get real spooky… possibly murderous (not my best but you could probably doing something cool with it). 

You’re not gullible enough to be hypnotized. You’re too guarded, too skeptical. But wouldn’t it be great to let go of that? To lose control and let someone else decide? What are you really doing with your body anyway? What heights of greatness could be achieved with a living body that isn’t accompanied with such an anxious, small-thinking mind like yours?

Someone you love died. The only person you want to talk to about their death is them. You must find a way to talk to them

“Came back wrong” trope but they come back normal. It’s you that changes. 

No one goes to the hill that glows like the northern lights on quiet summer nights. There is no rule that says you can’t though. In fact no one talks about it. How has no one ever talked about it? How have you never thought to bring it up?

An abandoned house you used to sneak into as a teenager is still there when you return as an adult. You have only fond memories of it. Maybe you wish to fix it up. Maybe you want to explore it one last time. Why is it scarier now? Why is that fondness gone? Why is it hostile now?

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Junk Drawer


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Otherworldly Scripts


You find yourself in your favorite video game, in the oc that you created, what do you do? What do you see? Do you want to return home or stay there?

You die and wake up as the “villain” of a book you have read before. When is it? Before they become the villain, is it after, during, or? What is your next course of action? How will you steer this story?

Same as 2, except you are a side character that dies to aid the Hero/Main Character, what do you do now? Will you change the story to survive? Will you hide, stay, or die?

Dungeons (think dnd) open on Earth in modern day, what changes? How does it change? What happens to humanity?

You are reborn after you die, but you retain all of your memories from your past life. How does this change your way of thinking?

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Psychea


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Ready, Set–

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Thresholds


Write about a period in your life where you had to rebuild who you were—after loss, love, illness, moving, or growing up.

Write about a memory that has shifted meaning over time. How do you see it differently now than when it first happened? What does that change reveal about who you’ve become?

Write a story about a character that’s going through a transition—to a new place, a new identity, a new memory. How does this change affect them? Are they better or worse off for it?

Write a poem addressed to someone who exists beyond a boundary—distance, belief, life. Explore what happens when trying to cross that boundary.

Art/Photography

Create a piece that contains a door, open or closed. It can be themed however you like–fantasy, modern or otherwise.

Capture a photograph that depicts a doorway, archway, mirror, or passage that feels symbolic—a space that invites crossing, hesitation, or wonder.

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Your Eyes as Honey


Write a letter to a younger version of yourself. 

Write a story about a concept you think is queer. 

Write a poem in the setting of your first heartbreak.

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