Prompt: Strike Up a Tune

[Prof. Sky Alton]

In the words of Albus Dumbledore, “ah, music, a magic beyond all we do here.”

Music can be a great tool in a writers arsenal. If you’re writing a realistic novel set in our world, you can use it to show aspects of a character’s taste or personality. If you’re building your own world, it can be a powerful way to reveal things about a culture. And then there are musical adaptations: using it as a way to explore a story in new ways.

For this prompt, you have a few choices:
1. You could write a story (200 words or more) where music played an important part.
2. You could write a story (200 words or more) inspired by a song. It could be inspired directly by the lyrics or maybe just by the way it made you feel. Please keep to songs that are appropriate for all-ages. Remember to tell us which song it is that inspired your piece.
3. You could write part of a song from a musical adaptation of a book you’ve read. We’d be looking for at least 15 unique lines for full credit.

You’ll earn 20 beans for completing this prompt as well as it counting towards the chance to snag our shiny Quill and Ink award.

There is no deadline as such for these prompts but if you’d like it to count towards your chance of earning the award for a specific year, we’ll need it by the end of that school year. If you’re comfortable sharing, then post below. If not, email your story to us via hol.bookclub @ gmail.com (without the spaces). Oh and remember it’s a good idea to check through your piece carefully for spelling and grammatical errors as they make it harder for people to properly enjoy your work.

[Aura Nightmoon]

Something always happens to me when I enter the ballet studio. It's not putting on the pointe shoes, standing at the barre, or correcting my form each time my teacher taps my shoulder. No, it is none of that at all. It is the music, the pianist on the other side of the room sitting at a black, baby grand piano, with her fingers dancing across the keys just as I dance across the floor, leaping and turning in time with her playing. It takes me away to another place, being lost in the sound, my steps matching every change in tempo, every new key signature as the music takes on a dark and twisted turn. Faster and faster, my legs sweep, my feet shifting and pressing into the floor as a grand jete takes its call on stage.

The music is why I dance. I hear it play in my head every night and every morning when I wake. My body moves even in my sleep and my mind as the symphony plays. They don't receive enough credit. When the music stops, I sigh. Though the night is over, the music never sleeps. It keeps playing on and on, in my head and my heart. My soul is alive, and I accept the music's call.