52 Writing Prompts

52 Writing Prompts

Share this post

52 Writing Prompts
52 Writing Prompts
Prompt #8 Love and Loss

Prompt #8 Love and Loss

February

Suzanne Roberts's avatar
Suzanne Roberts
Feb 25, 2022
∙ Paid
3

Share this post

52 Writing Prompts
52 Writing Prompts
Prompt #8 Love and Loss
2
Share

Hi Friends,

For this last prompt about love and loss, we are going to play with the epistolary form, meaning a story told in letters, diary entries, telegrams (the olden days) and more recently, emails and text messages.

Some espistolary novels you might be familiar with include The Sorrows of Young Werther, Frankenstein, Dracula (this form was big in the 18-19th centuries) and more recently, The Color Purple. It can also be used in nonfiction and memoir, as in Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet and Gayle Brandeis’ beautiful memoir The Art of Diagnosis (one of her threads consists of letters from the narrator to her mother and another thread is composed of transcripts from her mother talking about her own art). The deal in memoir, though, is that you can include YOUR letters but if you include someone else’s letters or even text messages, you must get permission since that’s considered their intellectual property. But you are free to write and publish your own letters! 

So to finish off February’s theme, we are going to write a letter that tells a story of love lost.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to 52 Writing Prompts to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Suzanne Roberts
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share