Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

I (Stephanie) have always been a people-watcher, and that feeds my storytelling/art-creating habit. I inevitably start to make up stories about anyone in my daily orbit. For example: I used to see a girl on my bus. I was drawn to her because she was always reading Harry Potter books (I sensed she was a kindred spirit). I started taking a different bus and stopped seeing her…until just the other week! Now she has blue hair (so do I—seriously, kindred spirits) and seems to be regularly running down the street I walk past on my way to work. Where is she running? I’m not sure, but don’t be surprised to find a Harry Potter–loving, blue-haired character in my next book.

I’m sure you have people like this in your life. A man who walks his dog by your house twice every day. That trio of little kids always playing outside the apartment building down the block. What do you imagine their lives are like? Where are they going? Who will they be? What do they do all day, or at night? Is that guy with a briefcase building a secret machine that controls the weather, or is he going through an ugly divorce? (Maybe both?) Will the one-year-old you babysit grow up to be the Queen of Dragons, or a card shark at a Vegas casino?

Spot a person or two and show or tell us about their lives using your chosen creative form. Send what you come up with—along with your first name, last initial, age, and city/state—to [email protected] with the subject line “Creative Prompt” by Monday, March 14 at 6 PM EST. We can’t wait to meet the characters in your world!

Last week, we asked you to imagine yourselves at a big, fancy awards ceremony. Here’s what happened when the spotlights were on you…