PROMPT: Lost Notebook Playlist

Write the ending to your own adventure with this summer storytelling prompt! Each prompt listed below begins your story, in each of which you will find a list of songs in a forgotten journal. To answer the prompt, curate a playlist with a suggested length of ten songs inspired by the setting given. I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

1. You're sneaking around in the darkened attic of your great aunt's house, running your fingertips along the highest shelf when you pause on a notebook just barely within reach. Running your palm over the sturdy cover feels grainy, like fabric. It's patterned with antique roses in yellow and pink surrounded by tangled turquoise leaves. You can't sneak the whole notebook downstairs unnoticed, but you hastily tear out a page and stuff it in the pocket of your jeans just as your mother calls you for dinner. Later, when you're alone in your room, you reach into your pocket and pull it out to find a handwritten playlist dated 09/18/1972.

2. You and your brother are building sandcastles at the beach in the Outer Banks. As you dig, a spongy obstacle stops your shovel. Unable to break it apart, you dig around it until the hole is large enough to uncover what's underneath the sand: a long and skinny leatherbound tome, a piece of matching cord wrapped around it several times to bind it closed. Wiping off the sand, you reveal an inscription reading "Forever Sailing Home to You- Love from Papa" stamped into the leather. The first page is a list of songs.

3. Your boyfriend takes you apple picking for your birthday. As you traverse the rows of apple trees in the orchard, you spy a perfect, golden apple hanging at the top of a tree several yards away. You take off running towards it, but no matter how long you run, the apple never comes any closer. Looking behind you, the trees have grown thick and dark, obscuring the path in all other directions. Stepping back, you lose your balance on a fallen apple and land flat on the grass. Something hard and square digs in under your palm, and when you look down, you see a black book with a gemstone mounted in the center of the cover. You wipe it off on the front of your dress and crack it open to the middle, where you find a series of unreadable symbols. You look up and see your boyfriend approaching through the trees, sunlight pouring down on you. The orchard is exactly as it was. You look back down at the journal and find the unintelligible page had transformed into a list of songs.

4. You stroll up to the bar in an underground nightclub in Chicago and order a black Manhattan, just like the instructions read. Your pocket in lint for this mission consists of a tube of red lipstick, a cigarette, a green button, a receipt from a nearby hotel, and a credit card belonging to the woman you're supposed to be- Margaret Lavent. The bartender slides your drink across the wooden countertop. Resting on top of your glass is a toothpick skewering two maraschino cherries and a folded note. You unfold the note and comply with the message - Open Your Purse. Inside, you find an accordion pleated mini notebook. Each page has the name of a song written on it.

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When your story is published, leave a link in the comments below so everyone can enjoy it. Instructions to embed a song are below. Happy writing!

To embed a link to a song, go to Spotify.com and search for your desired song. Click the three dots to the right of the song run time to reveal a list of options. Hover over "Share" on the bottom and select "Copy Song Link". Then, return to Vocal and hit the enter key to move to a new line in your story. On the lefthand side of the story, you will see a grey plus sign. Click on the plus sign, select "embed link", and paste your link from Spotify into the text window. Press enter and your song will appear!