Someone from Before Preptober 2026

The Elevator Pitch
Describe your story in 50 words or fewer. Then try again in one sentence.

50 words or fewer:
After an old tree in her family garden is cut down, a girl discovers a small box buried beneath its roots. Inside is a photograph of her mother standing beside a boy she has never heard of, along with a key and a handwritten note.

One sentence:
A girl discovers a buried box that leads her to a secret from her mother's past.

Three Things I Know
Provide three things you absolutely know about your story and three things you haven't figured out yet.

Three things I absolutely know:
1. The story will focus on a family secret.
2. It begins with a box being found beneath an old tree.
3. The box contains a photograph, a key, and a handwritten note.

Three things I haven't figured out yet:
1. The boy's identity.
2. What really happened to him.
3. How the truth will be revealed.

The Promise
Complete the following phrase: "I want this story to make the reader feel ______." Then explain why.

I want this story to make the reader feel curious, intrigued, and a little suspicious because I want them to keep questioning what really happened and what the girl's mother has been hiding. I want the mystery to feel like something that could have stayed buried if the tree had never been cut down.

CHALLENGE. Steal This Prompt
Pick one of these 10 elements and incorporate it somehow into your concept.

- A locked door
- An unwanted inheritance
- A lie told at dinner
- Something buried beneath a tree — A box buried beneath an old tree is discovered after the tree is cut down, leading the girl to a secret from her mother's past.
- An embarrassing lie
- A secret — The girl's mother has a secret. There was someone in her past she has never told her daughter about.
- Something very very pink
- A monster
- A sport game
- A story within a story