Here’s a prompt to make use of any post-Valentine’s Day ruminating. The New York Times recently began releasing the podcast version of their Modern Love column. Each week’s episode shares one person’s personal narrative of their experience of love in the modern world.

For example, Julie Margaret Hogben’s piece, “When the Doorman Is Your Main Man” describes a single woman in New York and the unique friendship she has with the doorman of her building. Over the course of the narrative, the woman unexpectedly discovers she is pregnant, and gives birth to her daughter. In her choice of subject matter, Hogben sidesteps the obvious, focusing the essay not on the most expected narrative arc, but on a deep friendship with a seemingly minor character.

Read a few of the Modern Love stories in the link above and then write your own. Avoid the obvious, the sappy, and the melodramatic.

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Our contest deadline is April 15–send us your writing by mail or online through the link below.

Details on EVENT’s 2016 annual Non-Fiction Contest.