Month: April 2019

Twittering Tales #134 – 30 April 2019

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Photo by Suzy Hazelwood at Pexels.com

Story #1: Lover’s Letters

She tied the letters into a thick bundle; within these letters lay her lover’s heart. His words meant nothing; he broke her heart so she burnt the letters containing his heart.

This is how you treat a heartless man, she thought, looking at her lover’s corpse lying at her feet.

(276 characters)

Story #2: The Letters

He found the letters while looking for a nail file in the dressing table; he finally knew the truth behind their misfortune. To think she was capable of such vile act! His very own wife!

Yet, she was unrepentant upon confrontation.

“They’re harmless, dear. All chain letters are.”

(278 characters)

Hah! I originally started with no ideas but it is amazing how the words flow as I started writing. Now, I ended up with two twitter tales and I’m quite proud of both stories. Especially since they are stories of different genre, resulting from the same prompt.

Well, the first story is a little dark and grim. Truth be told, I was actually frightened by my own story. Not to be obnoxiously proud but I had the shivers as I edited my own story to keep to 280 characters. So let’s end on a lighter note with the second story, shall we?

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a photo prompt. Your mission, if you choose to accept the challenge, is to tell a story in 280 characters or less. When you write your tale, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale. If you would prefer to post your tale in the comments (some people have very specific blog themes but still want to participate), I am happy to post a link to your site when I post your tale in the Round Up.

Prompt: Twittering Tales #134 – 30 April 2019

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Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #11

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Photo by Ekrulila from Pexels

The Holy Knight’s Quest

He unfurled the map but no sooner had he absentmindedly let go to scratch his nose did the map rolled up again.

Annoyed, he took a dragon-summoning flute and an angelic feather bracelet to use as paperweights, keeping the blasted map flat on his bench. Highly unorthodox, not to mention very flippant, to use such mighty weapons as paperweights; the High Priestess of Unicorn would have frowned disapprovingly. But the flute and the bracelet were closest things at hand.

Absentmindedly scratching his nose in bliss, he studied the map again, refusing to give up.

Instead of the usual  cardinal directions of Heart’s Desire, Mind’s Distraction, Heart’s Hatred and Mind’s Centre, the map’s cardinal directions were North, East, South and West. If that did not compound matters, the distances most certainly would.

What on Shangri-La was kilometres? Why could the map not use the standard Flying Griffin Steps?

This Holy Call was certainly the most arduous task he was ever commanded to perform, finding the mystical place revelled as Earth in search of the Green Mermaid of Coffee, the legendary Starbucks.

He should have volunteered to put down the Eternal Phoenix rebellion in blazing Heart’s Hatred of Shangri-La instead.

(198 words)

I have always wanted to try my hand at fantasy, both the creation of a fantastic world and a story. Quite a humorous story and I had quite a laugh as I edited the story. Personally, I enjoyed writing and reading it.

And of course, COFFEE! Though not necessary Starbucks, but that is the single most iconic symbol when it comes to coffee. Plus there are mermaids involved. Enough said.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a relatively short flash fiction piece inspired by the photo. While there are no definitive style or word limits, I suggest trying to keep your posts to under 300 words.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has participated in these challenges so far. Your posts have been very creative. I hope this week’s image will also generate some great posts as well.

If this picture inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post.

Prompt: Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #11

Kira’s Sunday Scribbles

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The wisp danced in the air; it enjoyed the freedom of movement in the air. It had tried swimming before, but with water, its movements were sluggish and it was only using the surface. But with air, its movements were lighter and it flittered in the whole space.

(It’s time to decide.)

It spun and rotated in a single spot. Who was that?

(It’s time for you to decide what you want to be, young one.)

It could not understand who was speaking. It could not understand what the decision was. Most importantly, it could not understand why it had to make a decision.

(That’s the nature of things. Decide, young one.)

It flittered through the air for a few more moments. Then it made its decision. It decided to be a butterfly.

If it had known loneliness before, the wisp would no longer remember it. It was now among friends, fluttering.

Dreams come true.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to Kira’s weekly inspirational art piece.

Let the whole picture tell you a story, or dive into the small intricate details to make one up! Write a poem, a fiction piece or come up with a picture or drawing of your own, that you feel relates to it.

Feel free to copy Kira’s drawing, to add it to your own post!

Anything goes, there are no rules. But don’t forget to link us to your post with a pingback. Not sure how to do that? See how to create pingbacks here.

Prompt: Kira’s Sunday Scribbles

FOWC with Fandango — Obviate

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Image by Nicholas Jackson from Pixabay

Potterhead

“It’s either ‘oblivious’ or ‘obviate’. There is not such thing as ‘obliviate’,” Mr Klemp explained.

“But I read it in a book! The word exists,” Kenny insisted.

“And where did you read it? 14th century textbook?”

“No, I read it in a storybook by a world famous author!” Kenny elucidated.

Mr Klemp was getting frustrated. “And what book is that?”

“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

Just a silly little story to illustrate the problems teachers face. The struggle is very real.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to April 29, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “obviate.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

Prompt: FOWC with Fandango — Obviate

Inspiration Call: Create a 6 -Word Story

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Photo credit: © Pixabay.com

Disconnection – discharged from technology and reflect

 

I love six word story. Telling stories in six words, it really forces you to be very selective in your words – not a single one is to be used carelessly.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Inspiration Call: Tell the story behind this picture in just 6 words. A Six Word story is a challenge for each writer to come up with a short story within six words.

Publishing opportunity details for this writing prompt can be found at Open Publishing Projects.

Prompt: Inspiration Call: Create a 6 -Word Story

Prompts – April 28

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Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay

The Painting

“Can you look again?” Janice asked. “I’m sure the monk is still in the same spot.”

Sam, her seven-year-old, was snivelling and Janice was trying her hardest to calm Sam down. Ever since her husband hung up in the living, a painting of a monk walking down the path holding an umbrella, their son had been acting hysterical every time he looked at it.

“It’s a gift with a great significance. A monk has no hair and when he holds an umbrella, he can’t see the sky. No hair, no sky, in Mandarin means to be lawless. Pretty apt, considering the current times we are living in,” her husband explained patiently.

But at that moment, their son was blubbering into Janice’s ears as he locked his stick-like arms around her neck. “No, that man is walking down the path, Mama. Really!”

Janice sighed and firmly unwrapped Sam’s arms despite his best efforts to resist. “Sam, it’s just a painting. Here, if it makes you feel better, Mama will hold your hands and we’ll stare at the monk. That way, we’ll both see if he is walking down the path, all right?” Janice bargained as she looked into Sam’s eyes.

Sam sniffed and gulped in fear. But after a moment, he acquiesced to his mother’s suggestion.

So Janice held on to Sam’s hand and they spent the afternoon looking into the painting, at monk’s supposed walk down the path.

That evening, Janice’s husband came home to an empty house. “Janice? Sam? Where are you?” he called out as he walked around the house. Then he paused and looked at the painting.

Something was different.

The monk with the red umbrella was gone; in the monk’s place was Janice holding Sam’s hand, walking down the path. They looked so beautiful.

Janice’s husband spent that evening staring at the painting of his wife and his son.

(312 words)

I’m not sure if this has a Twilight Zone feel to it. The prompts can be used separately but when I looked at the three prompts, this idea just surfaced into my mind. Overall, I kinda like the premise of the idea. It seemed impossible yet plausible and believable at the same time.

In any case, the little anecdote regarding the monk with the umbrella alludes to a Mandarin proverb, which is used to describe people who are lawless. When I saw that image, I could not help but add this little fact in. Rumour has it that Mao Zedong once used this to describe himself in an interview, regarding his policies in China at that time.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to the new daily prompt. This prompt is going to be both familiar and different at the same time. To participate, simply read this post and follow where the muse takes you. Link back to this post, or leave a link in the comments so that others can find you.

Prompt A (Genre): Weird Tales (inspired by the magazine of the same name, a more traditional form featuring strange and uncanny events (Twilight Zone).

Prompt B (Story Starter): “Can you look again?”

Prompt C (Photo):

Prompt: The Haunted Wordsmith’s Prompts – April 28

Inspiration Call: Micropoetry Monday

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Photo credit: © Pixabay.com

Title: Journey

Casting a backward glance,
I leave the clouds behind
with its empty promises
of beautiful blue skies
and journey onwards
to my destination –

happiness

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Inspiration Call: Micropoetry Monday – use this picture as inspiration for a micro poem (a short poem with no particular rules).

Publishing opportunity details for this writing prompt can be found at Open Publishing Projects.

Prompt: Inspiration Call: Micropoetry Monday

Thursday photo prompt: Shade #writephoto

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Title: Sleeping Beauty

Go not into the forest.

Therein lies the ancient one; it is sleeping. Trees are mere babies to the being and mountains, toddlers. For eons, the mountains have stood guard and the trees have hidden its resting place – but they have grown indolent.

And now, it sleeps uneasily, rousing at the slightest noise of human folly.

Beware, it will come and come swiftly it will, creeping into bedrooms. When you are safe in your bed, it will come. When you are deep in your sleep, it will come. When you are snug under your duvet, it will come. And it will take your head that is sticking out of the duvet. And if your feet are sticking out, it will take those too.

So go not into the forest; the ancient one is sleeping.

It knows who has disturbed its sleep.

(142 words)

Ah, who doesn’t feel the rage of being awaken rudely, especially on a cold Saturday morning, when you are sleeping comfortably under your duvet. In a sense, I pity Sleeping Beauty when the prince came and woke her up from her sleep.

I guess I really value my sleeping time.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Use the image below as inspiration to create a post on your own blog… poetry, prose, humour… light or dark, whatever you choose, by noon (GMT)  Wednesday 1st May  and link back to this post with a pingback to be included in the round-up.  There is no word limit and no style requirements, except to keep it fairly family friendly.

Prompt: Thursday photo prompt: Shade #writephoto

100 Word Wednesday: Week 118

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Title: Suit up

“This is worse than ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’. I would have said, ‘Whatever you have done, reverse it’ but that would only work if we can still move!” Daniel ‘Dan’ Einstein scolded.

“We checked the data twice! The machine was supposed to transform fats into muscles!” Dennis ‘Dan’ Feynman. “How was I supposed to know our invention would transform fats into Lego figures?”

“At the very least, we don’t have to use ourselves as test subjects and transformed ourselves into Legos!” Dante ‘Dan’ Newton retorted. “And having a fat body is better than an immobile Iron Man Lego figures!”

(100 words)

And I am back to silly stories again, after a bout of horror, supernatural and thriller genre writing. I saw this photo and could not resist the ridiculous scenario from popping into my mind!

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

How to participate? A few guidelines as we begin….

  1. Simply check my feed, or search the reader, for the 100WW or tag #100WW, post each Wednesday. I’ll also be posting on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Feeds.
  2. Write your submission on your blog, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook Feed and ping back to the weekly blog post. Feel free to use the image provided or your own. Please do credit the artist whose image we use — Links provided.
  3. I have not enabled automatic pingbacks due to a plethora of spam messages attempting to link up. Do feel free to also continue posting your links and I will enable your pingbacks as I check my blog. Thank you for understanding!!
  4. I’ll provide a Weekly Summary, or Windup, of posts on or by Tuesday; take the opportunity to read and comment on your fellow bloggers posts {keeping in mind to give each other grace and space}. I try to read them all and post your submission in the Weekly Windup.
  5. Have fun! I enjoy reading your challenge submissions!

Prompt: 100 Word Wednesday: Week 118