Crimson’s Creative Challenge #65

CCC#65

Dylan could scarcely believe his eyes – sure, the owl had metamorphosed into part of the stone roof, but he could recognise it anywhere; the owl had been following him. He would travel for hours during the day, only for the owl to appear before him the next day. Somehow, it must have followed him during the night.

Irrationally, Dylan wanted to pick up something, anything, to destroy the owl. He was in public though, and he was sure it would not deter them; they would simply send another one.

When his father suddenly disappeared, his mother sat him down gently to explain that their family was very special. All the male descendants in their family had been chosen to complete the task which would consume them for the rest of their lives.

Dylan resigned himself to his fate – he had been called upon to fulfill his duty.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Here’s how it works:

Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE

Here are some suggestions:

• An answering photo
• A cartoon
• A joke
• A caption
• An anecdote
• A short story (flash fiction)
• A poem
• A newly minted proverb, adage or saying
• An essay
• A song—the lyrics or the performance

You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:

• Your creative offering is indeed yours
• Your writing is kept to 150 words or less

If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Prompt: Crimson’s Creative Challenge #65

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Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

Photo by Deena on Pexels.com

The crystal was supposed to absorb negativity, or so said the lady from whom she bought the crystal.

Instead of absorbing negativity, the crystal was steadily losing its original dark purple and turning white, then colourless.

She herself had not experienced any changes in her life.

So she chucked it one side, dismissing its potency as hokum.

However, the lady who sold her the crystal forgot to tell her to return the crystal for a re-charge before it turned completely clear.

It was too late when the lady remembered, for the owner was crushed to death from a falling statue when she was jogging in a park.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to GirlieOnTheEdge and the last Six Sentence Story Sunday prompt word reveal for the year 2019. As we approach the cusp of a new year, a new decade, may we all enjoy discovering exciting new characters, developing mysterious and marvelous new story lines; penning poetic musings and observations. May the writer in all of us share in the wonder that is imagination. Happy New Year everyone! I look forward to reading you at the next installment of Six Sentence Stories in the year 2020 🙂

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Come back here on Thursday, link your post…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers 🙂

PROMPT WORD:  CRYSTAL

Prompt: Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

Three Line Tales, Week 203

photo by Cameron Armstrong via Unsplash

For as long as he could remember, the boy has been living in the water with the fishes, frolicking with all of them like one.

He never understood why his mother told him never to go near the water surface; was the deep waters not dangerous with sharks and other unnamed creatures?

Curious, he popped his head out of the water; before the shark could get to him, he was plucked out of the water.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

You’ll find full guidelines on the TLT page – here’s the tl;dr:

• Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
• Link back to this post (& check the link shows up under the weekly post).
• Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
• Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
• Have fun.

Happy three-lining!

Prompt: Three Line Tales, Week 203

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Everyone was surprised by the old man’s proclamation – that werewolves existed and they would come hunting that night.

At first, the villagers laughed at his ludicrous speech; after all, werewolves belonged to fragments of fairy tales and even if they did exist, werewolves would only show themselves during full moon.

Then they laughed no more.

That night, a pack of them lopped into the village, killing half the livestock and abducted a few young maidens.

They started to take him seriously and deferred to his every word and acted according to his wishes and paid him for his services and used his inventions.

If only they knew all the werewolves were created by the old man’s design.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Come back here on Thursday, link your post…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers 🙂

PROMPT WORD:  DESIGN

Prompt: Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

Twittering Tales #158 – 15 October 2019

Photo by Mikechie Esparagoza at Pexels.com

“Why are you adding all these new inspirational signs in our house?”

I blinked at her. “What? I thought you were the one putting up the signs!”

We stared at each other to see if one of us would start laughing, revealing the joke.

We shrieked when a new sign materialised.

“It’s me!”

(278 characters)

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Home, the safest place. Now imagine there is something you can see living there together with you…

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. This is important as I have noticed that some of the ping backs have not been working. 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 #158 – 15 October 2019

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

He did not think much of the note when he first found it in his to-do notebook, only that it was a prank: then the second, third and fourth note came.

He thought he was getting paranoid so he went overseas to a private holiday home guarded by ex-military soldiers to take his mind off things.

He found the fifth note when he woke up that morning and immediately got sick – it was a Post-It on his forehead.

The guards at the holiday home were stumped as there was no suspicious movements and they had covered all possible routes so they decided the best course of action was to stay with the man that night, in the living room as he hid in his bedroom.

All was well until the next morning, when they heard the man gave a surprised shout followed by a heavy thump.

When they rushed into his room, the man was already lying dead on the ground, with a note in his hand that said, “Today’s your last day.”

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To be honest, I had no idea where this story was heading, until I suddenly remember a short tale “An Appointment in Samarra”, as retold by W Somerset Maugham. Some of you might be familiar with this story in the popular BBC’s Sherlock.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Come back here on Thursday, link your post…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers 🙂

PROMPT WORD:  NOTE

Prompt: Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

SIX-WORD STORY CHALLENGE – “ELIXIR”

Photo by ahmed adly on Pexels.com

body lives forever; the mind didn’t

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I think sometimes, we are too intimidated by the concept of death that we must find something to demonstrate how we continue to live beyond it – eternity, elixir, immortality, gods, fame and sadly, even charity. Meanwhile, our minds sometimes yearns for growth too.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: SIX-WORD STORY CHALLENGE – “ELIXIR”

Three Line Tales, Week 191

photo by Robert Collins via Unsplash

The boys were having fun, jumping and trying to catch the ball.

It seemed like a normal game of catch to them, but their parents would have freaked out if they saw what was happening.

The ball was bouncing from and falling back to the sky before it could reach the boys.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

You’ll find full guidelines on the TLT page – here’s the tl;dr:

• Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
• Link back to this post (& check the link shows up under the weekly post).
• Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
• Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
• Have fun.

Prompt: Three Line Tales, Week 191

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #33

alexlibris999 | DeviantArt.com

The Owner and the Book

The man knew treasures when he saw one. And that book was unparalleled treasure – a compendium of divination skills rumoured to grant its users power over the future. To think he would encounter such a valuable item in this dingy shop.

“No, how many times must I tell you? It’s not for sale,” the owner rejected his offer yet again.

Hongyi refused to give up. “Why display the book if you have no intentions of selling it then?”

The owner did not reply; he merely gazed at Hongyi steadily. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Hongyi shook his head and left, but a plan began to form in his mind.

The next day, the owner came down from his living quarters above the shop and noticed the compendium in the display glass case was missing. After all, the display glass case was not sealed, neither was it wired to any alarm system. “So that man came to steal the book after all,” he muttered to himself. He shook his head and went about his day of business, hardly worried about the empty display glass case.

It was only mid-morning, when the owner was sipping his Longjing tea that the compendium reappeared in the display glass case, as if it had never gone missing. The owner sighed, set down his tea and walked over to the display glass case with his hands behind his back respectfully. The book was in perfect condition, except the geometric design on the cover had grown larger.

“Looks like that man can’t handle your power,” the owner observed. He returned to the coffee table and continued to sip his tea. Idly, he wondered when the book was going to choose its next Guardian so he could pass on the responsibilities.

(298 words)

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Ooh, what happened? Did Hongyi die? Was the Book magical? Who was the owner? I have no idea as well. I originally created the character, the owner, as part of the series for the Witch I developed a long time ago – the Witch of Wishes, the Lady of Dual Sides, the Collector of Souls and the Merchant of Time.

Sadly, I have only written two stories about the Witch and one about the Lady of Dual Sides (all for The Weekly Knob on Medium). I have conceptualised the Collector of Souls and the Merchant of Time and even planned out the stories for them both, but sadly, I don’t seem to have the same writing stamina and level of interest in finishing the stories.

My promises of writing these stories seem to drag on forever.

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.

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

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Please take a few minutes to read some of the other responses to this photo challenge.

Prompt: Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #33

Three Line Tales, Week 190

photo by Alina Fedorchenko via Unsplash

She had been following him for weeks, tenaciously and doggedly appearing in front of him no matter where he went, her haunting eyes trained on his every action, his every movement and he was unable to rid himself of her despite involving the police – she had not harassed him, neither had she broken any laws by being in the public.

He was close to breaking down.

Would it be easier for him to suffer her emaciated presence wherever he turned or would it be easier to confess he murdered her husband?

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below:

You’ll find full guidelines on the TLT page – here’s the tl;dr:

• Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
• Link back to this post (& check the link shows up under the weekly post).
• Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
• Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
• Have fun.

Prompt: Three Line Tales, Week 190