Crimson’s Creative Challenge #59

#CCC59

Legend has it the candles on the chandelier only light up when the unholy step into Ashaba. The local populace could not remember who said or when it was said, only that they must be prepared if the candles ever light up.

But the candles never lit up once for well over fifteen hundred years and the local populace shrugged off the ancient warning as a bedtime story, told by parents to scare their children to bed.

Errant youngsters even amused themselves by trying to light the candles but the candles resisted all efforts. It even became a local saying, when parents would scold their good-for-nothing sons “You’re the candle of Ashaba, aren’t you?”

All was well, until one day, a travelling circus came to Ashaba. That very night, the candles lit up for the very first time in centuries and burnt down the sacred temple of Ashaba…

(147 words)

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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)

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN.

Prompt: Crimson’s Creative Challenge #59

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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

Weekend Writing Prompt #125 – Ultimatum

Photo by Vlad Alexandru Popa on Pexels.com

“That’s an ultimatum!”

“But – ”

“No buts! Get in there!” he commanded.

Shakily, she got into the car. Before he could lock her in, she appealed to his empathy again. “Please, let’s talk about this. Just don’t do this,” she sobbed. “I’m sure we can work something out!”

He gazed at her steadily. “It’s time you conquer your fear of driving!”

(62 words)

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

• your poem / prose must contain this week’s word.  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
• the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.

Prompt: Weekend Writing Prompt #125 – Ultimatum

Scintillating Saturday Share #18

Night Sky|Photo Credit: Tremaine L. Loadholt

dance of white hope
in darkest hour

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It’s never truly dark out out there. Somehow, one way or another, you can still see the clouds, floating in the night sky.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Every Saturday, I will share a photo that touches my heart, makes me happy, or lifts my spirits in some way. The purpose? To send love, light, peace, and kindness out into the ether. Scintillating Saturdays: one definition of the word scintillating is as follows: witty; brilliantly clever.”

Now, it’s your turn. This’ll be our “Scintillating Saturday Share #18.” You can respond to this post, reblog and respond, or create a standalone post of your own, but please ping or tag this post so that I’ll know to read and respond to yours.

Using up to 7 words, tell me what this photo sparks in you.

Care to get creative with me for this scintillating Saturday share?

Prompt: Scintillating Saturday Share #18

Carrot Ranch – August 8: Flash Fiction Challenge

Photo by SplitShire on Pexels.com

Poisoned Apple

He could scarcely believe it. Months of effort – of planning, of sleepless nights – wiped out in matters of seconds.

Oh, how can the apple be poisoned so?

Known for its immunity, most viruses are unable to affect it. Yet, he could deny the truth no longer.

His MacBook Pro is not responding to any of the commands.

Well, every cloud has its silver lining. Or at least he hopes the iCloud has, that the documents have been backed up to the online server.

Then he realises, he has forgotten to switch on the Wi-Fi.

Poisoned Apple indeed.

(99 words)

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Well, this happened to me once. I wasn’t using MacBook Pro but rather, some other brand (NEC or Sony Vaio, I forgot which one until I made the switch to MacBook Pro). Google didn’t have a range of services like it does now and auto-saving a copy online was a foreign concept. At least to me.

The whole thing died and my heart along with it. Everything I had on the computer was the only copy. Thank goodness I know of a friend who knows of a friend who knows of a computer whiz. He did some tech mojo and I managed to salvage most of what I had, albeit not the latest updated copy.

But hey, at least I managed to get some things back!

And I never trust technology again. I have different copies of the same document saved in various places.

Talk about paranoia.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

August 8, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about a poisoned apple. Let’s explore dark myth. Deconstruct the original or invent something new. Negotiate the shadows, shed light, but go where the prompt leads you!

Respond by August 13, 2019. Use the comment section below to share, read, and be social. You may leave a link, pingback, or story in the comments. If you want to be published in the weekly collection, please use the form. Rules & Guidelines.

Prompt: Carrot Ranch – August 8: Flash Fiction Challenge

Friday Fictioneer – 2 AUGUST 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Flight of the Seaplane

When the seaplane took off, his fist clenched.

“Chris, nothing’s going to happen.”

“I know,” Chris replied. “I can’t help it.”

His fiancee held his hands. He felt heat from her hands. And the smoothness of her skin. And the rattling of the seaplane.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s scary, I know. But it will be fine.”

“What if they hate me?”

“Chris, they’re going to like you. There’s probably a good reason why they gave you up for adoption! If they’re willing to see you, that means something, doesn’t it?”

He returned her smile.

Maybe it was all in his mind.

(100 words)

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There is so much I want to say in this story and so much I want to expand on. But alas, the word limit forced me to revise and edit the story to the bare minimum. I still hope the double play of the fear, fear of flying and fear of meeting parents, comes through in this story.

Some day, if I’m up to it, I might expand this story and flesh it out. But for now, this will do.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneer – 2 AUGUST 2019

Twittering Tales #137 – 21 May 2019

Photo by paulsbarlow7@pixabay.com

Unwanted Attention

Jenny desired spotlight so she staged a break-in, the broken glass door as evidence; the neighbours only wondered who the man in Jenny’s house was.

He looked right at home though.

If only the second floor’s window was broken too, everyone would see a corpse skewered to the walls.

(278 characters)

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Hmm…I’m not sure if this is horrifying enough. I’m still trying to get the hang of 280 characters story – I could barely keep a story to 100 words, much less 280 characters!

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 #137 – 21 May 2019

Three Line Tales, Week 171

photo by Philippe Mignot via Unsplash

The streets emptied fast the moment the mist rolled in that late afternoon, for the local populace understood the implication of such unnatural change in weather pattern.

They were coming.

Everyone nodded their heads somberly at their neighbours and locked the doors, praying they would still see each other the following day..

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A somewhat supernatural story? I’m trying out the “more horrifying when you left it unsaid” writing. The brain is dead after a long day that I can’t even find the right words to express my thoughts.

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 171

Prompts – April 28

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)

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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