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

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!

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

Friday Fictioneer – 13 SEPTEMBER 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr

Marx.

Highgate.

That was the clue.

When he read the news, he immediately knew what he was supposed to do. The cemetery and the police thought it was vandalism; he knew better.

It was a coded message for him. The promised day finally arrived.

He studied the image of the vandalised tomb belonging to Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery. Then he began deciphering the message using the prescribed book. It took a while but he finally decoded the message. And reeled back in horror.

Shocked by the implications of the message, he took off his glasses.

Could it be true?

(100 words)

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In all honesty, I was stumped by this image until I saw the words on the note. It looked like “Marx” and “Highgate” so out of curiosity, I searched for these words. Lo and behold, there was a piece of news about Karl Marx’s tomb in Highgate Cemetery in north London!

That was when this story came about. That and I have been watching too much Sherlock Holmes and Poirot these days.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneer – 13 SEPTEMBER 2019

SIX-WORD STORY CHALLENGE – “BLACK HOLE”

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Nothing good comes out of it

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What does a black hole and a vacuum cleaner say to each other?

“You suck!”

Haha, hope this little joke puts a smile on your face today!

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Today’s challenge is “Black Hole”

Prompt: SIX-WORD STORY CHALLENGE – “BLACK HOLE”

Three Line Tales, Week 182

photo by Rikki Austin via Unsplash

Queen of Spades

Perceptive intelligence lurks in her eyes but she has no desires to pass practical judgement.

Take all the pictures you want, she seemed to say, but I’ll not change myself, nor yourself, for you.

Fools will never understand what that closed mouth smile means.

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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 182

Three Line Tales, Week 179

photo by Richard Clark via Unsplash

The castle guards its secrets; there is no way of entering or exiting as the castle stands alone in the middle of the lake.

Dying to find out the mystery of this impossible construct, generation after generation expends futile efforts to understand the castle.

And generation after generation of the alien race living at the bottom of the lake praises the wisdom of their ancestors.

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When you want to hide things, you hide it in plain sight. When I saw this image, what attracts my attention is not the castle but the waters. Such magical qualities of the waters must speak for themselves!

After all, we have heard of Lady of the Lake, so why not Aliens of the Lake?

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.

Prompt: Three Line Tales, Week 179

Three Line Tales, Week 177

She discovered the mutilated bodies of her husband and her best friend at home on her birthday – they were killed in a break-in gone wrong.

Walking out of the police station after she gave her statement, she paused in the middle of the road as grief overcame her.

She heard the squealing sounds of the tyres but before she could react, she was sailing five metres into the air upon impact: her death was expected; her husband and best friend’s deaths were an accident.

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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 177