F3 – Cycle 128 – Avatque Vale

Posted by on May 17, 2013 3 comments

Through many countries and over many seas
I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,
to show this final honour to the dead,
and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,
since now fate takes you, even you, from me.
Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,
now at least take these last offerings, blessed
by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.
Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown,
and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.

- Gaius Valerius Catullus

We find ourselves at the last cycle of Flash Fiction Friday, which is the 128th cycle by the way. That means that if we had an average of about four stories per prompt, we’ve created over 500 pieces of new fiction. That is something to be proud of. And I am.

I’m not one for lengthy prompts or lengthy goodbyes, for that matter. So I offer one of my favorite poems above as inspiration to you. Give us a story with a goodbye. And let’s do crime fiction too, because that is really where we started and where many of you thrive. 1,300 words or less, please. Post the name of your story and a link to it in the comments of this post.

Thank you all for your participation. I’ve been privileged to be a part of this community and to share in your creative efforts. Keep writing and creating and Illegitimum non carborundum. And, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.

F3 – Cycle 227 – Open-Ended

Posted by on May 10, 2013 2 comments

Thomas Pluck took on the duties as a moderator for F3 after Chad Rohrbacher stepped away and alongside Flannery kept F3 going for a year. Thomas a fantastic writer, critical thinker and the best beer buddy a guy can have. This week he shares his last prompt.

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I started writing again back in 2010 thanks to flash fiction challenges like these here at F3. So I’m back to issue one last challenge, if you choose to accept it.

serra10e

Tension is critical to story. If we don’t care what happens, why do we read on? We crave the satisfaction of an ending. But some of the best stories ever written never give us that release. They leave us hanging.
The most famous is The Lady or the Tiger, the original Monty Hall life or death tale. When Hannibal Lecter escapes at the end of Silence of the Lambs, that is leaving us hanging. One monster has been caught but the most fiendish of them all is free to roam and eat our livers with fava beans. Todd Robinson’s incredible story in the Protectors anthology does this masterfully. (Pick up a copy. Great stories, for a great cause). And Hitchcock’s infamous ending to The Birds leaves us wondering why the birds attacked at all, and if they are back to normal, or simply waiting to strike. “Thin Mints” by Dan O’Shea is another great example. All powerful endings that leave us without spoon-fed resolution.

I bet you can guess what the challenge is. Write a story that creates incredible tension and leaves the ending up to us. Does he pull the trigger? For this to work, we need to be teased into believing either can happen. We can’t just see half of a stick-up and wonder if the clerk gets shot… unless the clerk has terminal cancer and is reaching for a shotgun beneath the counter so he’ll go out with a bang, and the thief has no bullets in his gun, and just needs the money for baby formula…

See what I mean?

There’s your challenge. Tie up our guts in knots.

Length: 1000 words
Genre: any, but technically this would be a thriller whether it’s in space or a tea parlor
Challenge: write a tense scene with an open ending.
Deadline: May 15th, 9:00 PM

F3 – Cycle 125 – In Motion – Stories

Posted by on May 8, 2013 No comments

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAWeek before last in Darren Miller presented us with his count down to the last prompt prompt with an intriguing venue for your stories. Darren asked you to write a story that took place while traveling from one destination to another.

These are the stories you came up with.

Zach takes us  on a “The Road Trip.”
Glenn jaunts on a “Palaquin Ride.”

Sorry for the delay. A busy weekend and then a broken hand. Don’t tell the doc I took my splint to type this. Mums the word.

F3, Cycle 126: Blind Dates–Delight or Disaster

Posted by on May 3, 2013 8 comments

Blind DateA lot of advertisements target couples.  Restaurants offer dinner for two coupons.  Clubs offer couples discounted memberships.  Then, there’s the songs and phrases such as ‘Tea for Two’, ‘It takes two to Tango’, and the all-popular ‘Two heads are better than one’.  Sometimes though, the ’right one’ might be a bit tough to connect with, unless alternate arrangements are made.  Often, mutual friends set up a meet, and also, there are many online tools that match folks up.  Does it make a difference for them going forward though, if people meet by chance or if they are specifically brought together?

Looking back, would the following famous couples have clicked if they had met on a blind date?  Romeo and Juliet?  Mark Antony and Cleopatra?  Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara?  Then again, what about these infamous couples?  Do you think friends would have believed these would be matches made in Heaven?  Caril Fugate and Charles Starkweather?  Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow?  Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka?

This week, let’s explore a blind date.  How it’s set up, or by whom, is up to your imagination.  Tell us how that first date goes.  Do they end up spending an afternoon holding hands, strolling down rose-covered paths like Ken and Barbie?  Or, do they discover a common desire to spread chaos and destruction like Godzilla and Rodan?

Prompt:  Write a story about a blind date, and share with us the outcome.  Do they hit it off and set up another date?  Do they decide it’s futile and never make it past the appetizer?  Once the date ends, is one of them never seen again?  You get the idea…

Genre:  Surprise us.

Word Limit:  1,800.

Deadline:  Wednesday, May 8th, at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Instructions:  Please post the title of your story, and a link to it, in the Comments section of this post.

F3 – Cycle 125 – In Motion

Posted by on April 26, 2013 4 comments

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERADarren G. Miller was one of the original four moderators for Flash Fiction Friday, along with Flannery Alden, Chad Rohrbacher and myself. At the time I met Darren his ran the site Geekcentricity, I’ve come to know him as an avid gamer, talented writer and staunch supporter of dog rescues, especially Huskies. This week he presents us with his final prompt — In Motion.

In writing, as in life, it is not about the destination, but about the route that one takes to that endpoint. In that spirit, I am looking for 1,500 words or less that are set entirely, or almost entirely within an area that is meant for movement, instead of arrival. For example, a hallway, a staircase, an escalator, an elevator, or an automobile. The more claustrophobic the setting, the better.

Are you ready to tell a story in motion?

Prompt: Put your story in motion, tell it from the vantage point of the journey, not the destination.
Genre: Open
Word Limit: 1500
Due Date: Wednesday, May 1st at 9:00 p.m. ET
Instructions: Please post the title of your story and a link to it in the comments of this post.

F3 – Cycle 24 – No Drama stories

Posted by on April 26, 2013 No comments

no-dramaAs we wind down, this last week was about letting loose and going to the fun, the quirky, anything but the drama.

“Nell’s Nanny” by longtime contributor, C M Stewart.
“The Jam Room” by Zachariah T. Baer

I want to thank Chad for taking another swing at things and trying to alleviate the drama. Next up, later today, Darren G. Miller.

F3 – Cycle 124 – No More Drama

Posted by on April 19, 2013 5 comments

Over the course of 2 and half (plus a little more to wiggle) Flash Fiction Friday has provided prompts from 7 various moderators and several guest. Each helping inspire dozens of participants with their own unique point of view and preferred writing genre. Over the next 5 weeks we will present new prompts from 5 of our alumni, either posted on their behalf or directly by them, and those final 5 prompts will be by Chad Rohrbacher, Darren Miller, Joyce Juzwik, Thomas Pluck and the final coup de grace by Flannery Alden.

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no-dramaChad Rohrbacher was one of the original moderators and a critical part in setting up the 4 man team. His personal work dips its toes into both speculative and crime fiction, spotlighted in his sci-fi collection Azreal Deception and with his crime novel Karma Backlash.

I’m drama’d out. Death, pain, viciousness, evil, budget cuts, political diatribes, religion, and even the petty quarrels between people who find it important to bring as many other people into their little spat as possible. So I’m thinking it would be nice to read something surreal, fun, out there ridiculous. Real situations like this, sure. Something nutty — Cockroach superheroes or the day in the life of a bi-polar sex toy, ok. I don’t know. Bottom line: make me giggle.

Prompt: Write a quirky story just for laughs. Leave the drama at the door or save it for your mama.
Genre: Open
Word Limit: 1280
Due Date: Wednesday, April 24th at 9:00 p.m. ET
Instructions: Please post the title of your story and a link to it in the comments of this post.

F3 – Cycle 123 – Sprung stories

Posted by on April 19, 2013 No comments

Using Flannery’s prior prompt “Spring” as a springboard, I jumped from soft sounding stories to stories crime and escape, or something alone those lines. These are your interpretations of “Sprung.”

escape21Zachary has a bit of “Déjà vu.”
Susan asks “Why Me.”
And Tony writes of “The Prison of the Mind.”

I want to thank everyone for their contributions this week, and every week. It’s good to see new faces, unfortunately, all things come to an end. This chapter of Flash Fiction Friday will close the book with Cycle 128, in 5 more weeks.

I hope you’ll join us, and part of me hopes that one of our many contributors might take on the challenge and continue in spirit like I did and like Cormac Brown did before me. Maybe you have your own ideas how to inspire would be writers and storytellers?

 

 

F3 – Cycle 123 – Sprung

Posted by on April 12, 2013 3 comments

This morning as I posted the stories submitted to last weeks prompt by Ms. Flannery, “Spring,” I immediately associated with the word Sprung. Crime fiction being my primary genre of choice—prisons, convicts, and escapes come to mind. What could be the polar opposite of Spring?

escape21This week I’m looking for a story the revolves around the escape or release of a convict, and the events that follow immediately after? If he escaped? Why? Does he succeed? Where does he go next? If he was released, again why? How does he handle freedom? Is he reformed? Or was his rehabilitation a sham?

Where does your story take us? Good or bad, lay it on this line with week as your protagonist seeks freedom.

Prompt: Write a story about a convict and his new found freedom, whether from an escape or parole.
Genre: Crime, though you are welcome to mash genres. Who knows when or where the story’s set.
Word Limit: 1,700
Due Date: Wednesday, April 17th at 9:00 p.m. ET
Instructions: Please post the title of your story and a link to it in the comments of this post.

F3 – Cycle 122 – Spring stories

Posted by on April 12, 2013 No comments

flowers

Now that Spring has sprung for most of us, except for people in Colorado and Minnesota, and various other places still nipping with Winter weather, here are a couple who shook off Spring fever presenting us with stories of Spring.

Zachariah gives us “The End.”
While Glenn shares a “Fever.”

Thanks and enjoy you good weather.