Writing Challenge: Flash Fiction

From Wikipedia:

Flash fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as 300, while others consider stories as long as 1000 words to be flash fiction.

Flash fiction differs from a vignette in that the flash-fiction work contains the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocryphal story about a six-word flash allegedly penned by Ernest Hemingway:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Write a flash fiction story 500 words or less using plumber, politician, librarian, and an elevator.

Write on!

The Management

Sculpting with the Gods -- by Midnight

A leaky faucet.

I wrap my hands around it;

the moment seeps out

through my suspicions.

I clench my fists and try to contain it.

It still drips.

A flush of rose - a shade of ivy,

entangle to form a grey.

Concrete grey.

A conglomerate sludge, slithering

like half-hardened lava.

As the flow begins to form around my thumb

I forget from where it was drawn.

I discover the sun giving shape to shadows,

realizing it is as far away

as the thoughts that now clasp my hands together.

I feel Apollo forming around my left pinky,

and glance down to find Daphne's bark hardening

like basalt in the sun's reflection. He reaches

a marble hand around to brush the leaves from her breast

feeling her warm heart still beating underneath.

The sink now a pedestal, I marvel at creation,

my hands interlaced from hardened memories--

a miniature Bernini.

My own rigid entanglement

to divine upon until time's end.

(c) Joshua Biddle

Christmas by XtrHotMarSpy

A rough draft of the Christmas Challenge written on-the-fly while on IRC:

as i walked in from the well, i smelled the chickenshit as i passed the coops. opening the back door, the naked incandescent bulb cast yellow onto the snow. i heard the the children fighting over the pig cracklins that grandma had just fried up. i dropped the water by the basin in the kitchen and tasted one and headed to bed. when i woke up in the morning i felt the chill air outside of my comforter as a toe peeked out. i jumped up and yelled: "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

~end

by XtrHotMarSpy

Is there a 300-500 word story in there?

Write on!

The Management

Writer's Block

MissNoel: anyone have any suggestions for overcoming writer's block i can include in a blog post?

loony: free association writing .. where you write whatever comes to mind no matter how strange

XtrHotMarSpy: every time i have had writers block it was because i didn't know what the hell i was writing about, hadn't organized my story, or was just afraid.
case 1, do more research.
case 2, let it simmer.
case 3, believe in yourself.

DakotaMan: peyote
MissNoel: uh...no...lol...i cannot advocate that on our blog:) any other non-drug suggestions?
DakotaMan: a trip to a brothel?
MissNoel: are you a writer?
DakotaMan: Not for years now
DakotaMan: but I used to enjoy writing-being brutally original

Mdnght: prompts
it helps me when you give me prompts
removes the internal block
must be different for everyone though


Write on!

The Management

Writing Exercise: Christmas Challenge

Write a 300-500 word fiction story that takes place on Christmas eve and Christmas Day. Include each of the senses. Avoiding writing about a perfect Christmas eve or morning. Include a well in your story (and not just the word well.) All fiction sub-genres are acceptable.

The deadline is December 23, 2009.

Feel free to ask for assistance in the #writer channel on Undernet.

Submit your story to undernet.writer@gmail.com for consideration for publication on this blog.

Delevoped by MissNoel aka bluedaisy and kut. The “well” suggestion offered by loony.

Write on!

The Management