Previous month:
July 2012
Next month:
September 2012

Stakeout

This week's challenge from Terrible Minds was to write a story incorporating four random words. His challenge: 

I dig the random word challenges.

It’s interesting to see what bizarre alchemical narrative computations take the simple lead of these words and change them not only into gold but, rather, a bevy of precious metals.

And so, that’s what’s popping its head up at the hole this week.

I’ve got eight words. I want you to pick four.

These four must be represented in the fiction you write.

The words? Cape, Joke, Senator, Hamburger, Laser, Gloves, Funeral, Motel

(If you care to know where I get my random words: this random word generator!)

You have, as always, one week (Friday, August 31st, by noon EST) to write up to 1000 words. 

I decided the cape would fit nicely on one of my regular characters, and before I knew it had my story. I think I was inspired by the episodes of True Blood I've been watching. This did come together pretty fast - a good thing, as I slept in this morning. Got 600 words in, though. If you like this, here's a link to all my stories with these guys. 

Continue reading "Stakeout" »


ROW80-3 check in 8/29 - what about Sunday?

Last Sunday's check in slid to Monday, then Tuesday, then off my list. So I really need to get Wednesday's done. Today. Thursday.

Saturday was very much a distraction day as far as my objectives went, and Sunday was not much better. I did get to a meet and greet Sunday afternoon, at my local independent bookstore. They had invited several local independent authors to come in and do some readings, and five or so did show up. Good readings, and some good networking opportunities. Even continued the networking over coffee at the store's cafe, then beer at a nearby pub. Most of my time has been focused on my Coursera course, this week's reading and essay was on several stories by Hawthorne and Poe. I had difficulty finding a thesis at first, but eventually said something about the consequences of science trying for perfection by presuming to be a Creator.  Not a strong essay I thought, but did better than average. Last weeks seemed better to me yet did worse. The essays that I was given to assess were very mixed in quality, as well as several being just wrong - as not on the assigned stories from the collection. Many made the same mistake, some claiming it was the fault of the course outline for not being clearer. Others feel these should just pay attention, read the syllabus, and realize it's supposed to be college level. This specific course and the concept in general still both interesting experiences. 

I also did two short stories since my last check in. One was for Terrible Minds, on a prison riot, and one for Flash Fiction Friday, on self awareness. The latter is one of my better ones I think.

Continue reading "ROW80-3 check in 8/29 - what about Sunday?" »


Who Am I?

This week's prompt from Flash Fiction Friday is to write about self-awareness.

Annie Savoy, Susan Sarandon’s character in the romantic comedy ”Bull Durham”, says ”the world is Annie-savoy made for people who aren’t cursed with self awareness.” The film, which is said to be one of the best ever made about baseball, will be 25 years old next year. Like all romantic comedies, the plot is essentially boy meets girl, with a little Zen, baseball, and Edith Piaf thrown in for good measure.

 Prompt: Write a 1000 word story about someone who has no self awareness, or, alternatively, someone who has far too much. Include the following words: curve, substitution, relief, sacrifice, strikeout.

Word Limit: 1000
Genre: Open
Deadline: Wednesday,  August 29th at 9:00 p.m. ET

 

 Took me a while to get started - looking up just what self-awareness was, pondering over a coffee here, a beer there. Finally got it. Short - only 430 words, but I may go back and add to it another day.

Edit - forgot all the baseball words initially, so had to go back after the deadline and slide them in. Then, in the light of day, saw some tweaking to be done to hopefully make this even morther better. And added a photo - she's still such a hot babe.

Continue reading "Who Am I?" »


The Riot

This week's challenge from Terrible Minds was to pick a setting.

Pick one of the following five settings/situations and write about it. That’s it. OH SO EASY.

The five are:

In the middle of a prison riot.
Chinatown during a hurricane.
In the Martian suburbs celebrating the Red Planet’s independence.
In a haunted mountain pass.
On the battlefield during a war between two races of mythological creature.
Due Friday Aug 24 - 12 noon  1000 words

I had no idea, so started brainstorming a bit. I wanted a setting I could build some characters in.

In the middle of a prison riot. - noise, chaos, panic, some good and some bad prisoners, some good and some bad guards.

Chinatown during a hurricane. - flimsy decorations and buildings, flooding, school in danger, strong local bank to hide in, dragon comes forth to help, led by young boy

In the Martian suburbs celebrating the Red Planet’s independence. - long a US/China colony, US explored and claimed rights, had to bargain w China over US economy, suburbs is a dome, chinese dissident blows it up 

In a haunted mountain pass - mist, voices, pebbles rattle down, someone running, takes the pass, ghosts get people chasing him

On the battlefield during a war between two races of mythological creature. - fairy tale folk in costume - or just two monsters taking a break.

I picked the first one. Came in at 997 words.

Continue reading "The Riot" »