55 Word Challenge
Week Twenty-One
Welcome back to the #55WordChallenge. This weeks judge and contributing artist is Sue Mydliak. I am a huge fan of Sue's and am so proud to have her work here today. I really hope you find her photos and paintings inspire your muse.
For those that are uninitiated, the 55 Word Challenge is a contest to write a story in 55 words or less. Not an easy task, but fun and I have been blown away by some of the entries. See for yourself, all the past contests can be found here.
The challenge begins at noon Eastern time every Wednesday and ends at noon Thursday. The story is based on one of three photo prompts and can be written in any genre you choose. My only request is no porn. I don't want to hear graphic details. If it is erotic, make it titillating, not obscene. I know that can be done and done well.
SPECIAL TIME WARP CHALLENGE!When I was going through trying to fix some links on the Challenge page I discovered something. I skipped from Week Seventeen to Week Nineteen. Week Eighteen has mysteriously disappeared. Work something into your story that involves some kind of a time warp. Make it scary. Make it fun. Make it insane.
SPECIAL TIME WARP CHALLENGE!When I was going through trying to fix some links on the Challenge page I discovered something. I skipped from Week Seventeen to Week Nineteen. Week Eighteen has mysteriously disappeared. Work something into your story that involves some kind of a time warp. Make it scary. Make it fun. Make it insane.
The story is to be posted in the comment section below, along with your twitter handle or email address, so I can contact you if you are the winner. If you don't want to list your email address, send it to me at jezri@writing.com. I promise I won't distribute it, but if you are the winner I need a way to notify you and to send you your prize.
And what does the winner get? This purty badge for one. For two, a gift card for $5.00 from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble. (The prize will be rewarded within a week and sent to your email.) Also new, I will be offering a monthly prize to the story I liked the best between the winners. That will be announced at the end of the month who gets this.
If you are an artist that would like to have your work featured, let me know!
Photo Prompts:
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| Goldfish Pond |
 |
| Clock |
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| Shape-Shifter |
Sue Mydliak has been writing for six years now. She got her first start in the publishing world with her Flash Fiction, The Clearing, which appeared in Issue 7 of Mississippi Crow magazine. From there she has had numerous publications of her Horror Short Stories, her latest; Tortured Minds was published in June of 2012 and can be purchased on Amazon. She is currently working on the sequel to Birthright which she hopes to have finished by the end of this year.
She lives in Illinois with her family and works as a Special Education Paraprofessional working with Autistic students, a job she has had for the past eleven years now.
Games Afoot
ReplyDeleteThe professor landed heavily on the narrow
walkway, fighting down waves of nausea
and disorientation. His cloak was
smoldering and his hand was quite badly
burned.
He surmised excessive use had grievously
damaged the Horological Accumulator
clipped to his belt. He needed to recharge it
and risk yet another jump before his
deductive nemesis arrived.
55 words. @klingorengi
Moriarity the time bandit? I like it!
DeletePassage of Time
ReplyDeleteNight is upon me again; my time to shift and change both myself and time. When I morph into my Raven form, time warps and stands still, until I allow it to move forward again. Entire lifetimes come and go while I am changing to my true self. Consider this – tomorrow may be eons away.
55 words {without title}
@Angelique_Rider
Deep, I like it!
Delete“So I’ve been missing.”
ReplyDeleteAdrius wrapped his arms tight around me.
“For two hundred of our years.”
The world spun, turning the pond at my feet into a fish-strewn maelstrom.
“Not possible.” Shoving my way free cleared my head, if not the situation. “I’m twenty-eight, Adrius. How can I have been missing for two centuries?”
@caramichaels
55 #WIP500 words
I knew this prompt would be right up your alley. Great job as always.
DeleteWell, her mother was almost right. Greed may not have been the death of her, but it was certainly her downfall. If only she'd stolen the time machine after it’s final test.
ReplyDeleteOh well! Jess would’ve shrugged, but she didn’t have shoulders any more. She flipped her tail, and took another turn around the fish-bowl.
55 words
@tollykit
Even with the picture prompts I didn't see that coming. How many blessings has Impatience robbed us of? Very good.
DeleteThanks :) I love trying out the unexpected with the 55 words limit we're given.
DeleteBecause he needed me I paid her handsomely.
ReplyDeleteShe told me, Endora, that when it was done there would be no coming back.
Would I willingly sacrifice myself for him? Of course I would.
She grinned, her misshapen teeth broken and decaying.
And then she clapped her hands. Delighted.
I closed my eyes and waited.
55 words
@mrsnazilli
Beautiful words. I want to know so much more about this story.
DeleteFae eyes are full of death and I saw mine reflected there: the lily pond, the started koi, my mother's screams as kelpies dragged me under-- for a moment I tasted brackish water, lost in the vision.
ReplyDeleteBut that death was years ago, not years to come, and this time my sword arm didn't falter.
55 words
@MarthaBechtel
Excellent use of flashback and transition. Great job!
DeleteHe tried to write
ReplyDeleteFor a different
Flash Fiction Challenge
Daily.
That evening’s challenge
Had three picture prompts.
A bowl of fish.
A big clock.
A human becoming a wolf.
Pick any prompt.
Write 55 words.
Time slipped away
As he thought,
Until the challenge ended.
His soul cried.
He’d found no words.
Oops... Forgot...
Delete55 words.
@LurchMunster
Long day...
hahahahahaha!
DeleteThat's a very inventive way of incorporating all of the prompts. A poem full of ferrous.
DeleteCHINA
ReplyDeleteThe unruly haired little girl had been warned never to look at great grandmother’s dishes alone, but today she was awake first. Delicately laying china out on the carpet, her gaze was drawn to the goldfish plate.
The silken haired little princess drew away from the pond with a nagging sense she was forgetting something.
55 words
@DavidALudwig
I just love your fantasy stories. You have such a natural gait to your language. Well done as always.
DeleteEngineer
ReplyDeleteby Wakefield Mahon
The larger face of the elegant clock overlooked a bookstore, not two blocks from my home. I closed the portal and grimaced at the irony.
The pyramid at Saqqara was only 203 feet high, but it was a start.
“Imhotep, sir, I have gathered the materials you requested, but what is this thing called uranium?”
55 Words
@WakefieldMahon
The clock door opened. A cold hiss could be heard wending its way into the blackness.
ReplyDeleteThe clock door closed.
The clock door opened. Breath-wrenching sighs twisted down the stairs and out the night window.
The clock door closed.
Her mother scowled. “How many times have I warned you: keep the time door closed, Pandora!!”
55 words
@postupak
The clock door opened. The clock door closed. There is something so chilling in this simple little story of that naughty young Pandora.
DeleteInspired, of course, by my toddler's behavior when I'm trying to shower.
DeleteThis was precious!
Delete55 Word Challenge is now closed. Thank you everyone!
ReplyDeleteI would like to say that all of these pieces were well written, I enjoyed them all! Thank you and I'd like to post all of your pieces onto my blog if I may, because you all completed my artwork brilliantly. Well done, well done!
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with that for mine Sue.
Delete