Tag: writing prompt
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Odd Prompts: Broken Rules
Have you ever seen a dying rose? The stem – the neck of the rose – collapses and even while the rose looks fresh, it slumps until it’s only facing the earth and never the sky any longer. The first rule of depressionland is to never talk about the depression. It’s not that you can’t…
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Odd Prompts: Titanium Princess
This one’s a complete short story. Enjoy! **** “When did he die?” She asked. Niz grunted. He was focused on getting the lock open, and it was never easy. The fact that the shop was locked at all made him uneasy. It wasn’t until he’d managed to practically pry open the padlock with his key…
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Odd Prompts: Toss a Coin
The first time, he was waiting for her. She’d promised to meet him on the beach for the sunrise, and with his heart doing doubletime, he’d woken early and paced along the shore. The gleam of silver had caught his eye, and he’d bent to pick it up out of sheer curiosity. The coin had…
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Odd Prompts: To Arms
No one expected there to be red pandas in the Sussex Arms. Which was, of course, why they were there. Dan peered over his half-moon readers at them, his gray fringed head gleaming under the new LED lights everyone hated in the ancient pub. There were two of them, and they were Shelby’s fault. She…
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Odd Prompts: Belladonna
A piece of flash fiction, or a vignette, as you please. *** The mirror reflected her own face, and the dark room behind here. She’d drawn all the drapes herself, long before she’d fallen into bed… somewhere in the early hours of the morning. Now, it would be broad daylight outside, yet it was dark…
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Odd Prompts: In Shadow
This is a snippet of something from the Tanager universe. I have no idea when, or where it fits into the series, but here you go… *** He paused on the threshold for an almost imperceptible moment, allowing the nearly invisible field to sweep him clean. That it also let him scan the comparatively dim…
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Odd Prompts: Snip of Groundskeeper
I’m thinking this one may wind up titled ‘Groundskeeper: Bringing Home the Dead’ **** Mark, half materialized, whooshed past her and got into the other ghost’s face. “What do you mean by this?” He demanded, reaching out toward the fading figure. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The other ghost drifted backward, away from Mark, and into…
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Odd Prompts: Centipede Pie
Ok, I had an epic writing day, with almost 3500 words to finish off a story for an anthology. Then I realized I hadn’t done the prompt… so here’s a little bit of flash fiction for you all to laugh at. **** She felt her jaw drop. “What did you say?” She asked after a…
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Odd Prompts: Chloe Snip
A snippet from the next Groundskeeper story, and my prompt challenge for the week. I’m gearing up the writing – frankly, we need the income. It was never supposed to take six months to complete this move, and two households drains even a decent reserve. So there will be publications rolling out from Sanderley…
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Odd Prompts: Running with Scissors
This is more of the Chloe story, from the Groundskeeper world. *** They dashed across the lobby, Chloe weaving between bemused shoppers, and out the doors where the ghost had vanished. Chloe stopped dead on the sidewalk, right on the curb, and looked around. There was nothing besides a scattering of regular everyday people. “He…
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Odd Prompts: Chloe
Some of you may recognize these characters from Groundskeeper: Raking Up the Dead. This will eventually be part of the next story in that series. ********** She yawned with jaw dropping force, and Mark flinched. Chloe shook her head and picked up her mug, then realized it was empty. She reached for her thermos and…
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Odd Prompts: It’s Never Espionage
A little something fun from today’s prompt, which I decided to play straight. *** “It was a normal day until the penguins attacked.” This was delivered in such a lugubrious tone that I turned to fully look at the speaker. “Is that the beginning of a wild story, or the world’s lamest passphrase?” He looked…