This week's judge, and last week's WINNER is Rebekah Postupak!
Here are her answers to my "getting to know the judge" questions:
The three words Rebekah picked for this week's word prompt are below. THANKS REBEKAH!!! Good luck to all who enter!
*Remember, the winner of this week gets to judge next week!
Here are her answers to my "getting to know the judge" questions:
If you are currently querying right now, please tell us about your book. (If its a WIP, tell us about it too!)
I've got two major WIP (and lots of minor), most of which involve dragons of varying levels of bad attitude. At the moment there's a cutish one next to me at the computer who keeps knocking the mouse out of my hand. This stopped being funny about a month ago.
How long have you been writing?
I've been writing so long, my first story was published in the faintly exhilarating purple of the ditto machine. But I've only been BACK to writing for about a year, and of that have only been about three weeks on the flash fiction circuit. It's just as exciting now as it ever was (minus the smell).
Tell us about your writing style. Are you a plotter/outliner, or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
I very seldom write according to plan. I prefer jumping in with strong characters and a big, hairy mess of a conflict, and discovering what happens next at the same time my characters do. Which probably explains why one of my WIP was recently picked up by the police, dazed, confused, and looking like it was up to no good.
What is one piece of advice you would give new writers? Write every day, all the time--even when there isn't time--and learn to tell that annoying inner editor to shut up. Not only does she slow you down, but she doesn't know half of what she thinks she does, anyway. Write on, dragon tamers, write on!
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The three words Rebekah picked for this week's word prompt are below. THANKS REBEKAH!!! Good luck to all who enter!
*Remember, the winner of this week gets to judge next week!
FLASH FACTORY FRIDAY #2
5/4/12
3 Word PROMPT:
puzzle, thunder, clock
Ready ... set ... FLASH!
To Review:
3 word prompt
50 word minimum / 350 word limit
24 hours
GO!
*Remember, post your entry right here in the comments, please! Don't forget word count and Twitter handle! (Or another way for me to reach the winner!)
An homage to my triple failure at entering The Writer's Voice contest:
ReplyDeleteI wasted all the time I had left trying to solve a puzzle that did not exist. It should have been as simple as pushing a button, but I couldn't handle even that limited responsibility without screwing it up somehow. Just like everything else in my life, I had to find a way to make it more complicated than it really was.
The sound of thunder rolling across the lake, intensified by the mountains that channeled the storm straight to my front door, was nothing more than the heavens' mocking laughter at my ultimate failure. I was foiled by a clock. I saw the lightning flash, and cowered from the noise that followed. Time ran out before I stopped trembling enough to press the damned button.
Ahhhhh this made me so sad. :-( I wish you'd gotten in. You would have been picked for sure!!!
DeleteRight away I knew he was different, inhuman. But I couldn't put my finger on exactly what he was. Everything about him, his looks, his smell, his voice, drew me in. His eyes were the color of storm tainted clouds. Thunder rolled deep behind them. I knew I should have been scared, but I wanted more. To feel his touch. He could see deep inside my soul, this wasn't our first encounter.
ReplyDeleteHe trailed his finger down my cheek, his skin was warm but it chilled my spine. The warning hairs on the back of my neck raised. I should have listened, I knew if he touched me for to much longer, my life would be his. I inhaled, and the scent of autumn wafted around us. I could smell the leaves changing color. He clasped his hand around my wrist and the atmosphere spun around us.
We stood in a meadow, surrounded by dense forest. My body was surrendering to him. Leaves whirled and grass flowed with the wind. I thought it would be painful. He removed the glamour. He was fae. I was his, and becoming one of them. We hunted each other like lost puzzle pieces. Trying to fit together. Did I want eternity? Yes.
His grip became tighter, and I could feel the transition beginning. We were racing the clock. Only a small window during the Harvest Moon will allow a mortal to fully become fae. The wind whipped loudly as if the forest surrounding us was coming alive. He held tight, the roots were reaching out to me. I caught a glimpse of his face, pale as the moon over an ocean. Teeth white as freshly fallen snow. As the wind whirled I could feel the earth under my feet.
Then, silence.
The council could no longer threaten my life as a mortal. They would have to accept me. Finding a way around the rules, and breaking the code of fae and human relationship. We no longer needed to hide our undying love. I was fae. His.
(342 words)
Title: Changing Harvest
DeleteOmg!!!! Yes! I want more of this story!!!!!
DeleteSingularity
ReplyDeleteby Susan Warren Utley
@SusanUtley
Sitting alone in the conservatory of her grandfather’s home, she holds in her hands the one thing no one claimed in the division of assets and the only thing she herself desired. Her grandfather’s voice echoes in her mind, “Begin at the beginning. I’ll take you back to the start.”
Turning the box in her hands she examines the intricate carvings of each interlocking piece of Ironwood. Suns, planets, moons and stars front and back. Comets, meteor showers, and eclipses in between. More than a puzzle box, it is a timeline of celestial events, the history of the universe.
“Begin at the beginning,” she whispers. In the upper right hand corner is an etching resembling an explosion of light. She attempts to slide the piece left and then to the right. Nothing. “How can you take me back to the start, if you’re not here to help me?” In frustration, she tosses the box aside sending it tumbling to the floor. Lightning fills the conservatory as thunder explodes, rattling panes of glass all around her. “Push yourself, Christina. Solve the puzzle.” This time his words are more than a memory.
Retrieving the box, she places a thumb on the etched explosion and gently pushes inward. Click. Twenty years had passed since her grandfather first challenged her with the secret of the puzzle box, and now, only after his passing, did she discover the first move.
Her grandfather’s voice comes to her again, “Listen to the box. Let it guide you.” Holding it close she hears the faint reverberation of the clicking sound coming from within the box. Stars collide, galaxies turn. Methodical in her movements, she reaches a barrier, backtracks and begins again. Each movement brings her closer to the center of the box. A final counterclockwise half-turn of the sun pops open a hinged door revealing a small clock. She is reminded of a silver dollar moon hanging in a blue velvet sky. The second hand ticks backwards.
“Take me back to the start,” she whispers as glass shatters outward in waves of brilliant white light.
350 words
Thank you, Jessa. Rebekah, the muse finally spoke!
His voice is thunder in a hall of sighs. I've been waiting for him for quite some time. I always knew he'd find me. A life lived looking over your shoulder, is no life at all. He calls my name. Seconds away, the clock ticks down until... there - at the door. My enemy approaches. Movement. He's breached my defenses. And yet, as I see his face; a puzzle. I smile, and feel happy as he casually waltzes in through the door to my heart.
ReplyDeleteI freaking love your way with words. Seriously. You already know that, but goodness gracious. Everything you write is like a freaking melody!!
DeleteGods Among Us
ReplyDeleteRaymond C. Morris
Whispers of air brushed past her cheek, stirring strands of loose hair that fell from the cap she wore. She crouched behind the dumpster, watching, waiting. Around her the debris stirred, wrappers and discarded newspapers ruffling and fidgeting. One such paper began to drift by, a crossword puzzle visible through the grime and stains. She speared it with the tip of her dagger.
The only word spelled out in the blocks was ‘Thunder’. Her lips curved in a small smile and she released the paper, watching as the light draft carried it further into the inky blackness of the alley.
Glancing up, she saw that the moon had moved a quarter of an inch since she’d arrived. She marked its current location in her mind, for it was the guiding hand of her internal clock, and to lose track of its progress would be to lose her only window home.
Footsteps echoed in the distance. She tensed, listening for the sign, the signal that fate had set in place to make her aware, certain. There it was, thunder in the distance. The sound of boots on pavement grew closer. She sank into a tighter crouch, knuckles white with the pressure she exuded on the hilt of her curved knife. Runes dug into the flesh of her palm, reassuring her of their presence.
The steps passed and she saw him. He was clad as expected, dark clothing, long duster swirling around his calves.
Without a sound she sprang forward, soft leather boots failing to stir the trash at her feet. She took two steps and then launched herself into the air, legs tucked under her body. She crashed into his back. Cloth ripped as she struck, the knife burying itself into…
Nothing. There was only the jacket, no body. As she fell to the ground, sliding on her knees atop the duster, she felt the cold barrel of a gun on the back of her neck.
“Will they not give up?” Victor asked, his voice a whisper.
“Not until the God within you is released,” she said, listening for the thunder.
350 agonizing words.
@iwrites
RAY!!! You gave me chills!!! This part is so good:
Delete"She marked its current location in her mind, for it was the guiding hand of her internal clock, and to lose track of its progress would be to lose her only window home." CHILLS!!!
Thanks to all who entered! Contest is now closed. I will post the winner shortly.
ReplyDelete