Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Line up your next sentences

Please remit your new sentences or submit your old ones in the comment section.



Then I will load them into poll form tomorrow, Thursday, October 1st @9:30 Pacific Time. Goodnight, good luck, and keep plucking those chickens with a "p-h."

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

F-F-F #3, The Stories


What a shame that this isn't the end of October, because this Friday Flash Fiction should be titled, "A Haunting We Will Go."

The very first starter sentence via a blog poll was won by The Baroness and this is it: "There was no respite; the vivid, violent dreams that ruthlessly tormented her slumber had now relentlessly stretched the abyss, to envelop her during her day."

Doc speaks of spirits and temperance.

Randal speaks of a haunted woman.

Mr. MaCrum warns of a specter that surely looms over all of us.

Paul D. Brazill goes noir.

Beach Bum says the past is not what it seems.

Übermilf asks, "what's that smell?"

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Rules

Wait a minute, don't scream.

No, no, "don't scream," I said!

If you're not clear on just how to do Friday Flash Fiction or just what the rules are, shouting isn't going to get you anywhere, Zombie Alanis...



...here are the rules that you, you, oughta know:

You will send in your suggestion for starter sentences anytime during the week up to 12:00 AM PST on Friday.

If your sentence is not chosen and you feel it is too wonderful not to be chosen, you can send it in again the next week.

You will write an anecdote, short story, or novel length prose poem beginning with that Friday's starter sentence.

You will add comments to that post indicating your desire to participate and the completion of your story.

You may join in at any time prior to the deadline. You will display your story as a post on your own blog and it will be done by Tuesday 9:00 AM PST.

Now, on top of JJ's rules, please note that I would appreciate that you list in the comment section that you have finished your story. It makes it easier to retrieve the link and for everyone else to read the story. Especially if you've done multiple posts for that day, because then your link to the story won't be in the author's column anymore.

I will replay this blog's original post to help fill in any additional blanks-

A wise and wonderful, though sometime curmudgeonly man in Texas started something wonderful a few years back. He put together a little thing Friday Flash Fiction, in which he would provide the starter sentence on Friday morning and if you so chose, you would come up with a short story or a poem by the following Monday morning.

All you had to do was say that you wanted participate in the "comment section" and then provide a link back to your story after it was done and posted on your blog. To say that this had changed my writing was an understatement. This "Friday Flash Fiction" taught me writing discipline and it changed how I approached writing.

As with the majority of bloggers,
JJ gave up blogging and I know that I've almost done the same more times than I can count. Still, I'd like to continue on the Friday Flash Fiction to give everyone else the same opportunity I had, to find their writing voices and the venue for those voices to be heard.

So Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Friday Flash Fiction. Find your inner Bukowski, your hidden Joyce Carol Oates, and the Hammett inside of you that is waiting to bubble to the surface. Make you and everyone else proud, or at least have great time doing it.

Now, I've changed the date and times to accommodate, as well as the length requirements of the poem, yet everything else remains the same.

Unlike some others on the Internet, I am not doing this to profit off of someone else's idea. You don't see me directly linking this back to my blog or any of the various things that I am involved with, and there are no banner ads.

This is strictly for you, the writer, to find your voice.

Addendum- Let's try not to use songs or other people's stories unless they are pretty much ingrained in our popular culture and language. It would not be cool if we had an outstanding session that had to be pulled, because some overzealous lawyer decided that they have to prove to a music corporation or publisher that they are actually working, instead of just collecting a check.

Friday, September 25, 2009

F-F-F #3

Wow, is this our third sentence already? Oh, they grow so big, so fast and I'm sorry...

...I'm all choked up. Hold on just a second, please. Ahem, where was I? Oh, yeah, vote, dang it! Five votes? C'mon, you gotta want it, people! I don't want any ballot-stuffing, but jeez, we can do better.

The Baroness has come through with the starter sentence and it's a good one: "There was no respite; the vivid, violent dreams that ruthlessly tormented her slumber had now relentlessly stretched the abyss, to envelop her during her day."


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Starter Sentence Poll #1

Ante Scriptum- voting ends at September 25th, 9 AM.

Okay, when submitting, I ask that you please limit it to your three strongest choices. If you have more than three? Save 'em up.

Let us try not to use songs or other people's stories unless they are pretty much ingrained in our popular culture and language. It would not be cool if we had an outstanding session that had to be pulled, because some overzealous lawyer decided that they have to prove to a music corporation or publisher that they are working.

Doc came up with-

"She-devils come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but this one was different, as she was just the right size and definetly the right shape, curvy."

And...

"Does this taste funny to you?"

As much as I would like this sentence in there...

"The smell of gunpowder filled the air and my ears were still ringing from the blast, but at least this rat bastard would never bother anyone ever again."

I'll save that for the next poll.

Paulie Decibels says-

"Tony was a creature of narrow habit and, come rain or come shine, come hell or high water, no matter what, Tuesday was the day he ate eggs."

Das Übermilf? Sie sagt-

"How could that have grown overnight?"

Patti Abbott says-

"Uncle Ted's pants had deep pockets."

Randal says-

"She knew time was running out, fast, but opening that door was Pandora's Box all over again."

And...

"The problem is, curvy she-devils don't take kindly to suggestions from meta-narcissist, ax-wielding bloggers."

The Baroness closes this set with-

"There was no respite; the vivid, violent dreams that ruthlessly tormented her slumber had now relentlessly stretched the abyss, to envelop her during her day."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Starter Sentence from the audience, please?

I have a story to write and I've gone 1,900 words into the thing, only to realize that it won't work in the current direction it is going. There are six characters yet to be introduced and I'm barely into the second scene.

I have an interview to write up and the person doesn't even know that I want to interview her yet. There's a third project that I won't get into, lest I unintentionally offend someone who has been kind enough to present a good writing opportunity.

This is where you come in, authors and readers of Friday Flash Fiction; it is up to you to come up with the starter sentence and you can do so by putting it in the comment section. Now the window for this will be pretty narrow, because we will then vote for the winner beyond that, via a poll.

So I will take suggestions all the way up until Thursday, 10:30 AM Pacific Time.

Goodnight, and keep plucking those chickens with a "p-h."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

F-F-F #2, The Stories

Shall we fall into autumn?


All right, bad pun, but I'm too busy to do better, damn it! Luckily these authors won't let you down.

The starter sentence(s) is: “Nicole’s cataracts have worsened, so I knew she was going to be running late because she had to relearn her way around. She surprised me at the restaurant when she showed up beside our usual table and asked me, ‘wow, what just happened?’”


Richard Matheson and Romero look to Randal for inspiration and a certain treat of my home town, that is actually made in San Leandro.

Frieda's story definitely falls on the fiction side, with someone who seems very noble and graceful in a profession where that would be construed by their peers as a weakness.

Doc talks about a mysterious man, a promise that was made to dying man and...well, you will have to click the rest to find out.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

F-F-F #2

Okay, I’m sorry in that I’ll have to pick the starter sentence this week, though I will take suggestions on next Tuesday the 24th and time allowing, there will be a Blogger widget poll for everyone to vote on which one we will use.

Twenty years ago I wanted to stay home and watch Monday Night Football, but I had to be at work early that night, so I had no idea who won. As we were moving from one work site to the other, a blind man overheard my coworker ask me won. The blind man then proceeded to give the most vivid and accurate account of the game.

Now the thing is if you listen to an NFL game on the radio, it’s as if they don’t do a good job, they often do a great one in terms of play-by-play. The thing is that the blind man described exactly what happened on television, in such a way that put both the radio and TV versions to shame.

When I saw the highlights, I was shocked with all the details that he got right, everything except the colors and the physical descriptions of the players and the field. He filled in the images in such a way that if you had never seen a football game, this man (who probably was born blind) put you in that game as if you were right there at field level.

What I would like you to do is the exact opposite. The starter sentence(s) is: “Nicole’s cataracts have worsened, so I knew she was going to be running late because she had to relearn her way around. She suprised me at the restaurant when she showed up beside our usual table and asked me, ‘wow, what just happened?’”

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

F-F-F #1, The Stories

It's only fitting that on the last tuesday of Summer of 2009 that we gather around the campfire for some stories. Now I asked for people to write an anecdote, short story or poem using the starter sentence, "stop me before I date again."

The results here below are both surprising and outstanding-


Doc weighs in first, with "Grandpa's Last Blast." It's a beautiful piece on a man whose time is coming to a close.

Speaking of the golden years, this story by The Baroness will make us all reconsider our future twilight time.

Frieda Bee gives a whole new spin to the saying "it's complicated."

Randal Graves free forms and free flows, putting flash fiction on its ear.

Last but certainly not least by any stretch of the imagination, (the lone member from the original Friday Flash Fiction) Übermilf tells us of the kind of date that would drive a woman straight to a convenant to become a novice.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

F-F-F #1!

A refresher on the rules as originated by JJ: You will send in your suggestion for starter sentences anytime during the week up to 12:00 AM PST on Friday.

If your sentence is not chosen and you feel it is too wonderful not to be chosen, you can send it in again the next week.

You will write an anecdote, short story, or novel length prose poem beginning with the sentence below. You will add comments to this post indicating your desire to participate and the completion of your story.You may join in at any time prior to the deadline. You will display your story as a post on your own blog and it will be done by Tuesday 9:00 AM PST.


The starter sentence for this first installment is: "Stop me before I date again..."


Credit for the starter sentence was inspired by a post from The Baroness VonBloggenschtern.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

So It Begins...

A wise and wonderful, though sometime curmudgeonly man in Texas started something wonderful a few years back. He put together a little thing Friday Flash Fiction, in which he would provide the starter sentence on Friday morning and if you so chose, you would come up with a short story or a poem by the following Monday morning.

All you had to do was say that you wanted participate in the "comment section" and then provide a link back to your story after it was done and posted on your blog. To say that this had changed my writing was an understatement. This "Friday Flash Fiction" thing taught me writing discipline and it changed how I approached writing.

As with the majority of bloggers, JJ gave up blogging and I know that I've almost done the same more times than I can count. Still, I'd like to continue on the Friday Flash Fiction tradition, to give everyone else the same opportunity I had to find their writing voices and the venue for those voices to be heard.

So Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Friday Flash Fiction. Find your inner Bukowski, your hidden Joyce Carol Oates, and the Hammett inside of you that is waiting to bubble to the surface. Make you and everyone else proud, or at least have great time doing it.

P.S. I obviously don't remember the rules exactly as they were, so here they are-

The rules:

You will send in your suggestion for starter sentences anytime during the week up to 12:00 AM PST on Friday.*

If your sentence is not chosen and you feel it is too wonderful not to be chosen, you will send it in again the next week.

You will write an anecdote, short story, or novel length prose poem beginning with the sentence below.You will add comments to this post indicating your desire to participate and the completion of your story.

You may join in at any time prior to the deadline.You will display your story as a post on your own blog.You will be done by Tuesday 9:00 AM PST.*


*Now, I've changed the date and times to accomodate, as well as the length requirements of the poem, yet everything else remains the same.