Starter Sentence Poll #8

Faith, The Two-legged Dog has cornered a starter sentence in a tree, and it's up to you bring that sentence down...



Paulie Decibels says, "Whenever it rains on a Sunday, Peter thinks of his grandad's last words and, for the 1000th time, tries to work out what the old fool was talking about."

MRM says, "He was half way home when his pocket started ringing."

Über says, "The weak, sickly streams of winter sunlight did nothing to pierce the icy gloom and despair."

The Professor says, "He/she saw the orange Necco wafer on the counter top and started to cry."

Doc says, "It's ruined! Ruined! And it's all your fault!"


The results will go live on January 1st, 2010, @ 10:30 AM.

Line up those starter sentences!

Friday Flash Fiction still has its head stuck in Christmas...

...That doesn't mean that you have to suffer from a holiday hangover, too. Get those starter sentences going and let's start this year off right!

You know the drill or if you don't, check out the older posts to get an idea. Please remit your new sentences or submit your old ones in the comment section. I will then load them into poll form tomorrow, Thursday, December 31st @9:30 AM, Pacific Time.

Good night, good luck, and don't take Christmas crackers from warthogs.

The Best of F-F-F '09...will be out in 2010

The promised "Best of Friday Flash Fiction" won't be out today, but it will be out early some time next year. Why not, pray tell?





Work is stressing this moderator out and this household has an Xbox 360 again. In the meantime, have those starter sentences ready for tomorrow. Now excuse me, I have to unite The Three Kingdoms for the hundredth time.

The Original Friday Flash Fiction Starter Sentences

As a moderator, as a humorist, as a font of wisdom, and as a starter sentence creator, I pale in comparison to JJ.

I've always acknowledged such, and now you will have your proof. Yet, I am not ashamed, because he was (and is, though no longer practicing as far as I know) a Flash Fiction Messiah. Whatever you might think of my writing (I'm not fishing for compliments or insults. It is what it is, and I will always try to make it better), he improved it three-fold, and he taught me how to write short fiction under pressure. JJ taught me how to get out of that comfort zone that I'm always bringing up, and how to write outside of the two genres that I rarely strayed out of.

So when I put this blog together, I wanted to do the same for others, that he had done for me. I am glad that several had answered the call, and that every single one of you have indulged me, by at least popping over here to give it the old college try. At any rate, I won't dally further and now I will present to you, the original starter sentences that JJ himself conjured.

They are not in chronological order, but hey, I culled them together, damn it! So at least give me an "A" for that alone-

"In the purple and gray morning...".

"They should make people take a test..."

"I saw her/him through the smoke…"

"A Thong
A Gong
A Pair of Tongs
Someone named Wong
A Bong"

"Arms aching"

"Her arms shackled to the stone floor and her wings constricted by leather bindings..."

"Sacrifice."

"...but the creep beat me to it.".

"And then by God, I killed the son of a bitch.".

"Vampires on a train."

"Dirt, hurt, Curt, flirt, and an orange.".

"I had never seen one before except on television…"

"1) A Girl
2)A Whirl
3)A Curl
4)Something that unfurls
5)A Hurl."

"1)Rope
2)Dope
3)Grope
4)Hope
5)Slope."

JJ gave you the choice of four sentences with:
"It all started with a ham sandwich...
How did my underwear wind up...
That can't be my mother...
He woke up, wondering where his..."

"A cry went up."

“he said little as they paddled their way along the sunken streets...”

The end is near...

Well, that sign pretty much sums it up...

...Uh, no, not of the world. Friday Flash Fiction is almost done for 2009. December 29th, there will be a "Best Of Friday Flash Fiction," and I'll choose the stories that are my favorites of all your previous work. Come December 30th, have those starter sentences waiting and ready. On New Years' Eve, the poll will be ready up and on January 1st, 2010, we'll start off the new decade with F-F-F #15.

Times TBA. In the meantime?

The Ghost of Bettie Page says, "Merry Christmas!"

F-F-F #14, The Stories

Rowdy Girl is all jacked up for this week's Friday Flash Fiction...

...Look at her, she can hardly contain herself, or her dentures.

Well, before everyone settled themselves into a comfortable rut, I posted the starter sentence- Well, how did I get here?

With the conditions that, "The story cannot center around a crime and it cannot be set in a post-apocalyptic world. It also cannot be a pseudo-existentialist piece."

"Why?" do you ask? Because what I wanted us to do is, "less Raymond Chandler, less Richard Matheson and definitely less Sartre, with more Raymond Carver. The whole idea is to push each and every author here, out of their genre comfort zone."

Let's see what happened-

Randal drops us off in the Old West.

MRM put the Concrete Blonde's version of Roxy Music's "The End of The Line" into my head.

Dave Barber shows the all too wrong side of a popular cultural icon.

Doc relates a tale of a character that has everything come to him, slowly.

The Professor spins a yarn of someone who would probably want to forget everything.

Freida's narrator debates the values of therapy.

F-F-F #14

I can't speak for you, but I have gotten absolutely no Christmas or Hanukkah shopping done.

None.

Zilch.

Nada.

I did buy Christmas cards and we have sent most of them out, but that's all I've done in terms of purchases.

So, I'm going to make this easy on you and coincidentally, easy on me. There will be no poll or poll results to wait on, and you won't have to wait until Friday, for the starter sentence. Why, you'll even get more than six days to complete your story, if you read this message right after I post it.

"It sounds too easy," you say, "what's the catch?" The story cannot center around a crime and it cannot be set in a post-apocalyptic world. It also cannot be a pseudo-existentialist piece (I'm looking your way, Graves).

The starter sentence is- Well, how did I get here?



You know the deal, if you are in, please say so. Have it done by Tuesday @9 AM Pacific, December 22nd, all right?


Good night, good luck, and same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, (slap), whew. I hate when that happens.

F-F-F #13, The Stories

Authors Kieran Shea and Steve Weddle join us this week.



Splotchy conjured the starter sentence- "As the rumble receded westward, a fine layer of dust settled on the tall stack of vintage condom boxes."

Randal kicks things off with random Randalness.

Steve Waddle tells us about a mysterious desk.

MRMacrum gives us the old "Larry Holmes," setting us up with the jab and flooring us.

Kieran Shea takes us on a safari of sorts, into the wilds of Camden, New Jersey.

The Professor spins a prose-laden yar about a man that comes undone when he chooses a magazine as his guiding light.

David has a story about a heist that goes awry in a most unexpected way.

Doc gives us our second apocalyptic tale, about a resourcesful man.

Über takes the "Godzilla Versus Bambi" route, but she has a good excuse.

F-F-F (Lucky Number) #13

This one was truly a photo finish...



...in the closest poll ever, it's Splotchy, by a nose. He gave us the starter sentence- "As the rumble receded westward, a fine layer of dust settled on the tall stack of vintage condom boxes."

You know the deal, if you are in, please say so. Have it done by Tuesday @9 AM Pacific, December 15th, all right?

Starter Sentence Poll #8

...And they're off!

First out the gate, is Splotchy, via email, "As the rumble receded westward, a fine layer of dust settled on the tall stack of vintage condom boxes."

And there's David Barber with, "Who? Dead? You're joking?"

The Professor is on the rail, "As he/she opened the cardboard box and peered inside, the congealed puddles of opaque, orangish-white grease atop of each slice of pepperoni on the cold pizza made him/her feel nauseous."

MRMacrum is on the outside with, "She stepped off the bus in Chapel Hill, North Carolina."

Followed by Steve saying, "When she pulled the knife out of his neck, I knew we were in trouble."

Then bringing up the rear is Über with, "As he/she heard the crunch of tires on the gravel outside, she considered his/her options."

We'll see who comes through the final stretch on December, Friday the 11th, 2009, @ 10:00 AM.

Line up those starter sentences!

Starter sentences are like squirrels, they like to play hide and seek with you...

...and you won't catch one, unless you trap 'em.

You know the drill or if you don't, check out the older posts to get an idea. Please remit your new sentences or submit your old ones in the comment section. I will then load them into poll form tomorrow, Thursday, December 10th @9:30 AM, Pacific Time.

Good night, good luck, and guard yer nuts.

F-F-F- #12, The Stories

Chad joins us this week.

Elizabeth doesn't quite get the concept of fair competition, "no sucker punching" or even that of Flash Fiction, but these authors do.

Übermilf delivered the starting sentence, "She was always threatening to punch someone in the face, but this time she meant it."

MRMacrum tells a tale about a woman that can only be pushed so far.

Freida Bee's Florence Josephine changes things up this time.

Randal says someone gets a fistful.

Alan relates a yarn about transitions and all apologies to another blogger who uses that avatar, I didn't influence his picking that.

Chad will tell you to be careful who you mouth off to.

David gives a different rum punch, Jackie Brown.

Über spins horror and redemption in her narrative.

Doc challenges your eye for detail.

The Professor provokes with this provocation.

F-F-F #12

Well, the results are in from our seventh Starter Sentence Poll.

Über gave us the starter sentence- "She was always threatening to punch someone in the face, but this time she meant it."

Man, this is just rife with possibilities...

...I wonder if Elin Woods is going to join us on this one?

You know the deal, if you are in, please say so. Have it done by Tuesday @9 AM Pacific, December 8th, all right? Fore!

Starter Sentence Poll #7

Friday Flash Fiction is not amused...

...unless you pick the start sentence that you want for "Best In Show."

Lewis J. says, "Boss, you're not going to believe this." The sargeant paused as Detective Chief Inspector Lomax looked up from the pile of reports in front of him. "There's been a shooting. One dead. Its not a joke when I tell ya its Santa."

Paulie Decibels says, "'Say what you like about Stalin but at least he got things done,' said Arek."

Doc says, "Oh my, that's a nasty gash you have!"

The Professor says, "It was extreme, and the green, orange, and yellow flashes of light made his mind feel as if world around him/her was falling apart as in an avalanche."

David Barber says, "Spare us some change mister. I was the first man on the moon, ya know."

Über says, "She was always threatening to punch someone in the face, but this time she meant it."

Randal says, "Wherever they ran and hid, it was to no avail for the diabolical foot would not be stomped."

The results will go live on December, Friday the 4th, 2009, @ 10:30 AM.

Line up those starter sentences!

Ante Scriptum: I published this last week and I got the dates wrong, because I was just being lazy and I tried to extrapolate the dates from a November calendar at an angle. I have adjusted the times accordingly to compensate for the lost time.


Sometimes, you just get a sense for things...

...and sometimes, you have to feel your way around.

You know the drill or if you don't, check out the older posts to get an idea. Please remit your new sentences or submit your old ones in the comment section. I will then load them into poll form tomorrow, Thursday, December 3th @7:30 PM, Pacific Time.

Good night, good luck, and pluck those chickens blindfolded.