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...”
