FINISH THAT THOUGHT #26

Welcome back! We have our last contest of the year! It seems fitting that the contest should close as the ball drops in NYC...I don't know why, but that just seems cool. My Festive Challenge should be easier to incorporate this week. In the spirit of the new year, I'd like you to use any form of the word "resolution" or "resolve" anywhere in your piece. Have fun with it, and, as always, this is optional. I'm looking forward to reading your entries this week! Go write!


If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Patrick Stahl also known as @patrickjstahl. Check out his blog here. Read his winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #26 is:


[I] thought pegasi were tough to ride until the Army got their first shipment of wyverns.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


Make the protagonist non-human


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #25 - RESULTS!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Thanks for joining in the fun this week! If you missed it, check out all the entries here. I thoroughly loved them all! They were such fun - except the one which was heartbreaking, thanks for that one too. Enough from me, let's see what Judge Charles Short had to say:

The Imaginator @theimaginator20 – Excellent and prolific use of Christmas songs. Back story brought in nicely, good length.

Christy @weylyn42 – Christmas Merlot in the super soaker, very creative.  The picture of everyone running, hiding and so on was well portrayed.  As was the turn.

JMmacF – Loved the premise of Christmas dinner in heaven.  My favorite line of all the entries was Mary treasuring these things in her heart. But the Biblical allusions were all well done. You fooled me with the conclusion, I really expected the visitor to be someone else.

Melissa @MissieK – I loved the twist at the end, the subtle hint that the narrator had been the one to invite Uncle Jasper in order to make every year memorable.

LWM – Having been in many nursing homes and hospitals, I have seen people all dressed up for visitors that never came. I am glad you included a story to point out those who go unremembered.

Patrick Stahl @patrickjstahl – Excellent use of the hymns, in that they became a part of the story instead of merely borrowing their words in the telling.  I had to laugh at the typo in Silent Night though.  “dawn of redeeming grace.”  Not race.  Although NASCAR fans everywhere probably like your version better.

 

On to the Awards:

Special Challenge Runner Up: Melissa @MissieK for the load bearing water pistol.

Special Challenge Champion: Christy @weylyn42 Christmas Merlot in a super soaker, cause you know, a water pistol isn’t always enough. 

Grand Champion Runner Up: JM MacF the premise, the laugh at the end, the use of Bible characters it all added up really well.

Grand Champion: Patrick Stahl @patrickjstahl similar to your runner up a very good story, loved the build up, but since it’s Christmas I loved the conclusion. I am old fashioned but Christmas stories that point to Christ just make sense.

I did not judge the Optional Festive Award, since that is Alissa’s challenge I assume she is judging it. But let me also say I would award all entries an honorable mention, if this challenge had them. Every piece offered something wonderful and prize-worthy.  Thanks to all entries for being excellent and making my job harder. 

Yes, indeed! We had such fun this week! Thanks to all for joining us! TheImaginator and Patrick Stahl both qualified for the Festive Challenge this week! I enjoyed both. It was a hard decision. Thanks for the fun!
I chose the winning piece because he managed to 'hide' the song titles and lyrics within the story well and the story was tight. As much as I loved the other - for the sentiment and carols chosen - there were times of confusion for me as I read it.

Festive Challenge Champion: TheImaginator

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #25

Happy Christmas Eve!!!! Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Hopefully this is a time for rest and relaxation in addition to decking the halls and any last minute gifts you need to procure. Time with family and friends should be full of laughter and good memories. I pray it is for you. I have a gift for you! Due to the holidays, we're extending our time this week! You have until Thursday the 26th at 11:59:59 to get your story in!!!! TWO WHOLE EXTRA DAYS! Merry Christmas.

On to the Festive Award Challenge! In addition to the prompts given to you by the judge, I'm adding an extra challenge: Include as many Christmas Carols as you can, hidden within the text - titles or phrases. Yes, there can be punctuation within the phrase. Specify how many you included next to where you accept the challenge (I wouldn't want to miss any). Then, in a reply to your post list the phrases you included and the song they're from, like this:

"It's lovely weather" - Sleigh Ride
"In the frosty air" - Jingle Bell Rock
"Fall on your knees" - Oh Holy Night

You get the picture. :) (I'm doing it this way so I can see if I can find them all first before I see which ones they were.) So let me hear it!!!!

*Remember, this is OPTIONAL. This challenge shouldn't get in the way of your awesome story. Go check out the judge's prompts below! Go tell me who's invited to this special Christmas dinner!



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST EXTRA TIME this week! Two more days to get your story in! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! Get it in by the end of the day on the 26th. YAY!



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Charles Short also known as @CharlesWShort. Check out his blog here. Read his winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #25 is:


Who invited [Uncle Jasper] to Christmas dinner?



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


most creative use for a water pistol


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #24 - RESULTS!

WOOHOO! We may have only had three entries, but they ran the gamut! Great job everyone! I had so much fun reading them. If you missed them, go here and check 'em out. Now let's hear what Judge Eric Martell had to say:

Three stories this week, reminding us not to forget the important things – protective goggles, that your son is a were-bull, or that pesky bowling ball.

Lady Hazmat: A nice light-hearted tone lifted the whole story. Scott certainly could have gotten a lot less lucky – we can see the parallel worlds where he got ebola, or HIV, or became a zombie. Nice work.

Rebekah Postupak: As you said, a heck of a first line…wait. A well-written and compelling story, although one I have to admit confused me for a while – took me a few re-readings to get what I think Jaime had forgotten. I think I could have used a few more crumbs – it kind of fell upon me in a hurry, and I wasn’t quite sure I felt like the path made sense.

Charles W. Short: I laughed. A lot. Not really a twist, but a well-deserved bowling ball to the body. The physicist in me recommends this approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcjaMztsLg8

Since there were so few entries, I am choosing just one winner, although I enjoyed all of them.

Grand Champion/Special Challenge Champion: Charles W. Short. I saw that red bowling ball flying at me as I read it.

 

 

 

 

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #24

It was the week before Christmas and all through the internet.... Oh, nevermind. We have a writing prompt for you!!!! Welcome to Finish That Thought #24! We will continue through the holidays, so be sure to follow the blog so you get an email telling you when it's gone live - it can be very difficult to remember with everything else going on. If no one shows up on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve...I won't take it personally (read: I will be utterly heartbroken), but hopefully you'll be here with amazing stories to share! So let's get this party started! If you'd like to compete for an optional Festive award, include "the week before [Christmas]" in your story. (I can't help it - we will probably have Festive awards for the next couple weeks!) Have at you then!



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Eric Martell also known as @drmagoo. Check out his blog here. Read his winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #24 is:


It hit [him] then, what [he'd] forgotten.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


Vacation, the color red.


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

To Laugh or Not to Laugh

I wrote this piece for Rebekah Postupak's Flash! Friday competition. (150 words, give or take ten. I took them and came in at 160 exactly) I have no idea why, when prompted with the word 'laughter' and this picture:




I thought of Hamlet... It is decidedly odd. And now I can't refrain from speaking in a (most likely horrid) British accent. Please read my following story in one, if you can. :)

To Laugh or Not to Laugh

It’s not a question of whether my situation is funny, really, but rather my perspective.

This undignified and truly humiliating ride in this miniscule dinghy, being pulled by the slowest little fishing boat in the entire world, is nothing compared with my other ills.

The stares of the man and his son – I’m assuming, since they only speak in incomprehensible grunts – are only mildly disturbing compared with the hateful eyes of my enemies.

Don’t even get me started on the fish – horrible, disgusting creature! It won’t stop staring, its beady eyes accusing and unrelenting.

And to be dragged unceremoniously from the water – Why had I chosen water? – and flopped onto their boat as though I were a fish myself.

And yet, as I look at the fish, I see only my certain death in his domain and his in mine. Whose position is more enviable? I am too much the coward to try again.

I laugh, for otherwise I’ll cry.

For those who are interested, here is Hamlet's soliloquy that inspired the whole thing (Read this out loud in a British accent too!):



HAMLET

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #23 - RESULTS!

Love and phobias are an interesting mix... Thanks for coming out and sharing your stories with us! If you haven't read all the entries yet, just go here to do so. Sorry about not posting the results yesterday with judge Rebecca Allred sent them to me, I was feeling a bit under the weather and went to bed early. It helped. Now, without further ado, let's see what she had to say:



Thanks to everyone for posting stories this week. I enjoyed them all. Before I announce my picks, I’m going to use this opportunity for some shameless self-promotion and plug The Angry Hourglass (http://theangryhourglass.wordpress.com/), my new flash fiction site. The weekend flash fiction challenges launch after the first of the year, so be sure to check it out! Okay - now back to your regularly scheduled judging... 

What??? A new flash challenge starting in the new year?!?!?! Tell us MORE!!! :) Okay, sorry...I couldn't help myself... Now let's read her judgery:

Special Challenge Runner-Up: I Love It - Patrick Stahl - I liked how your narrator was faced with a gift from her significant other that struck horror into her heart, and found a way, at least initially, to accepted it. I can’t help but wonder what is going to happen to the locket when she gets away from the ice-covered parking lot. 



Special Challenge Champion: Veggies, Innards, and Love - JM MacF - I can’t quite put my finger on why, but the image of a man presenting his wife with a butchered animal and then claiming it is the embodiment of love strikes me as wonderfully absurd. Even more so when she is so obviously off-put by his gesture. How could he not know she’d react this way?! I found the whole scenario delightfully funny and enjoyed it immensely.



Runner Up: Two Roads Diverged - Jeffrey Hollar - Once again our narrator is faced with an embodiment of love they just can’t seem to accept. I enjoyed the cadence of this piece and its inevitable conclusion. Also, having been there and done that, this struck a personal cord as well - tho I don’t look back with anything approaching regret. 



Grand Champion: Untitled - drmagoo - Anybody who has read any of my work knows that, like drmagoo’s unnamed narrator, I am drawn to the darkness. This piece was well-written and spoke to the heartbreak that often accompanies love. I really appreciated how, in the end, it was not this character’s phobia and resultant atypical behaviors that got the best of him, but the new and unbearable fear of facing them alone.

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #23

This time of year tends to bring out the best and worst in people, and our judge has a little bit of both in store for you today. Speaking of Christmas... I just now realized that Tuesdays fall on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve this year. Show of hands (or, you know, let me know in the comments) of who's going to be around then...and if you're around, could you judge if you won? Just curious if we should break for a couple weeks OR if you'll be off and have tons of time to write and really want a prompt. :) I'm good with either. Anyway, enough business talk, get writing!


If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Rebecca J Allred also known as @LadyHazmat. Check out her blog here. Read her winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #23 is:


This, to me, represents love.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


Incorporate a phobia of a physical object. Concepts/emotions (rejection, commitment etc)don't count.


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

Dragon Boat

I wrote a piece of flash fiction!!! ...It's been a while! I missed it. NaNoWriMo was great for focusing on one project, but I missed writing these little stories. Thanks Rebekah Postupak for having your FLASHVERSARY PARTY on the week I come back! I know it was all for me! Go check out all the amazing entries at Rebekah's blog here. The prompt was the picture below and a 350 word (exactly) limit. I had so much more to write... I hope I cut the right things. (Did I mention it's been a while?) Thanks for reading! :)

The Second Test

“The dragon-face is a bit stylized, don’t you think? You look nothing like that.” Amalia said, flipping her tail in the water and swimming around the simple wooden boat Erimentha had Changed into moments before.

Erimentha tilted that stylized head in thought and looked at her proctor. “I’m imitating human craftsmanship. I’ll be unnoticed.”

“Not because you blend in!” Amalia interrupted, laughing. “That head on a dinghy? It’s a good thing no one comes among The Gravestones anymore.” She completed her inspection. “Odd. Most dragons choose something a bit more ornate when they transform.”

Erimentha faced the treacherous spires that rose from the sea. She would’ve flapped her wings in nervousness if she’d been in her natural form. A dragon was made for action, not submission. “Can we get started?”

“Ha! That sounds like a dragon! On with it then! You know what is expected of you?”

“I must not Change, or I fail.” She must learn to release control if she wanted to be a Seer. She would endure. She’d made sure of that.

Amalia smiled in anticipation as she directed the water to carry Erimentha into The Gravestones, “Don’t worry, not a single dragon has passed this test the first time around. I take my job very seriously.”

Erimentha was whipped around the spires. The terror of smashing into splinters overwhelmed her. She reached for magic at her core, but pulled back, frustrated. No. She couldn’t.

“It’s no shame,” the mermaid taunted, “everyone quits the first time.”

After an eternity, Erimentha was slowed and brought back to the beach.

“Impressive,” Amalia said. “A dragon’s need for control is second only to her desire for Power. I’ve had dragons through this test the maximum seven times who were still unable to do what you just did. You pass. Do you mind if I ask how you prepared?”

“I didn’t give myself the option to fail.”

“What does that mean?”

“I want this more than anything. I couldn’t let myself stand in the way.” She paused and smiled. “I'm unable to Change. I drained myself of Power before we began.”

 

 

 

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #22 - RESULTS!

Great job, everyone! I had fun reading the stories this week! Thanks for sharing. If you haven't had a chance to read them yet, check them out here. Otherwise, here's what judge Kate Julicher had to say:

Pen name: I loved this story. It’s got familiar elements - father bringing son up onto a mountain to sacrifice - done in a different way.  My one question was whether his son or the god actually did the pushing… maybe you meant that to be vague

drmagoo - super creepy and evocative! Good job building the creepy up bit by bit until we got the answer

storeroomoftheheart - oh, interesting premise but you got the judge who is a computer and gun nut so it raised a ton of worldbuilding questions (like “how can it guarantee richochet shots, bullets go through a lot more things than they bounce off of”) and that distracted me just a little but the situation  - WW3 between gangs -  was cool and the ending, ominous…

Christy - whoa, awesome. I love the practical magic vibes, and a great ending. I really sympathized with their dilemma. It had a sort of Americanized Harry Potter feel to it. 

mysoulstears - I loved this piece. Nice and seasonal, and a great look into someone’s head at a very stressful moment. And plenty of FIRE! Darn cats!

LadyHazmat - the last line was a killer. I totally sympathized with poor Shelley! I liked, “Sorry Bill. But it’s either you or me” too.

Special Challenge Runner-Up: Christy

Special Challenge Champion: mysoulstears

Runner-Up: Pen Name

Grand Champion: LadyHazmat

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #22

Oh yeah! NaNoWriMo is over and a new month has begun! Did I win? Um... Well... I'd say that I did. I plan on writing a blog post about my NaNo experience, but that's not THIS post! Today we're here to write some flash fiction! Shake those novels out of your heads and jump into something new and fresh and SHORT. :) I can't wait to see what you come up with for this prompt! Go write!



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Kate Julicher also known as @KateJulicher. Read her winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #22 is:


There was only one thing left to do.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


fire


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!