Bentley was blind from birth, and he played it right. Flight attendants took pity and if an extra first-class was available, would usher him into the plush leather seats. Bentley would compliment her on how good they felt and drop the line: a touch in the dark's better than a smile in the light, as he traced …
Tag: Fiction
How Was Practice?
The Mind Cheats Long Before the Body Ever wonder where divorce begins? My recently published flash fiction How Was Practice? attempts to plumb this dynamic in under a hundred words. Well, if that’s not ambitious… I'd be ever so grateful if you'd read it and let me know what you think. For more great 100 Word posts, check out …
Words Bridge the Gap: Cesar Egido Serrano Foundation $20K Prize for #flashfiction
Could you write a hundred-word flash fiction by Thanksgiving? How about for a $20,000 first place prize? Runners-up get a thousand bucks. And it's legit. I checked because you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true. This year's theme is the word, bridging the gap between different cultures and …
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It Ain’t Easy Being Real
I'm a laissez-faire teacher, which is something out-of-control teachers say to make themselves feel better. The truth is, I'm more comfortable allowing my students to talk, so long as I can get them to say, with some degree of accuracy, what I was going to say anyway. Today we did a little self discovery. I …
How to be a Writer in November: Show up and Throw up
Want to be a writer? It's as easy as show up and throw up. Write stream-of-consciousness. Write garbage. Write your dreams, your fears, somebody else's fears... What often happens in the show-up-throw-up process is: something awesome makes its way onto the page. Inherent in the process is a throwing-off of the shackles of self-loathing and-- …
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Zer0flash Fiction: Absolute Camouflage
https://videos.files.wordpress.com/zBB0YlYF/20170923_1337041_dvd.mp4 Assignment from Zer0flash: create spine-tingling flash fiction inspired by this tranquil video of a dam in Cambridge. Absolute Camouflage The lake floor was crusted over with garbage and cans and the slimy brown bones of a dying tree. Long, leafy willow locks writhed over the water's edge, and even the gentlest breeze could slough …
Say It: A Halloween Horror Story
"That's quite a costume, young ma-- ... er... are you a boy, or a girl? I can't tell under all that make up." The childlike thing shook a head, but made no answer. The widow Hann held upwards of $37 worth of chocolate in her lap, and she wasn't giving it up to rude, ungrateful …
Cinderella, a Twister #writingexercise
I gave this assignment to my 5000 Words students. Take a fairy tale and either: Re-tell the whole thing in a modern adaptation or Choose a scene from the middle and use it to begin a story of your own that diverges from the original. Sometimes as my students write, I do too. Here's my …
Zeroflash Fiction: Rampart
He studies her. Must be she's grading stories because her smile ebbs and flows. His heart's been slogging through the desert for years and now this-- mirage, his new team teacher. Like all mirages, getting too close strikes the vision, and he very badly wants to keep her. She's absent to the aura of her …
Dante’s Barn: A Short Story About the Gauntlet of Adolescence
Publication. That great Other reads your writing and deems it worthy to print. I'm pumped to share with you my short story is out today on Fiction on the Web, the oldest internet short story platform in existence (since 1996). They have a feedback field for readers. No sign-up necessary. I hope you'll read my …
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KL Griffiths 