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 …
Tag: flash fiction
Flash Fiction for Microcosms
1 Thessalonians 5:2 Charles Floyd began dying the night of the buffalo. Seaman was hailed a hero, and the whole Corps of Discovery was giddy over the near miss: how the Newfoundland kept the buffalo from trampling the officers' tent. No one was hurt, not even Charles. Still, death had settled upon him like the dreaded …
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 …
Continue reading Dante’s Barn: A Short Story About the Gauntlet of Adolescence
Flash Fiction for Carrot Ranch
I'm trying to leave my novel alone for a few weeks so I can read it with "fresh" eyes and polish it. Again. This polishing will be the fourth draft on I Trespass. Since I'm not actively writing my novel, my schedule is different. Like: Who moved my cheese? Normally I pick up a thread …
Color: Fiction for Microcosms
From her usual spot between the front seats, the little girl gazed at the passing landscape, absently drawing shapes in the craggy skin on Father's neck. On either side of the road the broken bones of civilization lay in colorless mounds. She often wondered why the colors left, why the piles weren't bright like Lego …
Zeroflash Fiction: Chernobyl Romantics
On this journey to publishing my novel I often take little tangents, usually in the form of writing competitions. I love the immediacy of the feedback and the stretching prompts. Zeroflash's August competition garnered me an honorable mention from the talented Jan Kaneen. I can't tell you how uplifting it is to have a writer whose work I …
Patreonizing: Flash Fiction, Metafiction
[Patreon is a membership platform that enables artists to live off their craft. Or maybe it's a Go-Fund-Me for creatives. Anyone who lives with an artist understands the financial black hole spawned by art. Or, to put it plain: How is a small pepperoni pizza like a full-time writer? Neither can feed a family of four. …
The Shot: Fiction for Microcosms
Like all the outliers I've covered, this planet was named for some dead Earthian. Back then you could have a star named after yourself for less than the cost of a decent dinner. This man had a hundred stars named after him. Trump XV looked no different than all the others. When the infrastructure goes, …
Be a Flasher
Not that kind of flasher, naughty bird. A flash fiction writer. Why should I be a flash fiction writer? You ask. I'm glad you did. Flash fiction forces several wondrous talents upon you: Economy of language. Full-bodied plot in a tiny, weeny package. A stretch into new genres, styles, content.* Opportunity for you to turn …
KL Griffiths 