Flash Fiction 365

There is much to say about the world around us. Some things are better left unsaid for they thrive off the thoughts in our minds and the whispers of our hearts. In these cases, it is best to write them down rather than say them aloud. 365 days | 365 stories | a million things to say THE RULES

[flashfiction365]

Considering bringing back this blog

Message if you'd like to be my new co-mod. Thanks.

-Dominique

[flashfiction365]

The Return to the Queen

Title: The Return to the Queen

Author: http://happy-little-rebellion.tumblr.com

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Prompt: Prompt 1: "Trespassing"

Synopsis: It had been over two years since they had last seen each other. Jiann had been spitefully sent away into the furthest breaches of the country, just so the two would stay apart. She had been sneakily banished.

Word Count: 500/500

“The queen forbids you from entering the castle.”

Jiann gritted her teeth, but held both her patience and ground as she leered at the royal advisor. She understood that he was only being the protective father figure he was, since Queen Maria had been orphaned since she was little. Still, it gave him no right to infringe on her personal choices, to overrule her decisions. “Did she say that or did you make that up, Royal Advisor Bartholomew?” she asked him in a wary voice. “I am only doing what is right,” he told her. “I have told both of you time and time and again how important it is for our queen to take a king, not another queen. Who will be the heir? Some orphan off the streets?” “First you judge a love between two women, and now children who have no parents,” Jiann countered. “I can assure you; the royal line will not be tainted.” With that, she lightly pushed past Bartholomew and ventured into the Silver Chambers, the area of the castle where the royal family relaxed during the day and slept at night. She has gotten this far, trespassing the castle grounds despite the unjust laws set against her personally. A woman knight in love with the queen—how preposterous! But really, what was preposterous was disobeying the queen’s wishes. Maria was not stupid, nor blind when it came to love; she knew exactly what everyone else in the Council was doing, and due to strength in numbers alone, was shut down in regards to Jiann. No more. Without knocking, Jiann burst through Maria’s bedroom door. The queen immediately stood up from her desk against one wall, her earthy brown eyes wide. “Jiann?” It had been over two years since they had last seen each other. Jiann had been spitefully sent away into the furthest breaches of the country, just so the two would stay apart. She had been sneakily banished, although it was not the official terminology used by the Royal Guard. With her gone, the queen would hopefully move on and find a king and procreate a prince or princess to succeed her. But judging from the glassiness of Maria’s eyes, the dropping jaw, it seemed that she hasn’t done so at all. “I thought your outpost had been lost to our enemies,” she whispered. “And that you had been killed in the skirmish.” Jiann smiled softly. “I fight for my queen, and I fought my hardest.” With that, she respectfully dropped to one knee, bowing her head to the monarch. “And there was naught to do but to return to her. Here is where I’m meant to fight.” After a silent moment of taking her words in, Maria took a fast step forward. Even in her white, pristine dress, she skidded to her knees and threw her arms around Jiann, burying her face into her neck. “And now…” Maria breathed, in a soft addition to her words, “we can do that together.”

[flashfiction365]

Enjoy getting these prompts everyday and thought you might be interested in another flash fiction site that's just launched: theshortestfiction-dot-com (I can't put links in questions).

Oh wow, this is super cool! Guys, check this out: http://theshortestfiction.com/ allows you to read and submit flash fiction (just like we do!) except it looks like they are exclusively photo prompts AND they have this whole friend/follower system that helps you end up on the front page. We still want your submissions here, but send them on over to this site too. We can all support each other there :)

[flashfiction365]

[ 3 / 366 ]

Prompt 3: "Why Me?"

[flashfiction365]

How many of you are studying / working in a field related to writing?

Or if you're not, how does your schoolwork / job affect your writing?

[flashfiction365]

[ 2 / 366 ]

Prompt 2

What is the story behind this couple? Write about their past, their future, their thoughts, their feelings, their worries, their outfits, their favorite books, what they ate this morning, anything.

[flashfiction365]

[ 1 / 366 ]

Prompt 1: "Trespassing"

(Who is trespassing? Where? Why? Is it an adventure? Is it a dare? Is it an accident? Something else?)

[flashfiction365]

Heads Up!

Hey guys!

Prepare yourselves for some prompts! This is year 2 of FlashFiction365, except this year it should really be FlashFiction366 since it's a leap year, but we have no plans to change the name at this point.

Last year was pretty straightforward with prompts, so let's mix it up a bit this year! Picture prompts, poetry prompts, maybe even video prompts--the sky's the limit! Most importantly, we want prompts from YOU. How much more fun will this all be when people start getting more involved?

The goal for this year will still be to post a prompt every day of the year (oops we're already 5 days behind) but the format won't be as rigid. After all, the end of the world is approaching, right Mayans? So we might as well make the most of it!

You're all awesome! Partly because of the whole writing and reading thing and partly because of the feedback you've been giving, but mostly because you just read through a post with way too many exclamation points in it. But that's just how exciting this is.

[flashfiction365]

Maybe you could try picture prompts? I also agree with occasional contest. Writing is rewarding in itself but having extra incentive could increase motivation!

Ahhhh picture prompts are a great idea! I'll try and queue up some stuff in the next few days. Once we get into the swing of things and start getting more submissions again, we can throw out some contests! 

Hear that, guys? Submitsubmitsubmit! (well, we'll post prompts soon, but you can even submit anything you have lying around if you wanna throw it out there and maybe get some feedback!)

[flashfiction365]

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012, everyone!  Any exciting New Year's resolutions out there? Since we weren't getting many submissions by the end of last year, we kind of closed down the blog.  Sad stuff. But it's a new year, so new things can happen! What do you all think about the future of this blog? Should we resurrect it? Should we continue posting prompts? Should we become more interactive? Should we hold more contests? Send us your ideas!

[flashfiction365]

Would anyone be interested in taking over this blog?

Leave a message in the ask box. Thanks!

[flashfiction365]

INDEFINITE HIATUS.

Sorry for the lack of posts guys, but we haven't been getting very many submissions lately. So for now we're going inactive. Write us if you think we should keep the blog; otherwise I'll be deleting it in two weeks. Thanks!

-Dominique

[flashfiction365]

We Wuz Here

Title: We Wuz Here

Author: http://invisiblink.tumblr.com

Genre: tragedy, general, young adult

Synopsis: Kids like us don’t leave much of an impact on anyone’s life.

Word Count: 189/500

We’re the ones the social workers dread and foster parents turn away. The state pretends they care before shoving us off on some junkie looking for the government and a fixer-upper kid to score a little somethin’. Kids like us don’t leave much of an impact on anyone’s life.

We leave little bits of ourselves in spray-paint and marker on brick alley walls and cheap public bathroom stalls. “We wuz here,” they say, rarely in plain enough English to be understood.

We strive to be the idols and the heroes of the Next Generation of Street Rats and Hoodlums and Kids That No One Wants. But someone has to want them. Someone has to want us.

We are the greatest of the pretenders and the pragmatists and we keep each other all balanced out nice and even  with little reminders “I was here, you can be too, you just have to want it hard enough.”

And when we’ve passed a certain mark—the ones that need to know it know it—we leave a little signature on life. “I was here. I still am. I’m thinking of sticking around.”

[flashfiction365]

Coloring Books

Title: Coloring Books

Author: http://invisiblink.tumblr.com

Genre: tragedy, general

Prompt: 264: Within the Lines

Synopsis: He’s an old soul; not that these imagination-less adults wouldn’t recognize it.

Word Count: 299/500

All they do is analyze and study and poke and prod and experiment and a little boy can only take so much.

“Mummy says I’m old for my age,” he says with his little gap-toothed lisp (he’s lost his two front teeth, but the tooth fairy gipped him). He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t look at the business-suit clad woman with the short haircut and the child-friendly smile. And he pretends not to notice the clipboard in her hands.

“You certainly seem so,” the woman says kindly, reaching a finely-manicured hand toward his child-sized shoulders. He doesn’t like it, but he knows better than to shrug away. That’s not normal. That’s not what they want.

After a while the Suit walks back to her chair and observes him. He moves from the blocks—children’s toys, really—and opts for the coloring books instead, pulling a carefully chosen color from the box of 64 crayons (a pathetic selection considering the money that funnels into this place). He doesn’t dwell on his choice of pictures. He settles for a mundane little domestic house scene. And then he colors. Stroke. Stroke. Always with the grain. Simple. Gentle. Slow.

He’s almost finished before She speaks. “That’s beautiful,” she tells him. “But not very realistic.”

Her voice startles him and his crayon slips. The point breaks, leaving a long, messy scribble of green bleeding into his purple-moutains’-majesty sky with the blood-red clouds.

“This is how I see the world,” he informs her, feeling much like a special-education teacher as he enunciates each word in the hopes that he need not repeat himself. “Nothing is black and white. And lines are nothing more than guidelines.”

She frowns deeply—the lines on her face deepening into furrowing chasms—and makes a note.

He pretends not to notice.

[flashfiction365]

[ 275 / 365 ]

Prompt 275: "In the Shade"

[flashfiction365]

[ 274 / 365 ]

Prompt 274: "A Dark and Stormy Night"

[flashfiction365]

[ 273 / 365 ]

Prompt 273: "A Screeching Halt"