Psst! If youâre getting tired and losing steam, pop over to the comments of yesterdayâs Fun-Size Challenge, where people are working through the early parts of the Short Story Framework and getting excited about their ideas. Itâs quite infectious.
Why not pull out the Short Story Framework and use it to help plan todayâs story?
The Prompt
Write a flash fiction story that involves a flash of light
Tips
Realistically, most of the stories you write this month will be Flash Fiction in length (anything up to around 1200 words), but today I want you to focus on making it vivid, the way great flash should be.
Flash Fiction is about more than word count. It is deliberately taut, and yes, short. It should contain one or two vivid moments or images that stay with the reader long after theyâve gone.
Write your story of 1200 words today, and work on making it flash.
Read the StoryADay Flash Fiction Essentials if you need more inspiration.
FLASH FICTION FURTHER READING
Steve Almond, Stop
Erin Morgenstern, The Cat and The Fiddle
Ariel Berry, Useless Things
Naomi Kritzer, Paradox
Josh McColough, Meteor
Jennifer Wortman, Theories of the Point of View Shift in AC/DCâs âYou Shook Me All Night Longâ
Rachel Engelman, Joan of Arc Sits Naked In Her Dorm Room
Julie Duffy, The Girl Who Circumnavigated The Earth In An Act of Her Own Making
GO! Need support? Post here!
Bingo!
Hereâs your next Bingo Piece. Download the pic, print it out and paste it onto your bingo sheet. Then share a picture of it on social media with #storyadaybingo
Completed…flash and all…about 1500 word little story.
I respect the rule is don’t go back, however, yesterday I was on a mini holiday and paper and pen didn’t cut it. TOTALLY took care of Day 7 first before giving Day 6 a proper treatment.
My day 6 take away is that I’m definitely converted to the keyboard for serious drafting. Pen and paper are my go to for idea collecting (but sometimes my phone is, too).
I appreciate the prompts and how the exercise of “writing today” has my brain working more creatively.
Thank you. =)
My main character goes grocery shopping and runs into a very nice man in the produce section. They chat, and it turns into a story of theft, hidden treasure, and a flash driveâ which when inserted into the computer, causes quite a light show! Want to revisit this one to do it justice.
That definitely sounds fun!
I found out today that writing when I’m tired is a lot like family trips to the beach when I was a toddler in Florida. I drag my feet and don’t wanna go, but when I get there, even if I’m still tired, I’m mesmerized by the little clams digging into the sand and I don’t wanna leave.
I wrote today’s story as an outline since that’s all I had in the tank, but I think it was still a good stretch for me, since I brought it all the way to an ending that felt right.
The staying image I found is a bit more gruesome than I set out looking for, it involves a stowaway in an all-stainless-steel ship’s kitchen cutting a tattoo off of a dog’s paw to lift their family’s curse…
(stainless steel flashes nicely under flickering lights!)
That is a wonderful insight into your writing process and yes, I heartily endorse the idea of writing an outline and/or snippets if that’s all you have in the tank.
And now I’m picturing those clams….
I was happy today to be able to write a scene from my work in progress, a mystery novel. In the scene, a character is taking photographs in a cemetery at night. The scene ended at 1002 words. It needs editing and polishing but is a good first draft. Thank you!
Excellent! Glad you got that done.
I wrote a 1222 word draft that features a blinding flash at the very end. At first, I didn’t think I could write that much and have it seem like a complete story. I’m not used to it. I’d already written my 100-word warm up story before I saw today’s prompt. The draft needs polishing. It needs tightening, and it needs more punch in a couple spots. But it’s around 1200 words, has a story shape, and ends with a flash. I feel good about having done it.
TWO gold stars for you, today!
I wrote over 900 words and have what I hope is the begining of futuristic story.
For me getting started is the hardest part. Once I start, some of it flows.
Thank you for allowing me to push myself.
Still working with the characters from the next Baseball Boys book. Rhys and Mel get stuck together during a power outage, but Mel has a flashlight in their bag. And they’re starting to realize there’s more to Rhys than what’s on the surface. 1034 words
Again, I’m intrigued!
The flash prompt had me writing a piece that was autobiographical–and may end up in my memoir one day :). This first draft came in at just over 1000 words, and I was really happy with some of the images I included. Initially, they popped randomly into my head, but then I realised they echoed the theme of my story! Joy oh joy!
Happy writing anyone who reads this, and many thanks to Julie for this fabulous challenge!
Your subconscious is very smart! đ
I’m happy for you!
I was busy the whole day and couldn’t look at the prompt before 7 in the evening. I’s delighted to have finished writing a story within an hour. Let me share it without any further delay.
Love Through A Flashlight
It was pouring down like hell. Simran felt the windows for the umpteenth times. They were bolted and held tightly. She looked at the wall clock. It was 7.19 PM. Soon, Ankush would be home, she thought. The thought relieved her temporarily. And then the skies were pierced by flashes of lightning followed by the rumbling of a thunder
Exactly at that precise moment, the lights went out without any prior notice from the State Electricity Board. Simran sauntered slowly towards the kitchen. The candles were there on a shelf above the gas oven. It was difficult for her to see anything in the total darkness that enveloped the living room.
What was that? Did she hear the sound of a footstep? Was Ankush back? How did he come back so stealthily without honking like he normally did? Simran stopped in the act of putting her right foot forward. Should she go back to the door? She could find her way back to it because she knew every single object that adorned the living room. She had taken alot of trouble and time to decorate the rooms when they moved in.
The sofa-set along with the cushions was in the corner on the left, Ankush’s book-shelf on the right side of the door. The showcase with all those showpieces and curious that she had especially made for her was on the opposite side. She stumbled as she heard a howling sound like the one you hear in a crematorium. It was the wind blowing through the potted plants hanging outside on the balcony in the left, she guessed. Then she screamed!
She was sure that she had bolted the balcony door from inside after watering the plants at around 5 in the evening. How could it burst open like that then? The wind must have forced the door open, she concluded. A blanket of darkness spread over the entire world, both in and out.
Despite the fall in the temperature, there were beads of sweat on her forehead. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and headed towards the balcony door instead. She had hardly taken a step forward when she sensed the silhouette of a figure stepping in. She heard herself shrieking but the howling of the wind coupled with the sound of the falling rain downed her shriek. She tried to back out but the man, leaning forward, forced her mouth shut with his outstretched hand. Simran felt her feet wobbly before her head started reeling and everything blackened out.
When she regained her conciousness. The room was still in darkness. The rain and the wind from outside were peltering against the windows like the a little less noisily. As Simran tried to open her eyes, she felt her stomach churning. She immediately ran her hands down, over her shalwar, the area below her belly before running it all over her body. There was no pain, no blood oozing out of anywhere. Thank God! Her pictures were not going to be all over the different channels of the social media the next day. She was not a victim of some crooked mind.
Something, someone tried to lift her face then. There was something about the touch that didn’t feel so scary. Possibly, the intruder was not interested in deflowering her. Perhaps, he wanted something else. The key to the Godrej almirah or ⌠?
The next moment, she was blinded by the flash of a light that was cast on her face.
“Are you feeling okay, Sim?”
It was Ankush.
“Ankush? Is that you?” Her voice still sounded shaky. Then she recollected the outline of a ghastly form getting in from the balcony. “Why.. How did you climb up on the balcony?”
“I knocked on the door many times. There was no response. I searched for the duplicate key just to find that I’d left it behind. I got desperately worried about you. Tried breaking open the door. But it is made of shegun wood, no? The only way I could get into the apartment was through the balcony. I saw the water pipe and the rest was a Superman story⌠”
For the first time, Simran smiled. And then there was another flash of blinding light. The next moment the room was bathed in light as power got restored. Simran sat up on the sofa and looked outside from the window. It had stopped raining. And surprise of surprises, the silvery ball was slowly emerging from behind the clouds.
“What are you doing? Get the torch out of my face!” She yelled as Ankush directed another flash of light towards her face.
“You know something? For a moment out there, I thought I’d lost you, Sim. I acted crazy. My life is no life without you in it.” He said bending his face gently towards hers.
The end
Wrote a first draft of 618 words. I am leaving town this morning, so felt rushed when I started but happy that I completed it. Itâs about a woman who loses her husband unexpectedly. During a thunderstorm, a flash of light and then darkness as the power goes out, leaving her feeling as helpless as his death did. She has to come to terms with selling the house they shared because itâs too big and she doesnât like living alone but doesnât want to leave the memories.
Powerful stuff.
Hello, đ
I am enjoying writing a story a day.
Thank you, Julie!
I’m so happy you’re here!
I used story a day framework to start. The story began with a herd of giraffes warning meerkats of an impending storm on the savannahs. Then I scrapped that and wrote about a hydro pole that burst into flames and how two fire crews were having problems with jurisdiction. This one was much better.
I love the range of your imagination đ