A Meme, A Prompt (Five Words Into Fiction--Part 2)

Do you remember when a year or more ago there was a meme floating blogland, and several folks posted five words into fiction? (Here's mine.) This week I want to play on that. And I want to invite you to play (or read) along.
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This time, the five words to incorporate don't come as suggestion from a friend or another blogger, they come from the dictionary. By merely flipping through its pages, stopping randomly and taking the bolded header word.
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Using my small Webster's this morning, I've flipped for five words. They are:
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*binge
*crow
*foray
*refract
*wile
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photo from diypublicart.org

So there you have it, my five words. This week I'll use them to write a flash fiction piece (less that 1000 words)--the words must appear in the text, I can't only allude to them--and will plan to post it Friday.

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I'm excited because this sort of thing is stoopid fun, and it's good for a creative break from a consistent project. It's good exercise, too.

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Want to join me? Link up and/or post the details on your own blog, and we'll spread the meme.
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Ready? Set? Let's do this!

I'll Take a Prompt, Please

In the last few weeks I've discovered how much I enjoy writing prompts. That is, when you take the one-word or sentence suggestion from someone and write something about it.

I first followed a prompt here, coming up with a short fiction piece called Shayna's Secret. That particular exercise was a lot of fun, and I got great feedback.

And earlier this week, Angie Ledbetter posted a picture on her blog. In the picture was a brightly painted bus and, if you looked closely at the sign, you could see its destination was a cemetary. Angie called her readers to write a plot blurb about that bus, or the people on that bus, and why they may be going to the cemetary. She considered it a contest, and I found out today I share the trophy with a few others. Thanks, Angie! It was another exercise I really enjoyed. Here's my blurb...

She knew the bus ride was significant, for it represented her transportation between two lives. The destination awaiting her, the cemetery, meant the end of one life, the beginning of another. She’d say goodbye to the woman she used to be, there, at the small headstone engraved with her given name. And there she’d take on her new name, embrace her new self, begin the new life she had no choice but to live...

So it's now that I want to ask my readers for more prompts. Do you have any ideas you'd like to see me flesh out? Give me a word or phrase, or a sentence, and I'll do my best to come up with something. I only ask that you keep in mind what you already know about me, and keep your requests wholesome and clean (scary or offbeat is okay). Depending on the response, I may not be able to use all the prompts, but I'll span them over the course of several days.

So. Have any good ones for me?

Shayna's Secret

I mentioned in this week's Stuff and Things (see two posts down), that kimmirich tagged me with a writing prompt. The idea was to start with the word or concept of secret or laughter or tears, etc., and expound upon it, in whatever way I wished. I chose secret, and here's what I came up with...

Shayna's Secret

She was sitting with her knees drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. Her ear was tuned to what lay beyond her confines, but, for the moment, she could hear only the rapid beating of her heart. She took a few deep breaths, willing a calmness to envelop her. And as her pulse slowed, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the closet in which she sat.

She deftly reached for the penlight she’d tucked into the back pocket of her jeans. Once the beam illuminated her small surroundings she grabbed for the book, the one tucked into her husband’s hip-wader boot. She flipped through the paperback, finding the dog-eared page from her last reading. Repositioning herself to Indian-style, she laid the book over the cross of her legs, letting the thin ray of light rest upon its words.

Her free hand moving with grace, she pulled the chunky coffee mug to her lips. She tasted a sip, not even trying to suppress the small sigh that escaped her lips.

Ahhh. This is it, she thought.

She’d been looking forward to it all day. It was her moment of peace. In this little space, this secret place her family hadn’t yet realized she’d claimed…



If you feel an idea stir, write your own piece following the guidelines above. And let me know what you come up with.

Tuesday's Stuff and Things #... 4?

So for today's SnT, I thought I'd mention...

I can't stop checking my inbox! Seriously. Chores and tasks and all are interrupted every few minutes for a quick run to the computer. Does it get any better?

I've finished reading my Advance Reading Copy of Karen Dionne's Freezing Point. Wow. But that's all I'll say now. I'll be posting a review in the next day or so... if I can do it without having to reference the book itself, which my husband stole and took to work. :) And might I say? I've had some personal correspondence with Karen. She's fabulously sweet, and has been supportive of my own writing endeavors. Karen, if you're out there: You rock!

Kimmirich tagged me with a writing prompt. I'm to take a secret, or the concept of one, and expound upon it in some way. I'm brainstorming, and I'll post that this week, too. A writing exercise based on her prompt will be great! I think. Read her poem here, and be sure to note the details of her book, The Unbreakable Child, which will be published Spring of 2009.

And lastly, Wee One woke up with a stuffy/runny nose this morning. It's progressed to lethargy and a raspy voice this afternoon, so I'm afraid she's coming down with a bad cold. And now I'm starting to feel "puny" myself, as my grandma used to say. Hope it won't be too rotten to us.

And now off to start dinner! Big One has requested scrambled eggs and sausage...