Happily Ever After: A Short Short Story

The wedding dress was still in the box in the secondhand store. A girl picked it up and held it against her.

“Can we buy it?” Fairytale sequins and lace glistened.

“We don’t have enough money,” the boy said.

"I know. I just wanted a pretty dress to be married in. I can wear my Sunday dress. That will be fine."

"Once I'm in Afghanistan, the military will send you money. You'll be okay. A dress won't make us more of less married." He pulled the girl to him and wrapped his arms around her.

At the counter a woman whispered to the clerk, “Put that dress on my bill. Don't tell them until I've left."

Microfiction monday: Grease

I'm talkin' grease, Ma'am. Honest-to-God grease.

Yes Ma'am! Use it to cook, clean or lubricate.

Multi-Purpose Grease, the Woman's Friend.

or...

You can trust your car

to the man who wears the star.

You can even trust your hair

to his loving care-

he's got the grease!

Play along with us at Susan's blog, Stony River! Use 140 characters or less to tell a story using the photo she provides. Easily count the characters by using a character counter like this one.

Microfiction Monday: It's a Bird's Life

Take One:

Two calling birds!

I said two calling birds, not pigeons.

Who sent the casting call to these guys anyway?

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Take Two:

pigeon-gray sky

brushed chrome water

in a monochrome world

birdsong breaks though steel,

floats, dripping melodies to earth

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Your turn to try writing a story based on the above picture! Go to Susan's Stony River blog for details on how to play. I can't wait to read what you have written.

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If you like short-short stories, check out these for some winter reading:

Microfiction Monday:

Over the River and Into the Woods

"Plum pudding?"

"Check."

"Roasting pig?"

"Check."

"Mistletoe?"

"Check."

"Kiss?"

"Not on your life!"

Want to play? Visit Susan at Stony River and you can find all the information you'll need, along with al ot of other entertaining information. Here's the gist of it, from Susan's blog:
"Microfiction" means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer."

So, use the photo Susan provides to write a story in 140 characters (that includes spaces and punctuation!). You can google a character counter to make it a lot easier. Here' s a link to one I use.

Have fun!

Microfiction Monday: The Thundering Herd

"Dude, it's okay. She totally can do this."

"Why should I believe a guy wearing fake fur?" the king growled. "Off with your head!"

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Play along with us! Go to Susan's blog for instructions and information. Basically: she provides the picture, we write a story in 140 characters or less (that means you count spaces, punctuation, etc).  Then put a link to your post on her blog so everyone can come see your brilliant work.

Microfiction Monday: The Lie

Ana dressed in men's attire

and traveled miles her lover to find,

but she found he was just a liar,

so she left him behind.

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Join the fun! Every Monday Susan posts a new photo prompt for Microfiction Monday. The challenge: write a story in 140 characters (which counts spaces and punctuation as well as letters). Think it's easy? Try it and find out. Click here for an easy-to-use character counter.



Microfiction Monday: A Real Fairy Tale

In a far land

where storytellers go:

a man, a woman, a dream.

All lived ever after,

not happily.

But at least they lived.

Want to play? Visit Susan's blog and find out how to join the fun. The challenge: write a story in 140 characters or less. She provides the picture, you provide the imagination.

You can get a quick character count by googling "character counter" which makes this a lot easier to do!

Microfiction Monday: Statistics

Let me see your toes.

Why?

Mama said a man's toes reflect the size of other body parts.

Shoes off, she took his hand.

Oh my.

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Join the fun! Visit Susan's blog to find out how to play. Then write your own, 140-character or less story to go with the photo, and put a link to your post on her blog. It's a good way to hone your writing skills, taking a story down to a bare minimum but still creating an entire story. Try it!

Microfiction Monday: Too Cool for Comfort

B believed the best bands were in Belpre.

C considered Coolville the cats of consummate coolness.

Weighted by alliteration, the boat sank.

Want to give it a try? Can you write a story in 140 characters or less?
Visit Susan's Stony River blog for details.

Microfiction Monday: Elixir

"Will it truly make me beautiful?"

She drank, eyes closed, tasting nectar.

The tiny black beetle in the bottom of the bottle moved.

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I'm late posting this time, but if you want to give it a try, go to http://www.stonyriver.ie/ and follow the isntructions there. It's simple really--copy and paste the picture from Stony River's prompt into your blog and write a short-short story, not to exceed 140 characters, about the picture. It's not so easy as it sounds!

Microfiction Monday: Once Upon a Time

"Kiss me," he said. "I'll turn into a prince."

She kissed him.

"There! I am Prince of Monkeys!"

"And you're drinking cyanide tea."

The Mystery Hole Flash Fiction

Yesterday Susan posted this as the writing prompt photo on her blog:

It's West Virginia's very own Mystery Hole on Rte 60 near Hawk's Nest State Park!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to write for Susan's Microfiction Monday, but I did drop a little ditty on First 50, where Virginia also posted the Mystery Hole photo and prompt.

The stories people have come up with for this photo are fun reading. Go visit Susan and First 50 to read what creative ideas were inspired by the photo. Maybe you could write a story or poem yourself about it? Here's what I wrote on First 50:

He was an old-style hippie, she was a modern flower child.
They were drivin’ east on 60, across the Midland Trail.
She said, look what’s that? It’s just a quonset hut.
You wanna stop and see? She said I gotta pee.
He was just a little high, so he drove right inside.

Classic stuff! Right. While writing it, I could hear a John Prine-like tune in my head. Strange what a photo can do.

I have yet to visit the Mystery Hole. They are open in tourist season which is my busiest time of year. Maybe this year I'll be able to stop and meander through the wonders of this optical illusion paradise (or nightmare, depending on your point of view).

Microfiction Monday:

"Don't mirror his emotions. Ask how you can help."

I'll bean him with my mirror. He won't get in my face over a dime fine on overdue book again!"

Microfiction Monday: The Lone Ranger Rides Again

"No one will recognize me in this disguise," he thought.

"Who is that?"

"W. He's lookin' for bin Laden, but bin Laden isn't in Waco Texas."

Microfiction Monday

Kitty?

Are you dry yet?

Next time you play in the snow, don't get so wet.

It sounded like you had a good time.

Let me in.

You can push start.

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Try your hand at writing microfiction!

The challenge is to write a story in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation. For more short-short-short stories and to join the fun, go to www.stonyriver.ie

Microfiction Monday: Return of the Native

Tires crunched gravel.

"Someone's here," he said, kissing her bare shoulder.

A door opened.

"I'm back. I changed my mind about the divorce."

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Want to play? Go to www.stonyriver.ie to learn how. The rules are simple: Susan provides the picture, you write a story in 140 characters (includes spaces and punctuation). Sound easy? Wait til you try!

Microfiction Monday

He strode to the door. "You'll be sorry one day."

She looked out the kitchen window. A rainbow arced into her garden.

“I doubt it,” she said.

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Microfiction is short-short fiction. In this case, it is fiction of exactly 140 characters, which is the limit on "tweets" (which means comments made using Twitter or similar software). You must count ALL characters, including punctuation and spaces. Whew! It's not so easy and I get cross-eyed counting! But it's an exercise in being able to tell a whole story in so few words. Each word carries significant importance.

If you'd like to participate, go to Susan's blog at www.stonyriver.ie and read more about how to do this. It's fun, I promise!

Microfiction Monday: Burnt House

You might miss Burnt House when passing through.

The community is small, but a ghost lurks in its history.

Delsie is still there, trapped in the memory of the burned inn.

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Can you tell a story in 140 characters (that's words, punctuations, and spaces)? Give it a try! Go to Susan's Stony River blog for details.

Microfiction Monday: The Witch and the Fairy

One wanted the bus to come.

One wanted to sit forever in the sun.

They sat, spinning spells on the warm bench.

The bus never came; the sun set.

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Want to try writing microfiction? Visit Susan's blog at http://www.stonyriver.ie/ for details.

Basic rule: tell a story in 140 characters. Not words--characters. That includes spaces and punctuation.

Does it sound easy? Once you try, I think you'll find it more challenging than it seems!

And OOPS! I missed the rule that you have to use the photo she provided. So my first attempt isn't entirely correct, but I'll do better next time.