Flash Fiction

[Sky Alton]

Welcome to Flash Fiction, the challenge to make stories in miniature!

Flash fictions are stories that pride themselves on being short, really short. Providing it has a beginning, middle and an end, even a sentence can tell a story. A typical example is this one by Augusto Monterroso:

When he woke up, the Dinosaur was still there

Here at the Book Club, we wanted to make storytelling fun. Each week, we’ll be rolling our set of Rory’s Story Cubes (storytelling picture dice) and giving you 3 random items. It’s your job to string them into a tiny story of 30 to 50 words. The story can be funny, serious or completely random: as simple as someone going downstairs to get a drink of water or an epic about two warring planets. Anything you like providing it includes all 3 things and has a beginning, middle and end. You must use the dice rolls for that particular week (no going back and using previous ones) and of course, you also need to keep the HOL rules in mind at all times.

You’ll earn 15 beans per story so start sharpening those quills!

[Sky Alton]

This week's things to include are...
Padlock, pyramid and parachute

For example:
For the 542nd time, the prisoner hammered the padlock against the wall. It gave a protesting creak, then miraculously popped open. Shrugging off chains as he ran, he made his way to the apex of the steel pyramid. Looking out at the empty orange sky, he longed for a parachute. (50 words)

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Padlock, pyramid, parachute

One day she found a key ... and, with a squeak of glee, she unlocked the padlock binding her in the story, grabbed the parachute she had stashed away, and leapt from that book into the one with the picture of the red-haired family posed in front of a pyramid.




edit: Eep. Sorry, Sky! I had the wrong number of words in my head as a limit. REDONE

[Sky Alton]

This week's things are:
Fish, sign, tower

Remember to check your word counts!

For example:
There was what might have been the remnants of a sign on the side of the crumbling tower. It looked like it had been quietly weathering away there for centuries. The explorer edged nearer and peered at the inscription in an ancient script: ‘no fishing’. (45 words)

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Fish, sign, tower

The people who fled the town had put up a sign (miles from the town) saying 'beware of fish'. There were numerous other warnings including one pasted on a huge tower. If the traveler continued to ignore the signs, and entered the town, he was eaten … by the fish.

[Prof. Amy Lupin]

Fish, sign, tower

The archaeologist fished through the exposed soil for some sign of a long lost culture. Time passed. He soon noticed a shadow towering over him. He turned and was greeted by the sight of a haggard warrior dressed in tribal regalia. The archaeologist stepped forward hesitantly but the spectre dispersed.

[Ivorie Windton]

Fish, sign, tower

The stars aligned in perfect formation that dark night allowing the young astronomer to read the sign the firmaments so generously put forth. From his high tower, he observed Pisces, the fish swimming gracefully though the heavens.

[Sky Alton]

This week's things are....
Fire, lightning, volunteer

For example:
Lightning whipped down, lashing the tops of the hills like fire. Everyone in the cramped shelter was averting their gaze: the only sound was the rain bouncing off the roof. It seemed nobody wanted to volunteer. (36 words)

[Polaris Black]

Great bolts of lightening lit up an otherwise blackened sky. Just before a fierce clap of thunder was heard, one large fire bolt targeted a centuries old tree. Thankfully, the resultant blaze elicited an overwhelming response from the town’s emergency volunteers. (42 words)

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Fire, lightning, volunteer

"I didn't do it" he squeaked, waving his wand with a hopeless gesture, hoping to diminish the flickering fire of the twenty foot salamander. "A bolt of lightning flashed from nowhere and hit Eric!" There was no volunteer, amongst the massed students summoned by the explosion, to help him.

[Vanessa Tilley]

The rain, thunder and lightning continued with no end in sight. "Anyone want to volunteer to make a fire?" I asked my friends as we all looked at the fireplace. "I would but fire and I don't go so well together. My friends all laughed and agreed. (47 words)

[Sky Alton]

This week's things are....
Arrow, tree, footprint

For example:
The lines on her palm were more like the intricate tracery of spider’s web than the branches of a tree: the scar from years ago like the footprint of a past she could barely remember. She closed that weathered hand around the arrow and fitted it to the string. (49 words)

[Vanessa Tilley]

She looked down at the animal footprint. It was close. She stepped cautiously up to the mighty oak tree and looked around the trunk. There was the buck that would be able to feed her family for a month. She took out an arrow and aimed. (48 words)

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

This weeks things to include are:
planet, key, compass

For example;

Whirling through time and space, the Tardis whizzed by the planet then returned and landed softly on the grass. A woman was seen in the doorway. She grabbed a key and a compass and leapt through the open door into a new adventure. [43 words]

[Pezzie Wolfe]

planet, key, compass

Fae turned the key in the door's lock, it gave a click and she was able to open the door and enter. Inside was not any ordinary room. But a magical plant that only Fae knew of with her magical key that could only open the one door to be on her planet. She knew where had to go, but sometimes she needed help. So she pulled out her compass and followed directions to get to the magical ritual.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

This weeks things to include are:
telescope, maze, rain

Remember to check your word counts!

Well, he'd found the maze. Folding his telescope, with its useful compass attachment, he wiped the rain (again) from his face and eyes and prepared to enter the narrow entrance which was overhung with vines. Perhaps the treasure would be in there ... perhaps it wouldn't. [46 words]

[Polaris Black]

After the trip to the planetarium, he went up to the attic and started working his way through the maze of boxes. Finally he found it: his old telescope. Hopefully the rain would stop by nightfall and he could find Spica. (41 words)

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

This week's things to include are:

dragon, camera, ocean

Whilst sailing her skiff through the ocean, among huge swells and waves, the sailor saw, looking through the camera lens, a most perfect outline of a dragon in the wave. Then she realized that the dragon was real. [38 words]

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

This week's words to include are:

frog, glasses, writing

Professor McGonagall positioned her square framed glasses on her nose and looked over at the frog. "Well, what have you got to say for yourself this time?" she asked, severely. The frog croaked.
"That's no excuse!" she replied, writing down her notes. “Well, at least you didn't get eaten.” [49 words]

[Polaris Black]

When Percy Weasley auditioned for the Frog Choir, Professor Flitwick tried to let him down gently. “Better stick to writing,” he said, his eyes twinkling through his glasses. “Here, have a dancing cupcake.” (33 words)