This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: Use one or more of these words in your story (but resist the temptation to look them up first!) * Periapt * Vilipend * Embrangle This week’s prompt struck me as rather interesting and fun. Anyone that knows me on a personal basis knows of my propensity to substitute words at sometimes inopportune times (the result of my speech impediment). I used my own personal experience in conversation and used a bar that I frequent for the setting. Let me know what you think. Oh, and the definitions are at the end of the story. I didn’t want to put them at the beginning because it would ruin the telling. “… and you’re so periapt it’s not even funny.” Lewis thumbed the bill of his faded … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: “Albert is Dead” Along with romantic scenes, many writers find writing a scene which involves killing a character a challenge. Here is your chance to write a scene where a truly objectionable character dies. Step 1. Go and read “Doggone” – a Friday Fiction first draft piece from a week ago. Step 2. Decide who, what and how Albert dies. It may be accidental, a blundered break in, monster attack – or by one of the many characters within the short story who may or may not have a motive. Step 3. Now write… You can choose to be as graphic or lyrical as you like, choose to show but not tell – or just tell it all. The only rule is – Albert must be dead by the end … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: The note taped to the door said: See you at Wild Notes Karaoke Bar. I had a little fun with this one, decided to toy with adding as much detail as possible without providing so much detail as to bore the reader. Read it through and let me know if you can tell I had to rush and finished the story in all of three minutes after Gary got out of the cab. Gary Wright’s life changed on the night of October third. It was on that fateful night that a young punk named Wally – he preferred to go by Chaz to make himself look more macho – took a baseball bat to his face and robbed him blind. What was supposed to be a date with … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: The conversation took off when Louise mentioned Bruce Willis. I decided to go short and sweet again and continue playing around with dialogue. Enjoy! “I don’t know, man. The conversation really took off when Louise mentioned Bruce Willis.” Peering over the spectacles on the tip of his nose with raised eyebrows, the man sitting on the other side of the table with the handlebar mustache replied “what do you mean?” —– “Know what I want? I want a man that looks like Bruce Willis. Why can’t you look like Bruce Willis?” “Honey, I …” “Don’t honey me, you Danny DeVito lookin’ son of a bitch!” Defeated, Andrew replied (and quite cautiously) “Louise, put down the bottle.” “Louise, put down the bottle! Louise, put down the bottle! Why don’t you come over … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: Strains of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” floated into the room. As Eric Sandburg slid his key card into the reader next to the door – there was a small plaque above it that read Insert Card for Access. Someone had scribbled in black Sharpie below it NO SHIT. Eric chuckled every time he saw it – he let out a sigh and looked up through the wire mesh embedded glass pane at the guard on the other side. Sandburg is a burly man; high school football player, bodybuilder, black belts in both Tae-Kwon-Do and Kung-Fu. At the age of fifty he left the Marine Corps and retired, but the life bored him. This is what led him to where he is today – a part … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: Use a McGuffin in your story. McGuffin: An object or person in a movie that has no use other than to drive the narrative forward. (originally coined by Alfred Hitchcock) examples: The Maltese Falcon in the movie of the same name; the suitcase in Pulp Fiction This is a new one for me; I’ve never written anything like this before. And I must admit, writing a McGuffin into the story is harder than it seems. I didn’t know exactly what to do with it, but I gave it a whirl anyway. A disheveled fourteen-year-old Kelly Martin sat on the curb at the corner of Fourteenth and Vine. She had a look about her; tender and young, yet experienced and mature. Her hair hanged in dreadlocks, peeking out from beneath her … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: In her right hand a woman holds a loaded gun, in her left, a coin that just came up ‘tails’…NOW WRITE… Annie lowered her head in defeat. Yesterday she was the Vice President of a Fortune 500 company; three kids, several cars, a yacht, a house fit for a king (or a queen in her case), she even had her own airplane. Thirty-six hours ago she signed her name to a contract that would net Wilder Holdings close to a billion dollars by the end of the year. With that money they could expand into the Asian market, and with that expansion came an offshoot company – one which she would become President of.  It was quickly becoming her dream to move to Tokyo and live … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: Include a telepathic parrot in your story. I had loads of fun with this prompt. All of this story is true, drawing from a day spent on our vacation last week at the beach, except for the event at the very end. I enjoyed writing it; I hope you enjoy reading it. I was on vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida with my wife last week when something beyond the realm of reasonable explanations happened. She and I were touring the Pier Park area, just having seen The Karate Kid at the Grand Theater, perusing the myriad shops and boutiques that line the street. Although I had spent much time in the area as a child, this was a new shopping center – an outdoor mall, if you … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: A Coming of Age Tale Marty lounged in front of the crackling fire in his new folding fabric and aluminum chair; a plate in his lap; his legs crossed before him with his boots propped up on the rocks of the fire ring. Enjoying the warmth in his toes while the rest of his body bathed comfortably in the cool night air, he failed to notice the soles of his brand new boots beginning to melt. A heavy pair of boots ended their stride immediately to his left. He looked up to see his father smiling down at him holding a large chunk of meat on the end of a barbecue skewer in one hand and a beer in the other. He was wearing an apron that proclaimed … Read entire article »

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: A writer’s computer begins to flash messages on its screen, as if trying to communicate. As Allen McCann – yes, Allen McCann the famous author – sat in the plush high-back chair in front of his antique roll-top desk staring blankly into the screen of his notebook computer, a trail of smoke from the Camel in the marble ashtray next to his mouse wisped up and caught him in the eye. Although a seasoned smoker, the smoke still stung his eyes and he avoided it at all costs. This night his mind was on other things; the deadline for his fourth novel Erotic Demons was coming up and he was only thirty thousand words in – the contract called for a minimum of fifty. The sudden … Read entire article »