I first saw this over at the LimeBirdWriters site. Fabulous place if you’ve never been. Head there immediately (after reading my post, obviously.) Originally, the prompts are over at Julia’s Place, and last week’s prompt for the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups was:
…what does it taste like…
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Sometimes when writing longer stories, I get bogged down in the process. Writing short Flash Fiction helps refocus my writing and keeps the brain thinking of other things. Yes, I have a brain 🙂
For this challenge you get 100 words plus the number in the prompt, so for this week: 105 words. The words from the prompt have to appear somewhere in your story. I’ve gone for two efforts. I hope you enjoy.
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Fire
The fire roared. Flames licked up the side of the old oak tree in the garden. A little too close for comfort, but Shelley didn’t care.
‘Burn,’ she shouted out into the night sky. She stoked the fire with an old branch and then poured the contents of another box into the fire. Years of dust sparkled and crackled as the flames devoured the pages leaving nothing but hot ash.
‘What are you burning?’ Karen asked.
‘His books, all handwritten. All the only copies,’ Shelley said. ‘I can taste it.’
‘What?’
‘In the air. Can you?’
‘No. What does it taste like?’
‘Revenge tastes sweet.’
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Sand
Jack bounced up and down in the sand. His thick mane of blonde hair flowed in the sea-breeze.
‘Let me see,’ he screamed. ‘I want to see.’
Ben rummaged in the hot sand, his back to his younger brother. He picked up shells and seaweed, passing them between his hands before he popped something into his mouth.
‘No,’ Jack said. Eyes wide. ‘What was that?
‘I don’t know.’
‘What does it taste like?’
‘Chocolate.’
‘Not true,’ Jack said. His hands grasped in vain at his brother’s arms. ‘I want one.’
Ben hid the packet of sweets and handed Jack a bit of seaweed.
‘Ewwww. Mom.’
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Great challenge. 100 words is a nice length for Flash Fiction. New challenges are revealed every Tuesday over at Julia’s Place. Give it a go.
Pete Denton 
I like it. You inspired me to write to this prompt too! It’ll be in my Flash Fiction Friday post.
Excellent. I like how a few words can inspire stories. I’ll keep an eye our for your Friday post.
Nice. I particularly enjoyed Fire. You are right about a few words being suffice to inspire an entire story.
Thanks. I preferred the idea for Fire. Useful exercise when you’re editing a novel too! Helps focus the mind.
Great flash fictions 🙂 The first has a kick. It was something like this that got me writing. I needed to write, had no idea where to start, then found OneWord, where I came into contact with a WP blogger at the same time a friend did WP course… and here I am. I’ll keep an eye on Julia’s place because a bit of flash fiction reinvigorates the muses 🙂
Thanks 🙂
I’m going to make an effort to use Julia’s prompts a couple of times a month. It does stimulate the old brain cells. 🙂
Ten years of dust. Brilliant.
Thanks 🙂 Like my novels, some of which have more like 20 years of dust!
Great stuff, Pete! Good idea to use challenges to help you with novel writing. I agree that it can really get the juices flowing.
Thanks, Kate. It helped kick me into editing more of my novel, which has got to be a good thing.
I loved fire. You captured that emotion and invoked it so well! Bravo Pete! I slipped right into that moment. 🙂
Thanks, Kourtney. I enjoyed writing that one the most. 🙂
Both were incredible! I always find it difficult to capture something deep using only a few words – especially when it comes to prose. I should probably do a few 100 word challenges just to improve.
They definitely help me. Keeps your writing tight and helps see the words you don’t need. And, when you only have 100 for a story, every word counts 🙂
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