Category: Contests

Contests I’ve participated in.

The Song of Haze – Flash Fiction Contest

Photo copyright K. S. Brooks. Do not use without attribution.Use the photograph above as the inspiration for your flash fiction story. Write whatever comes to mind (no sexual, political, or religious stories, jokes, or commentary, please) and after you PROOFREAD it, submit it as your entry in the comments section below. There will be no…

via Flash Fiction Writing Prompt: Fog — Indies Unlimited

Another writing prompt for a 250 word flash fiction contest.

Here is my contribution:

Sitting on top of the lighthouse and staring into the haze, I cannot help but reflect on all the wasted summers I’ve had at my grandparent’s house. There is nothing to do here on this godforsaken rock. No ships even come through here any longer since they’ve found a much safer route a few kilometres to the north…

Sometimes I think my grandparents enjoy the monotony, the all engulfing silence. I cannot understand it. At least, when I was younger, I could gorge in the stories they told. Stories about adventure, about monsters and ghosts – the hazy weather adding to the mystery.

As I stood staring into nothingness, trying to remember the one story about a ghost ship, I began hearing a peculiar sound. I wondered if it was the ocean hitting against the lighthouse, but it definitely had a melody. Forgetting about the story, I peered my ears until everything was silent again.

I slumped on the railing, disappointed, and my mind drifted again towards the story. And as I did, the melody returned. I imagined it to be a sea chanty, course and without rhythm. Thinking about it more strongly, I swear I heard the creaking of wooden planks near me – the sounds and music growing stronger.

But as I tried to rationalise what was happening, the sounds disappeared and I was once again alone in the haze. Maybe there is more to it, this place that nobody visits, a place where stories comes to life.

by Stamphers

Mystic Dune – Flash Fiction Contest

Use the photograph above as the inspiration for your flash fiction story. Write whatever comes to mind (no sexual, political, or religious stories, jokes, or commentary, please) and after you PROOFREAD it, submit it as your entry in the comments section below. There will be no written prompt. Welcome to the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction […]

via Flash Fiction Writing Prompt: Mirage — Indies Unlimited

I have a great fondness for very short fiction, I’ve found. It’s especially entertaining when there is a limit. 250 words you can do on this one.

Here is my contribution:

So this is the end. Once a thriving grassland now turned to savanna. Nobody imagined the transformation would’ve occurred this quickly, just a few weeks after the traveller’s curse… Damn foreigners.

They have no respect for the words of the mystic, and now look what their carelessness have wrought on us! My dad tells me we can weather this misfortune; that there are plenty of examples in the holy texts about the sand unleashing its wrath, only to spare the faithful in the end.

We are a pious family, after all, he tells us. Only, as I stand to gaze over the now dead landscape, I cannot help but feel despair upon my view. The sand creeping menacingly closer, suffocating the grass beneath my feet.

I fear this will be the last time I’ll see of my homeland, habitable and lush.

by Stamphers

Life Unwanted – Twitter Fiction Contest

Logitech has an interesting giveaway this week. The prices are okay, but the fun lie with writing a story in eight tweets or less.

Though I think eight tweets is a bit too generous, it is an good opportunity to write whatever comes to mind. This is my favourite process in writing, it is like exploring a new land; you will never know where your mind takes you.

Here is what I wrote for the contest;

Things never really goes as planned. Life is funny that way, yet you still appreciate the sincerity of it.

I don’t know what happens when we die,  but as life is forthright, then so too in death; I shall have no worries.

“Poetic… ngh,” there goes another one. I’ll be there soon… “I’m so sorry”

… I think I will write a comedy next time.

Link to the contest is over here!

by Stamphers