Calling all Political Writers. A competition is afoot.

One of my other bloggy places, Tremr, is having a political writing competition that is well worth checking out if you’re into that kind of thing. Link below for those interested.

https://www.tremr.com/the-editor/tremr-political-writing-competition-may-2016

 

Six Word Stories: The Return of the Challenge

Hello, long time no see, largely down to my own fault. I’m kicking off the return of the six word story challenge, with the rather appropriate RETURN.

Entries by Friday at 5pm, via the blue frog and linking back to me on your entry so I get a ping back. You can find my effort below.

He knocked, knowing she wouldn’t answer.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 8.

Many many apologies for the delay, so without further wasting of anyone’s time, here are this week’s highly commended for BETRAYAL:

Returned from trip. Key didn’t fit. (AnonymouStalker)

Tears trickled down, betraying his smile. (Doodles and Scribbles)

Brilliant mind trapped inside lifeless body. (Kay Morris Writes)

And this week’s winner:

A bribe accepted. A witness dead. (D.S. McKnight)

Hope you enjoyed those, there were really lots of good entries this week, so keep them coming in! This week’s prompt word is HELP! Make of that what you will, but you can find my entry below.

Noiseless, water flooded into her lungs.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 7.

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday!

I’m afraid I still haven’t got around to grading the stories from two weeks ago on Prejudice, but I do have the winners from this week’s Delay prompt – ironic I know, I’ll get round to it I promise!

So without further furore, here are your esteemed runners-up for stories about Delay:

She hesitated, he closed the box. (The Things I Yell)

‘Honey, I am five days late.’ (Real Momma Ramblings)

Anxiety multiplies as appointments run late. (The Storyteller’s Abode)

And this week’s winner:

Target locked, she deliberated. Huge mistake… (Aloada Bobbins)

Thanks once again to everyone that participated, it really is wonderful to read so many great stories, so keep it up. The theme this week is Betrayal, and as ever, you can find my effort below.

He drew the knife, brotherhood forgotten.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No.6.

Due to having been away and unexpectedly manically busy over the last few days, I come to my regular readers with the awful admission that I have not had time to read all the entries and pick the winners yet. I’ll redress this later this week, or possibly with next week’s challenge, but for now I thought I’d set this week’s, so that you scribblers have got something with which to be getting on.

The theme is Delay

Being late probably saved her life.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No.5.

Slightly fewer entries this week, but no diminished quality, which is what really matters. We’ve had some great stories to read through again, and picking the winners has been as difficult as ever, so I guess I may as well dive straight in with my take on the best responses to last week’s PURGATORY prompt.

Runners-up:

Everyone knew her beautiful sister’s name (KM Myrman)

He tried again. She died, again. (AnonymouStalker)

His soul defied purgatory’s infernal absolution. (Live Home And Away)

And the winner, because it made me laugh in a sea of dark responses:

Please hold, your call is important. (Dr Meg Sorick)

And with that, the contest moves onto this week’s round, and the theme I have picked out of my plastic bag filled with notecards is PREJUDICE. You can find my entry below. When you enter don’t forget to both link to this page and add them to the blue frog, at the bottom of this post, that way it’s certain I’ll read them, which I can’t guarantee if they’re not properly linked unfortunately. Looking forward to reading more entries, and in the meantime, have a great week.

Seeking safety, they found only fear.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 4

It’s that time of the week again, to announce this week’s winners and set a new challenge. Once again, dozens of entries have come to me over the past seven days, all of them brilliant in their own way. The following are just the ones that appealed to me most at the time I read them in the frame of mind in which I found myself at the time, which is I think the only way in which we can ever judge fiction. But, hey, that might just be me…

Anyway, here are the runners up for last week’s prompt of murder:

An “accidental” overdose – my revenge complete. (D.S. McKnight)

With poisoned lips, she kissed him. (Real Momma Ramblings)

Her murder, an accident she planned. (HumaAq)

And this week’s winner:

Everyday, he cradled his wife’s murderer. (Ruminations of an Overthinker)

So there it is, four more great winners among a list of great entries! This week’s theme is PURGATORY and you can find my entry below. When submitting, please do use the blue frog at the bottom of this post as well as the usual ping backs just because it makes it a lot easier for myself and other readers to have everything gathered in one place.

She married his best friend instead.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 3.

It’s been another phenomenal week for posts again, with entries numbering in the dozens once more. Once again, all the entries have been a seriously high quality, and I’m consistently amazed by how much can be done in six words, so congratulations to everyone who entered.

Somebody has to win though, so without further ado, here are this week’s honorary mentions, in no particular order, writing on passion.

Best friends… Then their eyes locked. (Kat Myrman)

Even He couldn’t keep them apart. (Ruminations of an Overthinker)

Passion played; emotion did not stay. (Of Opinions)

And this week’s winner:

His obsession. Her mistake. Their funeral. (Sometimes Stellar Storyteller)

So there you have it, another week’s challenge concluded. Moving on to this week’s challenge, there have been some comments that, since I have to manually approve all ping backs, there are better ways to gather links.

As such I’m going to attempt to insert an InLinkz depository at the bottom of this post where you should be ble to leave links to the post. Please also link to the challenge so I get a ping back as well, just in case, technologically inept as I am, I can’t make it work, but hopefully it should be an easier place to gather and read everyone’s entries.

With all that in mind, the theme for this week’s story has come out as the rather ominous MURDER. You can find my entry below.

Smiling dutifully, she poisoned his coffee.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 2

Hello everyone out there, and happy Sunday.

Let’s get straight down to business! As it turns out, the response to my first Six Word Story Challenge was absolutely phenomenal. Expecting to get perhaps ten responses or so, I ended up with over 60, which is astonishing, so thanks for surprising me so pleasantly. I promised to pick a favourite and a runner-up, but given the number of responses I can’t possibly do less than pick three runners-up and a favourite, there are just too many great ones! Even with expanding the list, there are still loads that I loved that I’ve had to leave out, so please don’t be discouraged if your story doesn’t appear here this week!

So without further ado, here are my favourite six word stories about Loss from last week, first the runners up:

Today would have been his birthday. (Sometimes Stellar Storyteller)

And we were strangers; once more (TheAnonymouSTalker)

She’ll be three days old. Forever. (SantoshWriter)

And my favourite:

Our shadows stayed where we didn’t. (HumaAq)

The past dealt with, let’s look to the present. I’ve reached into my bag of tricks and the theme of this week’s story is PASSION. Don’t forget, if you want to participate, link back to this page specifically rather than my blog in general as I don’t get a ping back if you link to my home page. Without further time wasting then, here’s my effort for this week.

Years of longing later, they reunited.

Six Word Stories: Fancy a challenge?

So, I’ve been writing these six word stories for a while now, and I find them really intriguing and helpful for focussing my mind on longer form stuff. From what I’ve noticed, some of the people that read my blog also find these interesting so I thought I’d like to instigate a little challenge for all you people out there who’ve always wanted to try the form but never known when to begin.

We’ll see how it works for the first week and whether enough people want to participate in it for me to continue doing it every week, but the basic plan is thus. Each Sunday I’ll post some form of prompt word, either an emotion or a word to include in the story, you can interpret it however you want. You’ll then have until the following Friday to write a six-word story based on my prompt. Don’t forget to ping back/ link to this page to make sure I get to read them all.

Then, once I’ve had a chance to read all your lovely work, I’ll pick my favourite and a runner-up and link them in the post where I set the next challenge. If you’re interested in this/ know anyone who might be interested please do share it around, because obviously the more submissions we get and the more social it gets the better!

So, without further ado, let’s set the challenge this week. I thought we’d start with a fairly broad one, so the theme for this week’s submission is LOSS. You can interpret that however you want, but you can find my own example below. Feel free to include images if you feel they help the story, but I’ll be grading on the words alone so don’t feel obliged to. Looking forward to reading lots of great stories, as I say, please do share with anyone you think might be interested!

Sometimes he still heard her voice.