Tag: fiction writing

Flash fiction challenge winner

I’m excited to announce that I have the winning entry to this week’s Flash Fiction Challenge at Indies Unlimited! Check out their post for the photo prompt: http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2016/11/05/cindy-young-turner-wins-flash-fiction-challenge/

And here’s my flash fiction piece:

Solo

(originally posted at Indies Unlimited)

First mate’s log, the former Trident

Day 1 adrift. I spot a ship in the distance but I do not think they can see me. Time runs short. Those deadly, spiteful creatures continue to torment me.

Day 2 adrift. The ship is closer but they still cannot see me. The white devils surround me now. If you read these words, I beg you not to be deceived by them. The white dolphins. Captain said they were good luck when we spotted them leaping near the ship’s bow. They seemed to like it when the cabin boy played his drum.

Day 3 adrift. I fear this will be my last day. The ship is still too far away and my voice only croaks out a call for help. The dolphins circle closer. I thought I glimpsed a drum around the neck of one of them. I keep imagining those last hours on deck, the white beasts flinging themselves at the ship, ramming holes and leaping so high they tore down the mast. The screams of my shipmates as they were flung into the sea and the red waters churning about me as I clung to a piece of wreckage. Their teeth gleam in the night.

First mate’s log, the Pequod

Found the wreckage of the Trident. The lone survivor died not long after we pulled him on board. Something about the white devils. Ahab is certain he meant the white whale. Have only spotted a pod of white dolphins.

Flash fiction: Form of a lizard

A couple weeks ago I did another Flash Fiction Challenge at Indies Unlimited. Here’s the prompt and my story follows. Enjoy!

Form of a Lizard

Lizard Man took a deep breath. This was going to be their year. They’d finally win the superhero competition and the grand prize—a fully outfitted secret hideout. All of the A-listers had one. He and Turtle Boy still shared basement space in his parents’ house. It was humiliating.

“I won’t let you down, Turtle Boy.” He transformed and scuttled underneath the door. Once inside, the Crystal was easy to spot. It sat on a lighted dais in the center of the room. Lizard Man did his happy dance. All he needed to do was shrink the crystal with his shrink ray (last year’s fourth place prize), slip back under the door, and then he and Turtle Boy would return to the judging room victorious.

“Let’s see who likes second place this year, Scorpion King!” he shouted, thinking of his arch nemesis who was always faster, smarter, deadlier, and well, had a snazzier costume. “And that goes for you, too, Rat Girl and Super Rabbit! Me and Turtle Boy, we’re moving up this time!”

A sound caught his attention. Was that…? “No, it can’t be! How did you get in here?”

Calico Cat smoothed her whiskers and purred triumphantly. “You’re not the only one who can get into tight spaces. You’re a joke, Lizard Man. And that spandex is so dated.”

Her cat boomerang pinned him to the wall. Maybe we’ll redecorate the basement, Lizard Man thought dejectedly. But next year they’d win for sure.

Flash fiction challenge: Ain’t Good

This past week I entered the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge, a weekly flash fiction contest. I didn’t win, but it was fun to write. Here’s the writing prompt, and my entry appears below. I’m hoping to do more of these, if inspiration hits me.

Ain’t Good

“Don’t look now, Lenore, but I see fresh meat a’coming.”

Lenore ruffled her feathers and moved to the edge of the branch for a clearer look. Sure enough, two more of the humans in their orange clothes were approaching the tree. “Is it feeding time again, dear?”

Edgar, her mate, cawed to their dozens of children. The large birds flapped their wings and hopped excitedly. “I’d say they’re hungry, all right.”

“One of these days it will be time for them to leave us,” Lenore said. Little had the two ravens known that when they picked this tree for their new home, they’d become foster parents to a nest of abandoned baby vultures. How could she say no to the helpless little ones? At least the humans made it easy to take care of their brood.

“Oh, don’t say that. They’ve got everything they need right here. You know you’d miss them.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Lenore watched with pride as several of their children took flight and began circling the approaching figures.

“If the damned humans hadn’t built that prison over yonder, I don’t know what we’d do,” Edgar added.

“Edgar!” she scolded. “Language, dear.”

He hung his head. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

But the children had already taken up the cry. “Damned humans! Damned humans!” Within moments, they swooped down on the terrified men, beaks and claws ripping and tearing.

“Our babies,” Lenore said with a proud sigh as she watched them feed.

Why I love my critique groups

As writers, we often work in isolation, but there comes a point where outside feedback is needed. Not just feedback from friends and family, but honest, constructive critique of our work. I’m fortunate to belong to two critique groups that have been meeting pretty regularly for more than 10 years now. Dare I say almost 15 years? It might be almost that long. We’ve had people come and go over the years, and one group lost a founding member and dear friend to cancer a few years ago. We’ve changed meeting locations and days. We’ve all gone through personal ups and downs. But we’ve all been committed to our writing and to helping and supporting each other. When we first started, we were all unpublished, aspiring authors. Now we have a number of published authors among us and I’m sure there will be more to come.

For me there’s nothing more motivating than knowing I have a critique group deadline coming up to push myself to finish the next chapter. I can’t pull late nights like I used to, though. And there’s nothing more exciting than getting feedback on your writing, especially when people like it. Believe me, my groups aren’t shy about being honest. If they don’t like something, they tell you. Criticism doesn’t bother me too much because usually I know if something is good or if it needs more work. I value the opinions of my critique partners. If most of the group says a chapters needs work, then it probably does. We’ve also known each other long enough that we can joke about things. It’s funny that whenever I think we’re going to have a short meeting, we end up staying just as long because we find plenty to talk about, maybe it’s books or writing in general or something completely off topic.

I should note that the two groups are quite different. One is mixed genre, but all novels, and we’ve had mysteries, literary fiction, historical fiction, military mysteries–and me with my fantasy. It’s a wide variety and I enjoy reading things I normally wouldn’t pick up. The other group is primarily SF/fantasy, although we didn’t intend it to be. It’s also good to have comments from people who read and love the genre. Just watch out for the time travel discussions because they will make your head spin.

Bottom line: I wouldn’t have finished my first book without them, and they’ve already helped immensely with book 2. I’m even thinking about some significant changes (sigh) based on some recent feedback.

So what’s your process for getting feedback? Do you have a critique group or a critique partner?

A March writing challenge

Good friend and fellow author Nancy Griffis has thrown down the gauntlet with a writing challenge for the month of March: write something every day. I know, I should be doing this anyway. Remember my goal of writing the equivalent of a page per day every week? As usual, life has gotten in the way. But for next month, starting tomorrow, I am really going to try to do this. I’m posting about it on the blog to hold myself accountable, at least to the three or so of you who read the blog, so if nothing else the fear of public shame will force me to write. By no means is this writing a novel in a month. It can be as simple as a blog post or a book review or a page in the novel, just as long as words get from my brain to this screen every day. I’m going to push for progress on the novel since I am about at the halfway point. There hasn’t been nearly enough death in it thus far and it’s time to make some characters suffer. (Hmm, maybe I’ve been watching too many Game of Thrones promos this week.)

Sounds easy, right? I plan to post an update on my progress each week. Anyone out there want to join in? I promise it will be fun!