June 2011 Flash Fiction Challenge!

The June Flash Fortnight will run from Wednesday 15th June (Day 1) to Tuesday June 28th (Day 14). Each morning during the challenge, I'll update this post with a new prompt for the day, so please check back if you find them useful! All of the challenge prompts will remain permanently available to you, so if you'd like to use any of them outside of the Fortnight, please feel free to do so.


Think of the prompt as a starting point. When you look at it, certain words, phrases or ideas might immediately come to your mind. Try writing these down. For each of these things, consider what words, phrases or ideas that they, in turn, inspire.

Keep going in this way. You could free associate on the thoughts you're getting, or ask yourself questions on each thing: What is it about this that I'm drawn to? What would happen if I followed this train of thought to its logical conclusion?

Try not to censor yourself or second-guess your imagination. In the end, the idea you end up with might be completely unrelated to the prompt - and that's completely fine!


Good luck!



Optional: Signature art!



Here are some images that you are welcome to use in your post signatures, if you wish, to mark your achievements in each challenge. They indicate the total number of days during the Flash Fortnight on which you've completed a story draft. There are 14 images available, one for each day.

You can update your signature with a single new image each day, or put one image up at the end of the challenge; however you prefer.

The images are currently hosted on Photobucket. To add them to your signature:

Go to your User CP (the left-most link in the blue menu bar that is near the top of every page);
Click on the Edit Signature link from the list on the left of the page;
Paste the URL into the signature box, preceded by ;
Click on Save Signature.

The URLs of the images are all in this form:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad65/elarasophia/AW Flash Fiction Forum/1.jpg

Right-click on the link and copy it, and then edit the 1.jpg at the end to the number you would like (e.g. 10.jpg) after you paste the URL into your signature box.


But there's more!

You can also choose a signature picture from this second set of images, which was very kindly created by Williebee:



Again, there are images available for each day of the challenge. The URLs for these are all in this form:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad65/elarasophia/AW Flash Fiction Forum/W1.png

Right-click on the link and copy it, and then edit the W1.png at the end to the number you would like (e.g. W14.png) after you paste the URL into your signature box.

I did wonder if it was too specific. It's based on a line from Dylan's Tangled Up in Blue. I liked the image of spending a summer working your way down a coast, through small towns, using rural roads and railways, and thought it might suggest some stories of encounters, events, or the character of someone who might do that.

Signal or flare, both work. There's no rule about taking the prompts literally. Substitute other words for ones that don't do anything for you, go off on a tangent, or ignore the prompt completely!

Yay, Lillie! Great work!

Welcome, clintl! I've found these challenges to be good when I'm stalled on my novel WIPs - they seem to remind my brain that it can actually write, and it seems to relax and get past its stumbling block afterwards. Good luck!

Lillie - go, go, go!