Tag Archives: friday drabble

5 word challenge/drabble

21 Jan

Once again, I challenged myself to create a Friday drabble that incorporates the words from the latest 5 word challenge.

Please join in and write your own drabble or 5 word challenge. Pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments.

How it works:
Friday drabble ~ Write a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble”.

5 word challenge ~ Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. (Words are posted periodically on Vox Diaspora.) Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with “5wordchallenge”.
 

This week’s challenge words: dragon, nightly, smooth, decant, trouble

Here’s my entry:

The bottle sat half hidden at the back of the shelf, caked with dust and lint. The glass was foggy, the stopper fusty with age. I paid the disinterested antique store clerk a pittance for it and took it home.

My careful ministrations removed the grime, but the smooth glass revealed nothing but my reflection. I pried the stopper off gingerly and sniffed the heady aroma of the liquid within. With reckless abandon, I chose to decant a drop onto my finger. I brought it to my lips, tasted the elixir. That’s when the nightly trouble with the dragon began.


 

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Friday drabble: Trivial

19 Nov

Join in and write your own drabble — a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble” and provide a link in the comments here or on Twitter using the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

— — —

I’ve spent the morning composing. Not musical scores, ad copy, book reviews, opinion pieces on current events, blog entries or commentary, letters to friends, short stories, epic poems, or anything approximating literature. In fact, I’ve been creating carefully worded trivia questions.

I’ve been cajoled into working for free. No salary will be paid, no money will change hands. For my efforts I will receive a fleeting moment in the spotlight, my name in lights, so to speak. I’ll have the chance to show off my keen and curious mind. Much less than 15 minutes of fame, but enough for me.



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Friday drabble: 5% harder

24 Sep

This week, I decided to create a Friday drabble that incorporates the words from the latest 5 word challenge.

Please join in and write your own drabble or 5 word challenge. Pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments.

How it works:
Friday drabble ~ Write a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble”.

5 word challenge ~ Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. (Words will be posted each week on Vox Diaspora.) Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with “5wordchallenge”.
 

This week’s challenge words: tidings, darken, sketchy, vanity, crept

Here’s my entry:

Time has been unkind to the heiress. As years passed, crow’s-feet crept from the corners of her eyes. Strands of gray insinuated themselves among her dark locks. Unwanted weight settled in. Memories flitted away.

Lately, praises sung by suitors ring false, laying bare the sketchy motives of mere fortune seekers. She was once a formidable beauty. Prideful, she refused to give up her freedom for any man.

Evening brings relief. The room will gradually darken, softening lines, blurring imperfections, obscuring her age. Her vanity will be restored, if only until sunrise and its harsh tidings: you will die alone.


 

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Friday drabble: Encounter

17 Sep

Join in and write your own drabble — a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble” and provide a link in the comments here or on Twitter using the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

— — —

I stop just over the threshold of the steam room, letting my eyes adjust to the dim light. A curtain of moist air hangs between me and a hulking shape in the corner, the source of a nearly inaudible hum punctuated by hacking coughs and labored breathing.

“Are you okay over there? I can’t see you with all the fog.” No response.

I’m given to flights of fancy, and I’ve sometimes imagined this room as a cave inhabited by trolls and hideous monsters.

Nonetheless, I move toward the figure, noticing, too late, the glint of fangs in an evil smile.



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Friday Drabble: Panic

7 May

Join in and write your own drabble — a short story of exactly 100 words. Tag your post with “friday drabble” and provide a link in the comments here or on Twitter using the hashtag #fridaydrabble.

— — —

Shit. Where’d they go?

Separated in a milling crowd. Panic rises. Faces everywhere, but not the faces I’m seeking.

Stop. Slow down. Breathe. I’ll just make my way to the front and ask for help from the crew.

“Can you help me? I lost track of the rest of my party. I need to know if they’ve checked in yet, or what cabin we’re in. I don’t have my boarding pass.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you. Please disembark.”

Unbelievable. I try another desk, another uniformed person. Everyone turns me away rudely.

My heart is hammering wildly when I wake.

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Friday Drabble: Happy place

30 Apr

I’ve decided to try my hand at something new: the Friday Drabble.
Here’s a good description I borrowed from Steve.
“A few weeks ago, Ross started the Friday Drabble – a drabble being a very short story of exactly 100 words. Feel free to join in and write your own 100 word stories on Fridays, and tag them with “friday drabble”.  Link to them in the comments here, or on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble. Go on, give it a try.“

My first attempt is more commentary than story, but I’m hoping you’ll cut me a little slack since it’s my first try.

It could be a negative space. The potential is certainly there. A public forum complete with whatever degree of anonymity a person desires. Dirty laundry could be aired, gripes voiced, grudges shouted into the ether with raised fists.

Thankfully, on balance, it doesn’t work out that way.

Along with news of disasters and injustice, there are triumphs and joys, success stories, and sunny anecdotes. Perhaps it’s a measure of the choices I make, the spirit of those I choose to follow. Whatever the reason, I find more goodwill than spite, more happiness than ennui.

My Twitter is a happy place.




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