Flight
MicroZine Image Prompt #10
The Challenge:
Write a story using the following rules:
Must be exactly 6-words, 50-words, or 100-words in length OR between 101 - 500 words. Title is never counted towards word count.
Any genre is allowed but if a Trigger Warning is needed, please indicate so behind the title. (Ex. TITLE [TW])
Share your story in the comments or Substack Notes. Remember to TAG
for a chance to be featured in future posts.
DIGITAL ISSUE OPPORTUNITY
If we receive submissions from at least 5 different people, then one of them will be selected to appear in the next issue. I haven’t decided yet if the chosen story will be based on judging against the others or random or community votes. And, to make things more pressing, this offer is only open to stories submitted in the next 72hrs! For consideration in the next issue you must use the below template in the comments section (stories shared in Substack Notes will not be considered):
SUBMISSION TEMPLATE:
Word Length:
Story Title: [doesn’t count towards word count]
Story:
OPPORTUNITY CLOSES: Wednesday, September 18th at 9pm EST
[This is only for those who wish the opportunity for their story to appear in a digital issue. Otherwise, please contribute a micro fiction story anytime.]
Good luck!
Bonus Challenges:
For those of you who like to push yourselves beyond what you already know you are capable of…
Write a story using ALL of the unique story lengths: 6-words, 50-words, and 100-words.
Write a STACKed STORY. This is a story that starts as 6-words then is a continuation story at 50-words, then has a conclusion of 100-words.
Word length: 6, 50, and 100 stacked story @microzine @ericadrayton
Story…
Title: Preparing her son to take flight/TW
6 words:
Mom, I’m ready for the flight.
50 words:
“I promise I’ll text right when I land and every day” her son knew how to calm his mom’s worried soul. Nothing seemed to ease her heart this time. She had an uneasy deep guttural bad feeling about her only child of only 18 taking flight to a foreign land.
100 words:
“Where has the time gone? Do you have everything? Let’s get going, we don’t want to be late to the airport” she said as she wiped away her tears. “Mom, have you seen my passport?” her son said with a panic in his voice as he came down the stairs with his bag. “Just kidding, you raised me well. I’m a smart one for 18, aren’t I?” Laughing as he tried to lighten the mood. Right as she looked up at his pale white face, he stumbled down the stairs. The flight he took that day wasn’t at an airport.
Word length: 6 +50 + 100 stacked
Story title: No Fly Zone (TW)
Story:
Bird: Warm-blooded egg-laying beaked feathered vertebrate (6)
The penguin was apoplectic. “This is pure and simple bullshit. I won’t have my birdness dictated to me. Let’s see this place in person. At least we surpass the dress code lol. So, they will let in some chicken who likely ends up as a breaded nugget, but not us. (50)
Outside Birdland, the bouncer, a hulking condor, looked at his list and shook his head, dismissing the penguins. “Go play with the emus.”
The proud penguin kept cool. “Do your research. Since the earliest categorization of the class Aves in 1676 flight has NOT been a prerequisite.”
That night the club door was welded shut and a tube inserted to pump in frigid air.
Windows were sealed from outside.
Birds who could survive the polar-blast, Arctic terns and such, soared beautifully through the air in breathtaking arcs until slamming bloodily into the icy barricaded exits.
The crime was never solved. (100)