I believe that photographs inspire stories. Guess that's from my English teacher side, too! So I have challenged my middle school photography class to take some random photos and then let one of the photos inspire them to write a very, very short story (called microfiction - 300 words or less) about the photo. I thought it would be a great challenge for our 365'ers too!
So find a photo you like (it can be any photo you have ever posted on the 365 Project) and write a piece of microfiction for it and don't forget to give it a title. Don't forget the tag theme-microfiction1. I have enclosed an example of a photo I took, which in turn, inspired my short piece of microfiction! The contest starts today, Monday, February 22, and ends on Monday, February 29, 2016. I will then choose the top 5 or 6 and we will vote. Hoping to turn this into a running contest.
It was the Last Known Address
"The police car screeched to a halt, siren wailing, blue eye spinning. Neighbors peered through their cheap vinyl mini-blinds. Mongrel dogs, ears in radar mode, paced the sidewalk across the street, barking incessantly to no one in particular. Two police officers slipped out, guns readied and aimed, and crouched behind the car. The air stiffened. Holding their breath, the neighbors stared, their necks craned toward the shack. Holding their stance, the police waited. The front door swung inward and an tattooed arm flung open the rickety screen door . . . it was the last known address." (Microfiction, Laurie Frazier)
A shiny sporty convertible waited patiently in the driveway for its new owner, a just-turned-18 teenager. From that day, they forged a bond - trips to and from college, weekend road trips, even a cross-country nonstop trip, no holds barred. But one day, the teenager stepped into adulthood. A silver foreign four-door sedan with a sunroof and satellite radio and in-car WiFi drove into that driveway. The convertible, hauled away by a tow truck, breathed a heavy sigh forever.
It was a dark and dreary night. The last thing I wanted was to be out in it, but duty calls. I received a phone call from one of my clients, Ms. Daisy Duke, informing me that Boss Hogg had been seen by her brothers, Bo and Luke, entering one of Hogg's warehouses. Ms. Duke had hired me two months before to keep an eye on a local businessman named Boss Hogg. It seems that some of her Uncle Jessie's stock of moonshine had turned up missing from his barn and she suspected Hogg of being behind the missing hooch. Hogg had always been suspected by the townspeople of being in cahoots with the local sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in some underhanded activities in the town. I got out of my car and flipped my cigarette onto the wet pavement. I pulled the collar of my trench coat up around my neck to keep the dampness out as I approached the warehouse, hoping to catch Hogg with the stolen shine.
@skipt07 Wow . . . I wanna be with him when he catches Hogg with some hooch! Fabulous narrative and dark and moody and perfect photo setup for the piece! You need to get back to work! :)
She is just a mannequin. She will never know the pain of a lost love, the anguish of injustice, the torment of loneliness. She will always be beautiful and never succumb to the sad decline into old age and infirmity.
She will be forever tall, slim and elegant. Her makeup and hair always perfect. She will always be dressed in the latest fashions and she will be admired by all she meets.
She is just a mannequin, but today as she looked at the world through the shop window....... I'm sure I saw a tear in her eye.
Busy start to the day this morning. The earth was attacked by a giant spider robot from Jupiter, causing a trail of destruction as it rampaged through the streets. So I grabbed my ray gun and used gravitational waves to flip it over on it's back, then blasted it with a high velocity stream of Higg's Bosons. I left it on it's back with it's legs in the air and went off into town for some breakfast.
A contest I was thinking of entering was looking for wedding pictures... What do you think father of the bride? My mom got married last Nov in Texas. The groom has not met the family yet Mom don't want me being seen as the son of the bride. She said I would have to tell everybody i am her older brother if I had a beard. So I am my mother's older brother.... So here I am back up camera man/ make sure the groom don't run guy.
The other reason for this shot is for fiveplustwo-groundhogday . Because in the spring I get a hair cut and shave when I think winter is over. Also change my socks and underwear... Winter is not over yet no matter what the ground says. This year when winter is over I think I might also take a bath and be ready for the summer.
Stand calm and cool in the billowing breeze,
Stand the test of time, the vanishing seas
Dream of days long past and those to come
Those who remain, and those who's time is done
Fear not the ghosts who moan, and in the darkness dwell
For the quiet daylight watchers are ever most fell
which just goes to show that i really shouldn't ever be permitted to write, and presumably why i hang out on a photo website rather than a creative writing site...
i had the idea to participate in the micro fiction challenge, but am drawing a blank other than stupid rhymes rolling around my head... i wonder if this counts?
@northy - Absolutely spot on! I love the title of your microfiction piece and the photo is superb and the narrative is haunting and profound and rhythmic - LOVE! Thank you for entering!!!
@lbluejaye8 I'm loving the whole micro-fiction theme. I often do stories for a lot of my photos anyway, so there will be no shortage of entries from me. :)
To Make it Slightley Harder I have just picked the latest Photo.
Animated Liquid
As he wandered around in the darkness eyes straining in the all encumbering gloom looking for the mythical chalice he had worked so hard to find.
A glint caught he's eye and he stumbled towards it could this be the object he had dedicated his life to find. Closing in the light got brighter and it seemed to be lit from many points. He Knelt down picking up the chalice carefully not to displace the liquid inside.
Something flashed across his mind as a spire lanced out of the liquid and in a terrifying moment he knew the end was nigh.
@skstein Thanks! I hope we can keep it up! It's a challenge that I think works well for those of us who like to write as well as take photos! Also, it takes that photograph to a new level!
Once Upon An Icey Pond
A good start to a Mother Goose story.
Today was a warm sunny day with little snow on the ice and I look at this picture and it reminds me of when I first started to work construction. You might ask yourself how do geese walking around on ice remind me of construction . Well The first boss I had went on a vacation to Mount Rushmore and when he came back the boys were asking how his trip was. Thinking we would hear about all the wonderful things he had seen. I don't if he had anything nice to say about his trip. For When it came time to talk about Mount Rushmore all he had seen was a big pile of rocks. He said sure they did a nice job of chipping them guys out. But they had left one hell of a mess at the bottom of the hill and somebody should have picked it up. Not sure if he meant for me to take it the way I did. But I got so I always tried to keep my work place clean because some people only see the trash. So like this picture all I am seeing is the goose shit on the ice. But maybe someone else will see something nice...... I would bet not now after I had pointed things out.
He was on duty that day, standing vigil over his domain. He had just finished walking his rounds when he saw it, some kind of yarn ball peeking out of a bag carelessly left on the sofa. Whatever it is, it cannot be up to any good. He crept up on the yarn ball, slowly and in full stealth mode. He stared it down and suddenly it made its move. He countered, bravely grabbing the offending yarn ball and shaking the life out of it. He ran up and down the hallway shaking it as he went. No way he was going to let yarn ball defeat him. Just when he was sure his domain was safe from yarn ball there was a lot of bad noise and something about "sit" which he did, proudly showing off his fresh kill. There should be more appreciation for all he does to protect his pack.
"The door slammed in a slack sort of way . . . a kind of clickety-slap. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, her green and red and yellow floral apron on the sparkling floor in a proud heap. She loved him once when the world was new. The moon shone silvery white on velvet nights as the woodland creatures sang exotic lullabyes. The sun shone golden orange with a glow that surrounded everything with a halo, so blinding that love was all they could see. He started at the apron, and a single tear dropped to the floor, the flimsy slap of a screen door ringing in his ears." (Laurie Frazier)
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A shiny sporty convertible waited patiently in the driveway for its new owner, a just-turned-18 teenager. From that day, they forged a bond - trips to and from college, weekend road trips, even a cross-country nonstop trip, no holds barred. But one day, the teenager stepped into adulthood. A silver foreign four-door sedan with a sunroof and satellite radio and in-car WiFi drove into that driveway. The convertible, hauled away by a tow truck, breathed a heavy sigh forever.
It was a dark and dreary night. The last thing I wanted was to be out in it, but duty calls. I received a phone call from one of my clients, Ms. Daisy Duke, informing me that Boss Hogg had been seen by her brothers, Bo and Luke, entering one of Hogg's warehouses. Ms. Duke had hired me two months before to keep an eye on a local businessman named Boss Hogg. It seems that some of her Uncle Jessie's stock of moonshine had turned up missing from his barn and she suspected Hogg of being behind the missing hooch. Hogg had always been suspected by the townspeople of being in cahoots with the local sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in some underhanded activities in the town. I got out of my car and flipped my cigarette onto the wet pavement. I pulled the collar of my trench coat up around my neck to keep the dampness out as I approached the warehouse, hoping to catch Hogg with the stolen shine.
Mannequin
She is just a mannequin. She will never know the pain of a lost love, the anguish of injustice, the torment of loneliness. She will always be beautiful and never succumb to the sad decline into old age and infirmity.
She will be forever tall, slim and elegant. Her makeup and hair always perfect. She will always be dressed in the latest fashions and she will be admired by all she meets.
She is just a mannequin, but today as she looked at the world through the shop window....... I'm sure I saw a tear in her eye.
@swillinbillyflynn
Saving the World Before Breakfast
Busy start to the day this morning. The earth was attacked by a giant spider robot from Jupiter, causing a trail of destruction as it rampaged through the streets. So I grabbed my ray gun and used gravitational waves to flip it over on it's back, then blasted it with a high velocity stream of Higg's Bosons. I left it on it's back with it's legs in the air and went off into town for some breakfast.
Don't you just love science.
@swillinbillyflynn
I Hear Wedding Bells
A contest I was thinking of entering was looking for wedding pictures... What do you think father of the bride? My mom got married last Nov in Texas. The groom has not met the family yet Mom don't want me being seen as the son of the bride. She said I would have to tell everybody i am her older brother if I had a beard. So I am my mother's older brother.... So here I am back up camera man/ make sure the groom don't run guy.
The other reason for this shot is for fiveplustwo-groundhogday . Because in the spring I get a hair cut and shave when I think winter is over. Also change my socks and underwear... Winter is not over yet no matter what the ground says. This year when winter is over I think I might also take a bath and be ready for the summer.
@wildnernesswillie
Even Trees Have Their Ghost Stories
Stand calm and cool in the billowing breeze,
Stand the test of time, the vanishing seas
Dream of days long past and those to come
Those who remain, and those who's time is done
Fear not the ghosts who moan, and in the darkness dwell
For the quiet daylight watchers are ever most fell
which just goes to show that i really shouldn't ever be permitted to write, and presumably why i hang out on a photo website rather than a creative writing site...
i had the idea to participate in the micro fiction challenge, but am drawing a blank other than stupid rhymes rolling around my head... i wonder if this counts?
@northy
Animated Liquid
As he wandered around in the darkness eyes straining in the all encumbering gloom looking for the mythical chalice he had worked so hard to find.
A glint caught he's eye and he stumbled towards it could this be the object he had dedicated his life to find. Closing in the light got brighter and it seemed to be lit from many points. He Knelt down picking up the chalice carefully not to displace the liquid inside.
Something flashed across his mind as a spire lanced out of the liquid and in a terrifying moment he knew the end was nigh.
@zShadowWalker
Once Upon An Icey Pond
A good start to a Mother Goose story.
Today was a warm sunny day with little snow on the ice and I look at this picture and it reminds me of when I first started to work construction. You might ask yourself how do geese walking around on ice remind me of construction . Well The first boss I had went on a vacation to Mount Rushmore and when he came back the boys were asking how his trip was. Thinking we would hear about all the wonderful things he had seen. I don't if he had anything nice to say about his trip. For When it came time to talk about Mount Rushmore all he had seen was a big pile of rocks. He said sure they did a nice job of chipping them guys out. But they had left one hell of a mess at the bottom of the hill and somebody should have picked it up. Not sure if he meant for me to take it the way I did. But I got so I always tried to keep my work place clean because some people only see the trash. So like this picture all I am seeing is the goose shit on the ice. But maybe someone else will see something nice...... I would bet not now after I had pointed things out.
@wildnernesswillie
ET&T: Reach Out and Touch Someone
She wasn't popular with the neighbors, and she didn't care.
It was her lifeline, her anchor.
The giant satellite dish in her back yard made some folks think she was simply stellar at stealing cable, but who cared what other folks thought?
There'd been no transmissions for weeks, but hope did not yet wane.
He'd made a new home in the stars, but she knew he'd be coming home, coming back for her.
NASA thought he was dead, but she knew.
Knew that Major Tom was alive, and he wouldn’t like being alone in the odd universe.
"See you soon, Babe."
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/27324/microfition-competition
This is a collaborative entry between my son, @arthur2sheds and me.
@cejaanderson
He was on duty that day, standing vigil over his domain. He had just finished walking his rounds when he saw it, some kind of yarn ball peeking out of a bag carelessly left on the sofa. Whatever it is, it cannot be up to any good. He crept up on the yarn ball, slowly and in full stealth mode. He stared it down and suddenly it made its move. He countered, bravely grabbing the offending yarn ball and shaking the life out of it. He ran up and down the hallway shaking it as he went. No way he was going to let yarn ball defeat him. Just when he was sure his domain was safe from yarn ball there was a lot of bad noise and something about "sit" which he did, proudly showing off his fresh kill. There should be more appreciation for all he does to protect his pack.
A Ringing
"The door slammed in a slack sort of way . . . a kind of clickety-slap. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, her green and red and yellow floral apron on the sparkling floor in a proud heap. She loved him once when the world was new. The moon shone silvery white on velvet nights as the woodland creatures sang exotic lullabyes. The sun shone golden orange with a glow that surrounded everything with a halo, so blinding that love was all they could see. He started at the apron, and a single tear dropped to the floor, the flimsy slap of a screen door ringing in his ears." (Laurie Frazier)