16 January 2015

Published January 14, 2015 by rochellewisoff

Remember the goal is to write a COMPLETE story. BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END.

The next photo is the PROMPT. What speaks to you? Tell us in a hundred words or less.

*Note: To share a photo you think would make a good prompt please send it to this email address: runtshell@gmail.com. Thank you*

My story follows the prompt and the blue inLinkz frog. I enjoy honest comments. 😉

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Jan Wayne Fields

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

WORDS OF WISDOM

“I pressed your clothes,” said Mary. “Mind Dad and look after your brother whilst I’m in hospital.”

“Thanks, Mum.” Paul buttoned his shirt. “Deese are me bezzies.”

“Stop it. I’ve taught you better, now haven’t I?”

“Not half.” He quipped in falsetto. “The Queen’s English. Ever so posh.”

She looked as if she wanted to scold him more. Instead, she embraced him and said, “If I don’t come back…”

Emptiness flooded the boy.

“Of course you’re coming back. Who’ll cook for us if you don’t?”

“There will be an answer.” Mary McCartney kissed her son and whispered, “Let it be.”

*

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12 December 2014

Published December 10, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The following photo is this week’s PROMPT. What stands out? What type of story does it tell you? Tell us in a hundred words or less.

My story comes after the prompt and the blue inLinkz frog. I appreciate honest comments and crit. The artwork afterward is original and used for the sole purpose of illustrating my story. Permission required to use it. Thank you and shalom.

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Sandra Crook

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Genre: Memoir

Word Count: 100

GRACE

In the midst of running, swimming and daily calisthenics, all at a frenetic pace, I fantasized about onion rings and fried chicken. Low numbers were all that mattered. One hundred calories per meal. Twenty pink pills to purge them. The scale hovered between eighty-five and eighty-four.

“You like my new jeans?” I asked my friend Linda. “I can’t believe they fit.”

“What size?” Her ice-blue gaze met mine.

“Zero.”

“You’ll look nice in your child-size coffin.”

__________

Now I run and swim at a comfortable pace and not a day goes by that I don’t thank Linda for my life.

Author’s Note: After I made the difficult decision to move on, Linda and I tossed those skinny jeans down the trash compactor in the backroom of our store. I don’t tell this to garner sympathy. It’s something I went through and have conquered with the help of excellent therapy and good friends. Life is all grist for the mill, isn’t it?

14 November 2014

Published November 12, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The next PHOTO is the PROMPT. What kind of story does it tell you? Tell the rest of us in a hundred words or less. Would your story make sense without the photo?

My story follows the photo and the blue frog. I appreciate honest comments.

PHOTO PROMPT -Copyright-Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

FIRST DRAFT

“Can’t you imagine little Harry trying to climb the fig trees?” Ida’s eyes glittered. “He would’ve been three this year.”

“I miss him, too,” Harvey whispered.

Although his heart ached with loss, Harvey still counted his blessings. What could such a vibrant woman possibly see in him, a wheelchair bound invalid thirty years her senior?

“Maybe we’ll have another son. For now we have one hundred twenty acres of prime, undeveloped California land to subdivide.” He brushed a tear from her cheek with a kiss. “What shall we call our little town? Harryville?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Let’s call it Hollywood.”

.

Daeida Hartell Wilcox Beveridge “The Mother of Hollywood”

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Harvey Henderson Wilcox

17 October 2014

Published October 15, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the prompt. There’s much to look at. What do you see? Tell me in a hundred words or less. Then click the blue froggy guy after the prompt and link your story URL.

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Douglas M. MacIlroy

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Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 99

HIBAKUSHA

When I was five my father opened our home to his widowed aunt.

“Why can’t Obasan live with her own children?” I whined and stamped my foot.

“Pikadon took them,” said Chichi. “We are her children now.”

“But she scares me.”

I soon saw past Obasan’s scarred face. Her stories delighted me. She taught me how to construct flapping birds and intricate shapes from colored paper.

One night she lay down to sleep and returned to the source.

Every year at O-Bon I honor her with mukae-bi, dance and sake.

Her elegant spirit surrounds me like a thousand winds.

.

Pikadon.

O-Bon

19 September 2014

Published September 17, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The following photo is the PHOTO PROMPT. Where does it take you? Tell me your story. 😉

NOTE: All are welcome to participate but please tell the story on your blog page not in my comment section.

Copyright – Dawn Q. Landau

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Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100

BY WAY OF JERICHO

“They say the minerals are curative.” My sister pointed to a picture of the Dead Sea. “Come with me.”

“You want salt?” I said. “I’ll buy you a box of Morton’s.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’d rather visit Australia.”

“Be a pal. Think about it.”

___________

“I knew it wasn’t a cure,” my sister whispered from her hospice bed. “I just wanted to visit the Holy Land before I died.”

____________

The water’s buoyancy made it fun for us to swim but I’ll always prefer the Hebrew name Yam HaMelach, Sea of Salt, to Dead Sea.

I swim with her still.

.

“We have returned to the cisterns
To the market and to the market-place
A ram’s horn calls out on the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain
Thousands of suns shine –
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho! “

-from the song “Jerusalem of Gold.”

15 August 2014

Published August 13, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the PHOTO PROMPT

Let it speak to you. Does it tell you a story?

PHOTO PROMPT -Copyright – Jan Wayne Fields

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 99

HOME FIRES BURNING

“Nights are long and my bed ever so cold…”

She stopped writing, crumpled her letter and recalled their conversation the day before he left.

_____

“The last time you went for six months it turned into four years.”

“I am needed there.”

“You are needed here.”

“Debbie, my dearest.” He placed his hands on either side of her face. “Accompany me. You will love London.”

______

Deborah Franklin laid another sheet of parchment on the desk, dipped her quill in the inkwell and wrote.

“Dear Benjamin,

I love you so. Had it not been for my ridiculous fear of the sea…”

.

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8 August 2014

Published August 6, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the PROMPT. What does it say to you? Step outside your boundaries and let your imagination take wing!

My story follows the blue inLinkz buddy that Ali calls Bracken.

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright-Björn Rudberg

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Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100

WHEN THE NEED ARISES

It starts with a certain look, and you know it’s over. That’s how it is with Annie and me.

Without saying a word, she tells me what I don’t want to hear. We’ve both suffered too long and she needs to be free.

As we hike to our favorite mountain spot to say goodbye I envision life without her.

“Wish you didn’t have to go, Annie.”

She wags her tail, and feebly licks my hand. I caress her head, press the muzzle of my pistol against it and pull the trigger.

Whoever said men don’t cry was full of shit.

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1 August 2014

Published July 30, 2014 by rochellewisoff

Friday Fictioneers: Dawn Landau and Amy Reese. Cheers!

The following photograph is the PHOTO PROMPT. What does it say to you?

PHOTO PROMPT- Copyright Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100

LIFE FLIGHT

“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing, Gerald?”

“I’d say it’s kinda late to be asking that question.”

Vanessa looked out the oval airplane window and then at the Asian infant in her arms. Her dream come true. She’d traveled ten-thousand miles through tangled red tape to realize it.

“Do you think it will bug him that he doesn’t look like us?”

With an impish grin Gerald scrolled through his iPad until he came to a recent snapshot of the two of them. His blond hair and freckles contrasted her tight curls and chocolate complexion.

“What do you think?”

.

25 July 2014

Published July 23, 2014 by rochellewisoff

Below is the PHOTO PROMPT. Where does it take you? Let your imagination run free, free from the confines of the box. 😉

PHOTO PROMPT Copyright – Marie Gail Stratford

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

KONG FUZI

Like his imposing father, Qiu towered over most boys his age. Yet, unlike Shuliang He, he preferred serenity to battle.

“Eat.” Zhenzai stroked her son’s cheek and tapped his crooked nose. “Your rice is getting cold.”

He rolled his chopsticks between his thumb and forefinger, his gentle eyes filled with pain and tears.

“Mama, why am I so ugly?”

She hugged him. “Not so.”

“It is so.”

“Listen to me.” She tightened her embrace. “Someday you will be a great teacher.”

“No one will hear me. They will only see my face.”

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

********

To learn more about Zhenzai click the Chinese calligraphy below.

**It seems that no two articles agreed on every point of the teacher’s life so all should be taken with an extra tablespoon of soy sauce and stirred with the proper chopsticks.

********

“The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table.”

Kong Fuzi

28 March 2014

Published March 25, 2014 by rochellewisoff

WELCOME TO FRIDAY FICTIONEERS!

Seize the opportunity to free your muse and allow her take you on a magic carpet ride.

Henry David Thoreau said it best.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

THE CHALLENGE:

Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)

THE KEY:

MAKE. EVERY. WORD. COUNT.

THE RULES:

Copy your URL to the Linkz collection. You’ll find the tab following the photo prompt. It’s the little white box to the left with the blue froggy guy. Click on it and follow directions. This is the best way to get the most reads and comments.
MAKE SURE YOUR LINK IS SPECIFIC TO YOUR FLASH.
While our name implies “fiction only” it’s perfectly Kosher to write a non-fiction piece as long as it meets the challenge of being a complete story in 100 words.
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TO THOSE WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION (MYSELF INCLUDED): While WIKIPEDIA is usually a decent source of information, it’s not always reliable one. As a rule, I use it as a jumping off point to other research threads. It’s a good rule of thumb to use more than one source. I speak from experience when I say that a simple 100 word story can bring serious repercussions.

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- ***PLEASE MAKE NOTE IN YOUR BLOG IF YOU PREFER NOT TO RECEIVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.***
- REMINDER: This page is “FRIDAY FICTIONEERS CENTRAL” and is NOT the place to promote political or religious views. Also, you are responsible for the content of your story and policing comments on your blog. You have the right to delete any you consider offensive.
**Please exercise DISCRETION when commenting on a story! Be RESPECTFUL.**

Should someone have severe or hostile differences of opinion with another person it’s my hope that the involved parties would settle their disputes in private.
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My story follows the photo and link tool. I enjoy honest comments and welcome constructive criticism.
Copyright-John Nixon

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100
DATE WITH DESTINY

I chew on a date, savor its sweetness and spit the seed into my hand. The Romans will soon be upon us like ravenous hyenas.

Perhaps someone will plant this seed and a date-palm will spread its leaves in our memory.

“Amrit, my beloved, it’s time.” Yonah unsheathes his sword.

“Aim true, husband. Be swift.”

I drop the seed into a jar, utter a prayer and gather my infant son to my breast. His mouth is moist and warm as my life flows into his. I focus on his innocent eyes and wait for Yonah’s blade to set us free.
For the story that inspired this story click here.