Forever Distracted By Life
Writing Prompt
#FoDiByLi
Monday 22nd July 2024
Write a story about finding a place where the fairies have come to play.
Feel free to share your work here on Forever Distracted By Life or on any of the linked #FoDiByLi platforms below:
Race for the Crown 2024
In January 2024 we celebrated all things poetry with our second Poetry Marathon event here at FoDiByLi. The race may long be over, but the ambient modular tracks created for this event by musician Paul James are still available on our Youtube channel and for those who enjoy listening to music as they write you will find a perfect mix of energetic, yet balanced tracks to help you find the right mood to go along with your writing. Why not try listening to some of the tracks as you write and if you like a particular track let us know by liking and commenting on the video on Youtube.
Fiction on #FoDiByLi
There are many forms of fiction and here at FoDiByLi we love to see them all. From Micro-Fiction to full on Flash-Fiction we want to see you write what stories you have within you to tell. There are no themes, genres, or topics off-limits at FoDiByLi (though we do encourage those sharing on our public platforms to be respectful of others) but if you’re looking for a little help in deciding what to write here are some of the categories you could start with:
The Six-Word Story
Though it sounds simple, the art of the six-word story is not to be dismissed. Writing an effective short story in six short words is a challenge, but done well it can still be very powerful. Perhaps the most well known example of the six word story is:
For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn
This hard-hitting piece of short-fiction perfectly encapsulates just how powerful language can be in conveying complex, and emotionally hard-hitting narratives into a small amount of words. Though often attributed to Ernest Hemingway this stories original author has never been formally identified, but whoever wrote these wonderful words was truly a master of their craft.
Dribble to Drabble (50-100 Words)
Staying within the realms of Micro-Fiction why not try your hand at crafting a Dribble, or a 50-word story. Or, perhaps, you need a few more words to tell your very short story the way you want to? Very short stories up to 100 words are often referred to as Drabble writing. The Scottish Book Trust run a monthly 50-word fiction competition, which gives writers opportunities to test their skills and get write alongside a number of talented writers each month. But if these monthly competitions aren’t enough for you then why not try writing a Dribble or Drabble and sharing it here at FoDiByLi?
Flash-Fiction (500-1000 words)
For those of you looking to find your voice and have a little more space to craft a narrative, Flash Fiction might be the form for you. The purpose of Flash Fiction is still to craft a narrative that can be consumed in one single reading, but with up to 1000 words there is more space still for writers to create a story that evolves as it is written. The general rule of thumb for flash-fiction is to start strong, often this is referred to as ‘the car crash moment’ within a story. 1000 words is not a lot once you get writing and the best way to hook your readers is to write from the most exciting, climactic moment of your narrative. Your characters should be faced with an immediate crisis moving into a resolve, or twist that will leave your readers shocked and gasping for more.
Flash fiction is an incredibly popular form of writing and many writers cut their teeth by getting to grips with this challenging form. Here at FoDiByLi we love to see how writers channel their voice into these often incredibly hard hitting forms of writing.
“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”
Allen Ginsberg
Short-Fiction
Word counts are an arbitrary figure, and when you feel inspired the best advice is simple: Write.
There are however times when writing for competitions or submissions however that you do have to observe a specific word count or limit. In which case trying to write stories to specific word counts can be a very useful and worthwhile exercise. Moving from Micro-fiction to short-stories the general consensus is that stories up to 1000 words are considered Flash-Fiction.
From 1000 – 10,000 words we enter the territory of ‘the Short-Story’. Short stories may still be intended to be read in one single sitting, but they are usually more complex in their narrative development and delivery and may include more than one of two characters. They might need to be read more than once to truly get a sense of what the story means and each reading can change the readers understanding of the story as they discover new details they may have missed during their first readings.
FoDiByLi are always looking for new writers to promote, and if you write short-fiction and are looking for a home for that writing you could consider submitting it to us for publication as one of our Featured Writers here on the FoDiByLi website.
Keep your eye on the submissions page for details as to how and when to submit your work.
We love it when you share the work that the writing prompts shared here at FoDiByLi inspired you to create, you are of course welcome to share your work anywhere you feel comfortable doing so, but if you do share your work here, or on other platforms help us find it by using the tag:
#FoDiByLi
Friends of #FoDiByLi
If you would like to share your work in the private Facebook group set up specifically for sharing work and networking with other writers this is a fantastic way of being part of the FoDiByLi community. You can share your work as comments under posts, and our group members offer their praise for the things they like about your work. To join, head over to Friends of #FoDiByLi and once you have been accepted into the group you can share your work and chat to the other poets, writers, and creative individuals who are already members.
Follow the Forever Distracted By Life website or any of the linked social media accounts for more writing prompts, original poetry and fiction. Like and share these prompts and posts to help spread the word about #FoDiByLi.
Recent Poetry Prompts from #FoDiByLi
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