Feeling fit for a Friday flash fiction frolic? Welcome to Microcosms 143 — the first post of the final quarter of the year.
Many thanks to Angelique Pachecho who submitted an entry to all 13 contests in the last quarter; to Bill Engleson and Tim Hayes who submitted an entry to 12 contests and judged one contest, and to Arianna Hammond who submitted an entry to 11 contests and judged two contests.
Your attention is drawn to item 4 in the “REMEMBER” section below.
*** Please read the instructions carefully – ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NEW TO MICROCOSMS ***
As is customary on the cusp of a new quarter, I’ve been looking back at the Results posts during the previous quarter. I’ve selected one of the favourite / favorite lines chosen by the judge in each of the 13 contests.
There’s no “slot machine” of elements in this round. Your task is simply to select just ONE or TWO –DEFINITELY NO MORE! — of these lines and incorporate it/them into your entry:
130 – She was scared… very scared. I know that.
131 – I mean, who sets out to be a porn star?
132 – It’s easy being compassionate and loving, as long as you get the largest piece of the cake.
133 – ‘Please, no, not that. I wanted to live; surviving is not enough.’
134 – Alfonzo’s pocket erupted with a dance party.
135 – Hopefully, this time she wouldn’t hurt anyone.
136 – I woke up dead, the color removed from the world.
137 – Much like myself, she felt that romance is a waste of energy.
138 – No one has power without being first influenced.
139 – There were so many things to do, to see, to be.
140 – We let you live so you could see what you’d done. We warned you…
141 – I do believe that she is chasing me in search of romantic involvement.
142 – Enamel mugs will burn you out of spite.
*** DO NOT USE THE CHOSEN LINE AS THE TITLE OF YOUR ENTRY ***
*** Incorporate it somewhere in your story / poem ***
* You may change the chosen line(s) slightly – names, gender, tense, punctuation, etc. – but it must still be fairly recognisable.
* Please tell us the word count and the favourite / favorite line(s) you have chosen.
* There’s no need to specify character, location and genre this time round — you have free rein.
* Don’t forget to give your entry a title — and DON’T end the title with a full stop/period OR put quotation marks round it, but please begin each major word with a capital Letter (e.g. The Title of My Story).
Geoff
Last week’s Community Pick, Vicente L Ruiz, has kindly agreed to act as judge this time round.
REMEMBER:
(1) You have just 24 hours until midnight TODAY (Friday, 05-OCT), New York time (EDT) to write and submit your masterpiece.
(2) All submissions should be a maximum of 300 words in length (excluding the title).
(3) NO FAN-FICTION, PLEASE, and NO USE of COPYRIGHT CHARACTERS
(4) Entries are judged BLIND – stripped of identifying details & emailed to the judge who does not look at the contest post. So please don’t give details of you entry on social media, your blog, etc. until the Results Post is live!
(5) If you are new to Microcosms, remember to check out the full submission guidelines.
All being well, results will be posted on Monday.
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