2021 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 28
Write a piece of flash fiction each day of February with the February Flash Fiction Challenge, led by editor Moriah Richard. Each day, receive a prompt, example story, and write your own. Today’s prompt is to write a story using only dialogue.
Today is the final day of the 2021 February Flash Fiction Challenge. I hope it’s been as productive and fun for you as it has for me! Be sure to check out all the great craft articles about flash fiction we have here on the WD website and the creative writing prompts series by WD editor Cassandra Lipp. I hope you see you at our next challenge, writers!
We started this challenge by writing a story with no dialogue. Let’s end it by writing a story that’s only dialogue!
Remember: These prompts are just starting points; you have the freedom to go wherever your flash of inspiration takes you.
(Note: If you happen to run into any issues posting, please just send me an e-mail at mrichard@aimmedia.com with the subject line: Flash Fiction Challenge Commenting Issue.)
Here’s my attempt at writing only dialogue:
The Time Traveler and the Immortal
“Well, look who it is!”
“God in heaven, have you no mercy.”
“Hey! You could at least act happy to see me.”
“I have never once been happy to see you, and you know it. Besides, the last time we met didn’t end so well for me.”
“Ah, still sore about that, are we? It’s been, what, sixty years for you since then, hasn’t it?”
“Almost eighty.”
“Even better! You should definitely be over it by now.”
“Be over—never mind. Damn you. Disculpe, ¿me trae otra cuando puedas, por favor?”
“You’re immortal! What’s a little casual almost-beheading among friends, eh?”
“Firstly, a beheading would absolutely kill me. I’m not impervious to all wounds. Secondly, not all of us have those little things to whisk us to whenever we want to go. We have to actually stick around for the consequences of our actions.”
“It’s not a thing, thank you, it’s a generation six-X temporal—you know what, forget it, I’m not having this fight with you again. Ah! ¡Señor! Sí, y para mí, ¿me pone lo que está tomando él?”
“No! No, you definitely don’t need a drink because you are going somewhere else. Somewhere that isn’t near me.”
“You wound me.”
“Good. I hope it’s fatal. Ah, gracias, seńor.”
“Si, muchas gracias. Ack…heavens, that’s strong.”
“You never like what I order. I don’t know why you insist on doing it.”
“It’s tradition!”
“Hm. I suppose it is. How long has it been for you, then?”
“Since?”
“Last time. Well, my last time.”
“It was also my last time! I stopped hopping around so much; it became frustrating trying to catch each other up. So, it’s been two months.”
“No wonder you always look the same.”
“Always young and handsome for you … handsome.”
“Smooth. And I didn’t say handsome.”
“But you didn’t not say it.”
“Hm.”
“Don’t hm me! Like you’re not the replica of Dorian Gray.”
“Who?”
“Oh, er—forget that for a few decades.”
“…Why are you like this.”
“We may never know! Look, you’ve finished your drink. Perhaps you might invite your dear old friend back to your room for a nightcap?”
“How forward of you.”
“Oh, would you rather I be coy? I can be coy.”
“God, no, that’s even more annoying. Alright, let’s go.”
Since obtaining her MFA in fiction, Moriah Richard has worked with over 100 authors to help them achieve their publication dreams. As the managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, she spearheads the world-building column Building Better Worlds, a 2023 Eddie & Ozzie Award winner. She also runs the Flash Fiction February Challenge on the WD blog, encouraging writers to pen one microstory a day over the course of the month and share their work with other participants. As a reader, Moriah is most interested in horror, fantasy, and romance, although she will read just about anything with a great hook.
Learn more about Moriah on her personal website.
