Your Story #124
Write the opening line to a story based on the photo prompt below. (One sentence only.) You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.
Prompt: Write the opening line to a story based on the prompt above. (One sentence only.) You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc. It is, after all, your story.
No attachments, please. Include your name and mailing address. Entries without a name or mailing address with be disqualified.
Unfortunately, we cannot respond to every entry we receive, due to volume. No confirmation emails will be sent out to confirm receipt of submission. But be assured all submissions received before entry deadline are considered carefully. Official Rules.
Entry Deadline: Submissions closed; vote for your favorite below.
Out of nearly 300 entries, WD editors chose the following 12 finalists. Vote for your favorite using the poll at the bottom of the page.
1. From up here there were no borders ...
2. She thought it would be far enough away, but the anxiety Olivia felt about her in-laws visit was overwhelming.
3. Peering out the window toward Earth, a viewpoint experienced by so few others in all of history, she still felt strikingly and unfortunately human as she recalled her father’s oft-spoken cautionary quip: “No matter where you go, there you are.”
4. The pilot said it would be a long taxi ride to the gate, but this is ridiculous.
5. Time to stop looking outside and to check on the whiskey being filtered in the microgravity environment, he thought.
6. Claws fully retracted, pseudo-skin in place, it looked on Earth for the first time hoping they all tasted as good as the samples.
7. When Martin proclaimed, " I love you to the moon and back," I squeezed his arm jokingly and replied, "Oh yeah? Prove it"; now I am, yet again, the victim of a man and his grandiose gestures.
8. We are on day three, and day three of anything gets you thinking about the return.
9. She stared into the void, wondering if the DoorDash driver was lost yet again.
10. As I looked out the shuttle bay window, I saw a dozen or more small craft come out of orbit and land all over the world.
11. She promised to be back with an abundance of toilet paper after the pandemic had literally wiped the earth clean of its supply.
12. One minute she's an icon of heavenly peace and surrender, and in the blink of an eye she on the most wanted list for atrocities against humanity in space.
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.
