Your Story #127
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: Closed
Out of nearly 100 entries, WD editors chose the following 12 finalists. Vote for your favorite using the poll at the bottom of the page.
1. They were an All-American family living rewarding suburban lives—at least according to initial surveillance footage.
2. I love my children, I love my children, I love my children, Diana repeated in her head as the screaming started.
3. Judy lied; their daddy wasn't working late at the office.
4. As I sat in our new apartment watching my mom serve the three of us dinner, I thought to myself, Wow, she did it. Mom got us out of that hell hole.
5. My brothers and I enjoyed that last family dinner we helped Momma make, unaware that by morning she would have vanished from our lives.
6. It was at this moment Felicia realized that not only would she never complete her Ph.D. on Claude McKay's early fiction but that one of the children had also spit in the salad.
7. Thanks to my brother, projectile pasta was always on the menu at our house.
8. Melanie beamed with delight as her children approved the recipe she'd prepared for the fair's annual cook-off.
9. Working from home and taking care of the kids turned out to be more fun than a barrel of scorpions.
10. “OK, no kale tonight,” said Aunt Marine as she swept the salad bowl out of our sight.
11. It was just another routine day—pancakes for breakfast, playtime at the park, leftover pasta for lunch—until the doorbell rang.
12. It didn’t take long for them to move on without me.
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.
