2023 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 10
Write a piece of flash fiction each day of February with the February Flash Fiction Challenge, led by Managing Editor Moriah Richard. Each day, receive a prompt, example story, and write your own. Today’s prompt is to set your story in a very common place.
I've been thinking about setting these last few days, and I've thought about how sometimes, the simplest, most common of settings—a school, a bus stop, a grocery store—can be the backdrop for a stunning story.
For today’s prompt, set your story in a very common place.
Remember: As mentioned yesterday, 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 a story set somewhere common:
Good Citizen
She finds him in aisle 7. Maybe three or four, staring up at the wall of colorful cereals. She looks behind her; tries to look past him. It’s very late. The store is quiet. Her instinct is to talk to him, see where his parent is, but that feels wrong. She is the stranger.
She’s standing there for so long that he swivels his head to look at her. His eyes are wide and dark. The moment stretches out. She’s paralyzed.
A woman ducks into the aisle, relief bursting across her face. She scoops him up and carries him away.
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.
