2023 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 9
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 about a wish.
Wishes can be a source of natural tension for a story—will the protagonist get their wish fulfilled or not? What are the consequences of that outcome? For today’s prompt, write about a wish.
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. Fingers crossed there are no tech hiccups!)
Here’s my attempt at a story about a wish:
Impossible Wishes
The summer I turned 14, I watched my brother break his first horse.
She was a pinto, high-spirited. Everything offended her. I watched my brother guide her in the round pen, endlessly patient. At night, he’d spit into an empty Coors can and mutter curses he didn’t dare let Mama hear.
“I’ll get her,” he’d say, “Just watch me.”
Day after day, that filly stayed hot and wild. I didn’t know why, but I wished he’d never break her. That every day, my brother would turn her loose in the pasture, unsuccessful, and she’d kick up her heels in victory.
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.
