Story Seeds: November Flash Challenge Week 1

For those of us who don’t have the time to do NaNoWriMo this month but still want to get in on the writing action, I’ve decided to kick-off a November Flash Challenge. This is also the start of a “Story Seeds” blog series I’ve had percolating in my backbrain for awhile now, so I’ll likely continue with something similar after November as well, thanks to the massive amount of narrative-inspiring art that my wife has collected on the Cloud over the years.

For the month of November, at least once a week I’ll be posting a number (typically a pair) of “image prompts” or “story seeds.” I’ll also probably Tweet the pictures out individually from @AlexeiCollier.

Your job, dear writer, is to use one (or both!) of the images I present as the “seed” for a flash story. (Flash fiction is typically 500-1000 words long, but don’t beat yourself up if you go over that length.) Remember, these are only story SEEDS, to plant ideas in your brain, so feel free let your imagination carry you off in whichever direction it sees fit, no matter how far it takes your from the original seed.

I may throw in a text prompt or two on occasion, and will also include some “questions to consider” re: the image prompts, in case you find yourself staring at the purty pictures and coming up blank.

So, here are this week’s story seeds.

Story Seed #1

“Chicago – Drummers” by MumblingIdiot, aka Luke Pearson

Questions to Consider (Don’t read these if you don’t want your imagination polluted by my vile words): Who are the people in this image? ARE they people? What do they have, what do they need, what do they want? What are the ghost-like figures? ARE they ghosts? What do THEY want? WHY?

Story Seed #2

“Brain Tower” by Almacan, aka Kazuhiko Nakamura

Questions to Consider (Don’t read these if you don’t want your imagination polluted by my vile words): What is this building? IS it a building? Who lives here, who is arriving here, who is leaving here, who is seeing this scene? Who is the man wearing the building as a hat? IS it a man? IS it a hat? WHY?

That’s it for installment 1! Keep an eye out for a BONUS installment later this week. (Maybe.)