I’m so excited that my flash piece, “Blue Monkey,” was published today at Ellipsis Zine!
I wrote this in a Sarah Freligh workshop that centered around place. After drawing a map of a street in my city, I realized there were tons of stories I could write… so I did! And this is the first to find a home, so I hope you read it and love it and demand someone publish my chapbook centered around midtown Memphis.
As my last post mentioned, I had a great time writing and submitting to The Write-In on National Flash Fiction day. I’m thrilled that five of my submissions were published! I’m sharing the links here, along with the prompts to give an idea of the guidelines/constraints.
Crosstown Traffic: A triptych where each section takes place in the same moment of time.
Moving Day: A story in which the action happens backwards.
Trick or Treat: Flash without a full stop or period as a punctuation mark.
She’s Where the Sky Meets the Water: 24-word flash with a seven-word title.
Dreamless Reality: A version of a fairy tale set in modern times.
Yes, I’m posting this right before the day officially ends in the UK, but I’ve been writing since The Write-In started posting prompts yesterday evening (my time)! I always love writing from a prompt, as evidenced by so many of my recent publications having origin stories in workshops.
Anyway, this year NFFD is doing a badge system, and I love collecting little trinkets that show where I’ve been and what I’ve done, so here are the pieces I’ve written and submitted so far.
Since the deadline to submit is tomorrow at 5:59p my time, I’m going to keep writing because this concept of time in the prompts is perfect for how I’m trying to push myself to go speculative, so I’m going to continue writing. Anyone else participating today?
I’m so happy that Visual Verse shared my May submission, “Close Your Eyes.”
I’m so happy that Visual Verse shared my April submission, “Mother of Pearl.”
As I dedicate some time to writing a new piece for the April prompt at Visual Verse, I’m excited to share the piece I wrote for March.
Here’s “Death of an Influencer.”
I wrote this micro in one of Sarah Freligh’s workshops – if you haven’t taken one, I highly recommend them! I’ve taken three now and am always so inspired by the lessons and prompts. This story started as “The Object of My Affection” and got plenty of polish from workshop feedback.
My chapbook, Won’t Be By Your Side, has been out in the world for six months today!
If you haven’t grabbed a copy, you can get one right now from Amazon.
If you’ve read the book, please review it on Amazon and Goodreads!
If you have a copy and want an autographed bookplate, DM me on Twitter or Instagram and I’ll send you one for free!
It’s the first of February, meaning there’s a new prompt up at Visual Verse. Looking for the new image made me realize that they published my December submission! I sent it and forgot to check back, so here it is, extremely delayed.
As always, I’m honored that they’re sharing my work. Here’s “A Minute, A Lifetime.”
I started 2023 with very few writing goals because too many start to feel like obligations, and that’s the last excuse I need to skip writing time. My main goals were massive projects to work on all year:
I also knew I wanted to take more workshops, and kicked off the year with two: one focusing on micros, one for sci-fi and speculative fiction.
I didn’t realize that, during those workshops, I’d get an idea for another massive project. The prompt was to use a photograph as your inspiration. I love ekphrastic work, so this was right up my alley. I even knew what photos to sort through to find the perfect concept.
When my paternal grandfather died, I spent a lot of time in his wood-paneled study. He had a box of prints curled with age. I loved sorting through them and trying to cobble together the true story of who took them, when, and where. No one knew. But I kept them and occasionally looked through them to get more clues.
I looked through the photos last week for this prompt and showed them to my dad. We searched each image for clues and then researched possibilities before realizing the pictures were from the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. Now we’re just trying to unravel the mystery of who in the family took them, with two major contenders: my grandfather and great-grandfather. Of course, they could have gotten copies of the prints from a friend or neighbor, and we’ll never know.
But the truth behind the photos isn’t my main concern. There are several sets that tell stories when you put the images in one order, then a different story when you shuffle them. And I can’t stop shuffling them, which led to my newest massive project: a chapbook of ekphrastic stories with the photos at the top of each page. I’ve already scanned the images and started writing, so I guess my previous resolutions will take a backseat for a bit…
Allison Renner Writes 