'Prompt' by Laurie Marshall

Prompt: We gather so much information about items (and people) we touch through the tiny sensory nerves in our skin. Write about a character who has no sensory nerves and has to “feel” those items a different way.

'Prompt' by Maggie Seren

The Religious Experience: Write a flash in which someone has had/thinks they have had some kind of religious experience.

'Two prompts' by Emma Gill

One:

Write a story about an event where reading forwards is in the perspective of one character, and reading the sentences/paragraphs backwards is in the perspective of another character.

Bonus challenge: make the characters opposite, e.g. someone being chased and the person chasing them.

Two:

Write a story that uses time in an unusual fashion, e.g. works backwards, skips around, accelerates/decelerates.

Bonus challenge: map your word count to measurements of time, e.g. 60 words, or 12 paragraphs, or 24 words on 7 lines.

Catching the Ferry to Work by Suzanne Bajor

 

Artwork by Suzanne Bajor

The mooring creaks its aggravation. Groaning, its echo’s a strain on the piling as it rebels against the tide.
Illusion emerges:
The rope uncoils like a viper rising from its basket and ricochet’s skywards. Swirling uncontrollably, it spins off its crutch; we duck to avoid the strike of a perilous whip.
Fear develops:
The gangway releases – a clatter resonates as it hits the floor. With scarves around faces like cartoon robbers, we advance for a place of shelter. Wind lashes, spray blows, the footway heaves and sways with the pull of the swell.
Terror progresses:
Gangway slips from the side – crashing into the sea. We are scraps scraped off a chopping board, tumbling into the murky river that lurks in the unending black beneath.
Reality returns:
Lurching away from the landing stage the surf throws up a stench of engine oil to invading our lungs. With a gasp of sea air that stifles the throat, we make it safely on board. Gazing back at the skyline; angst wanes.

'Thonk, Thonk' by Ravibala Shenoy

At twelve, he heard Rhapsody in Blue for the first time, and when the LP ended, he wiped a tear from his eyes. The record combined jazz and classical music. At the record store, the album cover featured a cool redhead. She wore a leotard and black fishnet tights. She perched on a grand piano, with her toes poised on G. Her straw hat sported a blue band and she held a clarinet. At that time, he had a crush on redheads. 

That summer, his mother ordered him to pull weeds. He could either pull the weeds in their yard for free or the neighbors’ weeds for money. He pooled his hard-earned weed earnings, and at the end of summer, he bought his first record. That night his heart did triple somersaults as he placed Rhapsody in Blue on the turntable in his bedroom. 

“Turn that thing off,” His mother bellowed from upstairs. 

“It’s all right, Mom,” he called back. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

His mother shouted again. “I said turn that thing off. Or else…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, Mom.”

His older sister stomped into the room, marched to the turntable, picked up the LP and dropped it on the floor, and without a word walked out.

In spite of the “thonk, thonk” during the piano solo where the record had been scratched, he listened to the LP hundreds of times. 

In his thirties, when he bought the CD, he was surprised by the absence of the “thonk, thonk” accompaniment. The CD cover featured no redhead. 

Sixty years after he first set eyes on the record, he pulled up the LP cover of Rhapsody in Blue on his smartphone. His heart was crushed, the redhead’s toes rested not on G, as imagined, just on C.

NFFD 2021: Prompt #24

 

The Prompt Prompt

Write your own writing prompt.

We'll post as many as we can for writers to enjoy throughout the year, and we'll even pick a few to use for the 2021 NFFD Write-In (crediting you, of course).

If your prompt requires an image, sound or video file, send it or a link to it in your email, and also be sure to send in links or full details of the source.  We must either have permission from the artist, or the work must be in the public domain or otherwise licensed for reuse.

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 24: Prompt Prompt.  Make sure to send details of any images, sound or video files you use.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 27 June 2020 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.