December Flash Fiction Draw

It’s so very miserable out—it’s rainy, it’s wet, and there’s a kind of slushy mix of ice and water and snow on the ground. Yep, it’s December in Ottawa. But! Today’s draw added a much needed shot of levity, and I’m looking forward to the results.

If you don’t know what I’m nattering about, here’s the poop: I set a challenge to myself (and anyone else who wanted to play) last January. It’s a year-long monthly Flash Fiction Draw challenge. Using three suits from a deck of cards, and assigning thirteen genres to clubs, thirteen items to diamonds, and thirteen locations to hearts, I made a deck of prompts. Once a month, drawing three cards creates the challenge. No more than 1,000 words, and no longer than a week to work on it, and… ta-da! Stretched writerly muscles, fun, and zero stress. (And that last rule is super-important: if it gets stressful or stops being fun? Skip it. It’s the holidays, I get it.)

In January, we had Fairy Tales involving a Tattoo Machine set in a Prison! The results were fantastic. February? Crime Caper, Compass, and a Soup Kitchen was a challenge (though with awesome results). March brought Romance, involving a VHS Cassette, set in a Firewatch Tower (results). Then in April, we had Historical Fictions set on Dirt Roads dealing with Rat Poison, and the timelines involved in those results were all over the place. Or time. You get it. May delivered some Science Fiction in our laps, taking place Above the Clouds and involving a Dog Whistle (results). For June, it was a Fantasy involving Hot Chocolate, set in a Junkyard or Scrapyard (which you can happily sip here). In July, we crafted Mysteries involving Typewriters set on a Dam (results here). August brought Ghost Stories involving Earrings set in Tobacco Shops (results here). And September gave us Suspense stories set at a Border Crossing and involving a Bag of Money (results here). October we had Horror stories set at Blood Drives involving Frogs (results here). And in November, we had Action/Adventure stories set on Bridges involving Sandbags (results here).

I made a video of this month’s draw, if you want to check it out.

The chart from which the draws were made was this (minus the cards from previous draws, greyed out):

And the result for our final draw? Seven of clubs, Six of diamonds, and Ace of hearts. Which means anyone who wants to play along is going to write a flash fiction piece of 1,000 words within the following guidelines: Comedy, set in a Field of Poppies, including a Broom.

If you do participate, please pop a link to this post, or to the Facebook video above so I can gather all the stories again for a round-up post next week.

But the most important thing? This is supposed to be fun and inspiring. If it’s not working for you, take a pass. This is December, and I know the holidays are full of stress and obligations. The “rules” such as they are are pretty limited: You have to use the genre, the item, and the setting (though you can play a bit fast and loose within those guidelines), no more than 1,000 words, and the piece needs to be finished by next Monday (December 10th). That’s it.

Enjoy!