Hey hey writertron! Here’s your Flash Face Off prompts for the week.
As we head into Spooky Season, enjoy exploring the darker side of flash this month with our Halloween prompts!
Scroll to the bottom of the page and find out what we’re actually doing>>
The week’s prompts are:
OCCULT Vs ORACLE
The oracle’s mirror
waiting for the earth to unveil her
The wolf’s howl over snow
The quiet place inside you –
the vast knowing of the soul
Tamara Rendell, Mystical Tides
Not only do we often ignore the warnings of the oracles; characteristically we do not even consult them.
Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Nero wasn’t worried at all when he heard the utterance of the Delphic Oracle: “Beware the age of seventy-three.” Plenty of time to enjoy himself still. He’s thirty. The deadline the god has given him is quite enough to cope with future dangers.
C.P. Cavafy
Petty fortune telling was the field of the wishful. Witches dealt in blood and bones.
Ginn Hale, The Rifter Book One: The Shattered Gates
I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science.
Heinz Pagels
If you really want to channel all of your energy towards higher mysticism, you should realize that sex does drain a certain amount of your occult energy.
Frederick Lenz
Woman is the most superstitious animal beneath the moon. When a woman has a premonition that Tuesday will be a disaster, to which a man pays no heed, he will very likely lose his fortune then. This is not meant to be an occult or mystic remark. The female body is a vessel, and the universe drops its secrets into her far more quickly than it communicates them to the male.
Edward Dahlberg
It is one of the strictest conditions of initiation that occult knowledge may never be sold or used for gain.
Dion Fortune
Tarot cards and a crystal ball on a fortune teller’s table by Cottonbro at Pexels
Delphi, the centre of the ancient world by InsightsGreece
Skull, black candle and burnt offering by Joy Marino at Pexels
Figure in black robe wearing an ancient necklace standing in a red-flower field by Fariborz at Pexels
An ancient spell book and wand by RDNE at Pexels
What are these prompts for please?
Every week, we post a set of flash fiction prompts. You write a super small story (500 words or fewer), post it on our forums, give and receive feedback, and at the end of the month we pick our faves for a Friday night online open mic night. It’s pretty amazingly awesome and you should definitely join us. Yes you should.
It works like this:
Use the prompts to write in any way that inspires you. Pick a side, pick both, pick a quote or pick an image, or just go with the general aesthetic and vibe of the themes. Whatever floats your writerly hoozits. And remember—flash doesn’t have to be dark and traumatic to be effective.
Edit your writing into a beaut 500 word story and post it on the Flash Face Off forums (please submit no more than 2 stories per week thanks!)
While you’re waiting for the awesome writerly community to read your story and offer wise words and critique, read at least two other stories and give your constructive feedback.
That’s it! At the end of every month we gather all our faves and have a big ol’ open mic party. Sign up here.
NO WAIT ONE MORE THING!
Please do make good use of the workshopping forums to offer feedback to others, receive feedback on your own story, and tweak/edit as much as you like. This really is the absolute best way to develop your writing (and it’s a really nice way to be part of this
Ok now we’re really done. Go write.
