Hey hey writertron! Here’s your Flash Face Off prompts for the week.
Third set of prompts for our ‘Writing as Resistance’ festival!
Scroll to the bottom of the page and find out what we’re actually doing>>
The week’s prompts are:
RESILIENCE Vs RESISTANCE
The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.
Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven
There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.
Sophie Kinsella, The Undomestic Goddess
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
Ursula K. Le Guin
The likelihood that your acts of resistance cannot stop the injustice does not exempt you from acting in what you sincerely and reflectively hold to be the best interests of your community.
Susan Sontag, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches
I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
A person sitting cross legged in chains by Thato Moiketsi 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.
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- Meet like-minded writers and get support and resources to keep you writing
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