Another away day!

 This time to Hull, to see Opera North’s production of ‘Tosca’. We’ll be back sometime Friday but I’m hoping, as I’ve scheduled words for next week, so you don’t have to wait too long, you  will tell us which were your favourites for last week.   

Words for the coming week: mud, orchestra, spurn 

Entries by midnight Thursday April 6th, new words  Friday 7th

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Cardiff beckoned

 While visiting our daughter, husband took advantage of a big city to look for some shoes. Took a while, and my feet have yet to recover but I can now snatch time to do my duty with Prediction. 

As ever, a thoroughly good week of superb entries and from others’ comments I doubt there’ll be much dissension at my naming David’s ‘The Curse of the Unfinished Horror’ as ‘winner’ this week, with Antonia’s untitled but intriguing final piece a worth runner-up’

Words for the coming week: shoehorn, splash, ticket 

Entries by midnight Thursday March 30th, new words  Friday 31st

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Reasoning maybe debatable, but …

 Today I’m anticipating several hours sat on the sofa, watching the final three matches of Rugby Union’s  Six Nations. Not, after last week, expecting to be delighted by the results, but the interaction of team members, when I’ve never been a team player, I find fascinating. As usual, too, I’ll be in competition with my husband with the General Knowledge crossword. 

Just as fascinating, as ever, is the use to which the prompt words were put. All impressive and enjoyable, but because the music reminded me of a visit to that crossroads in Clarksville, I award David top place for his ‘The Devil Went Down To Suburbia’

Words for the coming week: maul prop, try 

Entries by midnight Thursday March 23rd; new words  Friday 24^th (but maybe a bit late as I’ll be away from home.)

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Unsurprising snow

 After all the threat-laden warnings (and reports of a LOT more elsewhere), I wasn’t surprised to see the ends of the branches of the rowan tree clotted with white lumps when I looked out the window. Not too much on the ground, either (but I’ll be better testing that in an hour or so when I walk up for the paper.)

 An interesting selection of entries this week, Terrie’s poem especially lovely, but ultimately I decided Jim’s ‘The way of war’ squeezed itself to the top spot. Thank you all for participating with posts and comments.

 Words for the coming week: feint oblige shudder

                            Entries by midnight Thursday March 16th, new words  Friday 17th.

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

 Distractions

There’s nothing like a weekend away, discussing the crafting of crime novels to ensure a mind gone off  in several non-routine directions. Plus I had the shock of a publisher actually asking me to send her the first four novels in my ‘Love triangles with murder’ series. (It came to nothing, as I suspected it would, my writing style quite different to their in-house style.) And then to return to a double helping of prompted pieces  – thank you Jim for your excellent words – and a wealth of 'dillo tales, for which, notwithstanding the enjoyment of reading the others,  I have to thank Terrie for.  

 Words for the coming week: forge mourn waver

Entries by midnight Thursday March 9th, new words  Friday 10th.

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Not all so skilled

My husband, querying this week’s words displayed on the shelf above my monitor and told they were prompt words, immediately said ‘The yellow Venom weighed 200 kilogrammes.’ He was talking Velocettes, of course (though the one he has is black). Luckily, those who took the challenge more seriously were more skilled, and once again I was vacillating between entries trying  to separate a winner.  In the end I plumped for the murky originality of Jim’s ‘The bowel and bladder’ and thank you all for your participation. 

Words for the coming week: graft ovoid soap

And, because I’ll be away for a few days over next weekend you have an extra week to ponder. Entries by midnight Thursday March 2nd new words Friday March 3rd

Unless  Jim, as winner, would be so kind as to suggest three new words on the 24^th February?

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Hearts no doubt viewed differently here!

 Even though the week includes St Valentine’s Day, in memory of a priest who was clubbed to death, I’ll not be offering it as  next week’s prompt, but instead offer congratulations to those of you who made more than a decent stab at last week’s words . For the mind-soaring poetry of ‘Undertones of whisper and the sound of claws on dirt’ I award Terrie top prize. Thank you all for the entertainment.

Words for the coming week: venom  weigh  yellow

Entries by midnight Thursday February 16^th, new words  Friday 17th.

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Apologies

For eggcup, a really horrible word, which you all, as usual, successfully incorporated. Antonia’s perhaps the smoothest, and it is the rare,  upbeat nature of her piece which shifted her to the top of my favourites this week.

Words for the coming week: achieve rust yeast 

Entries by midnight Thursday February 9th^h 2nd new words  Friday 10th.

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

Distracted

 Having last month asked the excellent  Graham Bartlett – a retired ex-policeman who has successfully supported enough crime writers to be inspired to write his own – to look at my known-to-be-faulty novel #5, and subsequently spent time  mulling over his spot-on advice, I made the decision to turn the telling of it upside down and  completely re-write it. 

I began the process yesterday and got so deeply involved I forgot I needed to post both new words and a winner to this week’s Prediction. So, a quick re-read, and I came up with two deserving entries:  Terrie’s 'paperclipped to the moon’ in her SAS diaries entry 208 was both joyful and inspired,  and David’s ‘Artefact’ exceptionally poignant – thank you both, as well as to Jim and Antonia for their ever-reliable commenting.

Words for the coming week, eggcup, number, spectacle

Entries by midnight Thursday February 2nd Saturday December 31st, new words  Friday 3rd.

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Another bountiful week

And, for the joy of it, Terrie’s ‘Love letter to Lear’ gets one of this week’s votes, while David, Jim and Antonia  dish up similarly worthy-of-mention pieces full of nastiness and dread. Thank you all – it has been a good week.

 Words for the coming week: paperclip, scarlet, specimen

 Entries by midnight  Thursday January 26th, new words and winners  Friday 27th January

  Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Friday thirteenth, of course!

 And I’m once again struggling to choose between a quartet of high quality entries – hooray!   – and thank you.  Similarly I’m sure that if the choice was yours, you’d struggle, but after some deliberation, I’m picking David’s ‘Military operation, for the clarity of its description and the poor donkey.

Words for the coming week: appoint dust wheelbarrow

Entries by midnight  Thursday January 19th, new words and winners  Friday 20th January

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever

Twenty twenty-three

And the Prediction challenge goes on into a fresh new year, with thanks to Antonia, Jim and Terrie who put in an appearance on 2022’s final fling.

Words for the coming week: button extract mire

Entries by midnight  Thursday January 12th, new words and winners  Friday 23th January

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whchever. 

Last prompt words for 2022

 And the penultimate winner of the year is Jim, for ‘Something Silly’ – his variation of ‘Night before Christmas.

 My thanks to him, Antonia, David and Holly, plus all who contributed to Prediction during 2022. I wish you all a happy and joyful festive season and much inspiration for 2023.

Words for the coming week, should you need some writing inspiration: appoint coast lip

Entries by midnight  Saturday December 31st, new words  Friday 6th January 2023

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Blind dating?

 Apologies : I do realise that on several occasions I’ve made a mess of the deadline dates. In part it was lack of a wall calendar, a problem addressed for next year by buying myself one, but I have double checked those below and trust I do better in 2023.

 This week, three entries and a proper choice to be made. Despite the gruesomeness of Jim and Antonia’s pieces I pick David’s ‘A berry Christmas’ for the smoothness of its delivery. 

Words for the coming week: darn  scratch unconscious 

Entries by midnight  Thursday December 22nd, new words Friday 23rd. Deadline thereafter maybe a couple of weeks. Shall we say New Year's Eve?

Stroke of luck

Jim being the only Predictioneer (apart from me) to respond to this week’s words, I was extremely pleased he rectified his omission of one prompt word and thus I wasn’t put to the embarrassment of disqualifying him.

As we approach Christmas and all the time-consuming tasks that encompasses, I anticipate a few similarly quiet weeks to come, but as it’s no effort to think up prompt words, I suggest for the coming week:  berry stock tantalise

Entries by midnight  Thursday December 16th,  new words Friday 17th. After which I might suggest a couple of week's break.

Well that was a much livelier week!

Thank you all, even though it’s forced me to take the cowardly way out and declare Holly’s ‘We're All Afraid of Something’ and David’s ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ joint winners for the visual joy and intrigue they both brought. 

Words for the coming week: flash  introduce  weave

Entries by midnight  Thursday December 8th,  new words Friday 9^th 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Two’s company, even though there’s plenty room for more

 So thank you Jim, for your participation – post and comments – and hope Antonia’s absence is down to no more than getting to grips with a new computer.

In the hope others will find time to participate – always in short supply at this time of year – I offer

Words for the coming week: educate ribbon squash

Entries by midnight  Thursday December 1st,  new words scheduled for   Friday 2nd as I’ll be away, 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Envy is allegedly a sin

Another week when it would be wrong to decide one had merit over the other – so my thanks to Antonia and Jim both for their entertaining entries and their comments on mine.

Currently I’m editing a second draft of ‘Snap is not a children’s game’, the fifth in my ‘Love triangles with murder’ series; struggling to find ways of including a few more cliff-hanger endings, because it badly lacks tension, while reading and much admiring writers such as David Mark, Emma Viskic and  Sharon Bolton, each of whose series are both beautifully-written and compelling. 

Words for the coming week: accuse purse question 

Entries by midnight Thursday November 17th,  new words posted Friday 18th 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever

Brief flash left fingers crossed

 Patricia’s posting of a previous piece looking successful, I had hopes the gremlins had been shown the door, but seemingly not. All the more pleased to read Jim and David’s postings, and hope next week’s words enable more.  

Words for the coming week: bell revelation torso 

Entries by midnight Thursday November 17th,  new words posted Friday 18th 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Circularity or recycling?

 With so few  – but always strong – participants I have a sense that I am recycling “winners” for the sake of fairness, especially when, in truth, it is hard to decide which I deem “better” than the rest. I trust, however, that you understand this and forgive me if you feel you’ve been overlooked. This week I decided David’s ‘Tangled Roots of War’ intriguing enough to take the top spot, but additionally thank the rest of you for commenting – invaluable if this site is to thrive.

Words for the coming week: industry tall unreliable 

Entries by midnight Thursday November 10th,  new words posted Friday 11th 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.