Sorry, sorry, brain not yet in gear since returning home ,(I had a workshop to attend as well) and. having realised my omission I'm now about to go out,
Take duster, lapse, and meddle as words for the coming week and I'll read, comment and declare a winner for on last week's words in the morning.
I mentioned posting new words today (31st) but see no reason not to wait until Friday ...
For encouragement (and to deliver the warm glow of having been read) please mention your personal favourite from last week.
Words for this week: Elizabethan, incompetence priest
Deadline 25th May. New words 31st May.
For encouragement (and to deliver the warm glow of having been read) please mention your personal favourite from last week.
Words for next week, deadline 18th May: second unearth whirl
Because all, as ever, are such top-class, entertaining entries, deserving of praise and prizes, I’m opting out of declaring a ‘winner this week and will also do so for posting entries for a couple of weeks, because I’ll be away from home. I will schedule new words on 12th and 19th of May and it would be encouraging (and reduce the echoing absence) if each of you could comment and name your favourites.
Words for the coming week: battery diamond remove
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.
A slender week for entries but evidence (if such were needed) that I’m outclassed when it comes to creating tales of horror, since both David’s ‘Apples from Eden’ and Jim’s ‘The Voice’ were such perfect, clever and impactful examples of how to unsettle their readers, with skill, inventiveness and freshness – a skill they demonstrate week after week.
Which makes the selection of words for each coming week a pleasurable, but minor challenge; I seek a catalyst and a couple of non-obvious companions, then sit back and enjoy seeing how they are used. This weeks I found on the spines of the pile of books I’ve yet to read.
Words for the coming week: pearl, razor, trespass
Entries by midnight Thursday 4th May, new
words and winners Friday 5th
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.
Is something no-one can deny (unless they insist on digital) and this week, unreal or not, Antonia gets the accolade for her untitled description of vaults and money fountains. Odd how long childhood dreams persist. Less odd – positively excellent – is the persistence with which you all turn up to contribute to this tiny place of Prediction: you are what keeps it alive.
Words for the coming week (the first of which I read in
in one of Helen Simpson’s excellent short stories): demulcent mobile wax
Entries by midnight Thursday April 27th, new words scheduled Friday 28th
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.
Is one of the benefits of this weekly challenge, and this week all participants rose to it unerringly, despite the (aimed at) disparity of the prompt words.
This week, I don’t think any one will dispute my choosing Dave’s untitled confrontation between guard and prisoner as winner, since we were all impressed with it.
Words for the coming week: clock erupt unreal
Entries by midnight Thursday April 20th, new words scheduled Friday 21st
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.
As were all of this week’s entries, and because, from those offered by Terrie, Jim and Dave I could not pick one as having more merit than the rest I’m declaring every one of you a winner.
Thank you for
your contributions, your comments and
especially to Terrie for having indicated a favourite from the week
before.
Words for the coming week: cushion flex wince
Entries by midnight Thursday April 13th, new words Friday
14th
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.
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.
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
24th (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.
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.)
Entries by midnight Thursday March 16th, new words Friday 17th.
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.
Entries by midnight Thursday March 9th, new words Friday 10th.
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 24th 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.
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 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.
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 9thh 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.
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.
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.
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
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.