September Prompt - Multiple Choice

Somebody, in their infinite, er, wisdom, decided I should come up with the prompt for September. Now, nobody can say they weren't warned, but this month's prompt is a multiple choice.

You may choose one of the following prompts for your story. Length should be no more than 5k words and 3k is preferred. No Flash. Flesh is more than desired, it's a necessity. Characterization flesh, that is, not real flesh unless you're donating to the newbyque or my experimental labs, but enough with that.

Here are the prompts for September,

1) Take your ordinary rush hour traffic jam situation. Now turn it horrific. You're trapped in your car, your air conditioning's out, The traffic's so tight you can't open your doors. Your windows won't roll down. Everyone around you is ignoring you, listening to their music on headphones, talking on the smartphones, tapping on their laptops. The sun is beating down and it's getting hotter by the minute...

2) The above situation with a minor variant - something external happens, zombie plague, meteor strike, alien invasion, the Rapture, etc. You're trapped in traffic, but you can get out of the car at least, but what then?

3) All the world's a stage, and the people merely players - and only you know that. No one believes you when you tell them they're just actors on some gigantic stage. Heck, even when they listen they think you're as looney tunes as Bugs Bunny.

4) Humans are not at the top of the food chain like we think. Just as "little fleas have smaller fleas, and so ad infinitum", there are things out there that cull the human herd, that keep our numbers down. They've been gone a long time, but now they're back, and they're very, very hungry. Start your story off with the character(s) in the middle of a city or as the resident(s) of a small rural community when the predators re-emerge from a long dormancy. You may not use werewolves, vampires, zombies or other cliched monster. Be unique. You might want to look at ancient mythology for a few ideas here.

5) Take any office or retail setting. Now turn it on it's head. While office and store politics really can be nasty, they're rarely horrific. But in this place they are. Think Klingon warriors as office clerks, department managers, stock boys, and auditors with every vicious and bloodthirsty instinct elevated to the Nth degree. Business really is combat here. Then there's the customers...and they're looking for the best cutthroat deal they can get, literally...

6) It's late at night and there's a thunderstorm out there. Your characters have gathered for a night of partying and fooling around at someone's apartment when the sky falls in. That thunder, it's not "thunder", it's the rumble of explosions far off in the distance - and its getting closer. Suddenly there's a terrific flash that lights up the entire place as bright as day. The windows blow out. Glass and fragments scythe through the place. A roar as out of the mouth of God follows. What happens next?

Finally, if you think you're really clever, go ahead and try to mix & match.

I dare you.



Linkys:

HEAVY CLOUDS, NO RAIN - Foinah

Unheralded - Jcomp

Engine Running, No One There- LilliCray

NEW BLOOD - Soapdish

The test is in the participation, Jcomp.

I was actually dreaming one last night while medicated (for knee pain) and just at that "in-between" state.

Glad everyone likes the prompts. I was a little worried I wouldn't come up with something creative enough.

One thing that any participant in the monthly prompt and SYW ABSOLUTELY MUST understand is that it's okay to submit a work to SYW that isn't "polished". We don't care if you think it's crap. You are the worst judge of your own material. We don't care if it's not good enough to send out yet. Thats what SYW is for. This is where some participants fall short. They think that unless the story is already publishable, SYW isn't the place for it.

Nobody's going to tell you your work is crap.

We might tell you it's not ready yet, gently, kindly, carefully.

But we won't say it's crap (unless it's absolutely obvious that the work was sent in as a joke and then that's the Mod's job to root those sobs out of our midst).

What SYW is for is to help you take an idea, work it the best way you know how, and then let us help you try to improve it based on our criticisms that you do not have to accept.

As Uncle Jim says, "You have permission to write crap."

As I say, "Who cares if it's crap? See if it sells."

Of course, we do expect certain minimum standards - spell check your work. Read through it a time or three. Correct anything that pops out to you 'cause it'll sure as hell pop out to a reader.

Ask questions. Ask for advice. Ask for direction. We'll try to help.

But ultimately, it's your work. You decide, not anyone who posts on SYW.

So, don't be afraid. Post that work. Post it, post it, post it.

Darn it, Pappy Haggis caught us discussing important stuff and not writing again out behind the corn shed.

All right, everyone go on back to work now.

Pappy, don't whip me too hard, okays?

Hey, you said that was just between us.



Pain can sometimes be the way to enlightenment.

'Cause most of the time it tells you exactly what you don't like.