Flash Fiction Challenge: “Three Sentences For Bear71”

Here’s your challenge.

Choose one of the following wild animals:

Bear

Wolf

Deer

Cougar

Mouse

Eagle

Bighorn Sheep

Mosquito

Now, write a three-sentence story from the perspective — first person POV — of that animal.

You are encouraged to anthropomorphize the animal — meaning, the animal acts and thinks as a human would. It’s okay to write about the animal as an animal, or the animal in the animal’s expected spaces, but it’s also fine to think outside of the box (a spy story featuring a cougar, a science-fiction story starring a wolf, a morality tale starring a mouse, etc.).

Any genre will do.

The stories should be PG-13. No sex or gore or strong profanity.

I know. Unusual for this site.

And here’s why:

Bear71 is a documentary and installation about the life and death of a tagged grizzly bear and the surveillance that surrounds this bear. The experience will present at Sundance New Frontier this year — information here — and the best stories of this bunch will become a part of the overall installation (they may, for instance, show up at the installation itself or be included as a part of the Bear71 social media outreach).

Why submit a story? It’s for a good cause and a poignant storytelling experience.

(Also, you retain all rights to your story and can do with it as you wish.)

You’ve got one week — till January 20th, noon EST, to get your stories in.

To submit: please post your three-sentence story in the comments below. Make sure to include a name to receive credit and/or a Twitter handle where appropriate.

Go forth and write.