This one is going to be a bit different than the usual.
I want you to do the standard — write a story, keep it around 1000 words, post it at your blog, and link back here in the comments so we can all see it.
However, I want it to be a true story. Preferably, one that happened to you. Meaning, I’d like you to engage in a little creative non-fiction and write a story from your own life instead of something made up. The value of looking to our own experiences are myriad — while we should never ever feel trapped by the needless rigors of WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW, we should consider that advice as an occasional opportunity.
So, you have the rules.
Find a story from your life and write it. Keep it trim. Keep it vital. Make it awesome.
Go.
[edit: due in one week, as usual — by friday, oct 9th, noon est]
the story hive says:
Well, this is it: INK ON ASH. https://thestoryhive.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/ink-on-ash/
October 2, 2015 — 1:36 PM
daniel quentin steele says:
To begin with these are probably not what you’re looking for so I doubt they” stick around or receive any notice. But they’ve stuck in my head for forty years and i’ll probably remember them until the day I die.
The first is about the man who crawled for two day out of the Georgia woods after his plane crashed.I read it in the Georgia edition of the Florida Times-Union when I was a reporter. He had been flying with his wife in a two-seater. The plane went down in heavy woods and no one found them. Severely injured, the male pilot pulled himself out and crawled on his hands and knees hundreds of yards through underbrush heading for a road he knew had to be nearby to find help for his wife. Two days later without food and water he crawled out onto the road where he was found and rescued. When they went back for his wife, she had died.
The second story occurred on a Florida beach,probably st. Augustine or Jax. A young girl was swimming too deep and was caught in an apparent undertow. A man in his 50s saw her and swam out to her, He helped her back toward the shore when he suddenly stopped and told the girl, ‘I can’t go any farther. Go on.” And he sank under the waves. When his body as recovered it was found he’d had a heart attack.
I can’t say why these touched me so profoundly, except they illustrate the bravery, nobility, the goodness, in average, every day people. And I can’t help wondering what went through the pilot’s mind when he learned all his sacrifice hadn’t saved his wife and that some stories don’t have happy endings.
October 2, 2015 — 1:55 PM
Tsara Shelton says:
Every single day I write stories about me.
But I rarely have the freedom to write a story about me without first knowing exactly what story, what style, and why.
Oh, Chuck!
Thank-you!!!!
This is going to be fun!!!!
October 2, 2015 — 2:09 PM
Tsara Shelton says:
Here’s mine:
Beautifully Pathetic: http://autismanswersbytsara.blogspot.com/2015/10/short-story-beautifully-pathetic.html
And now I’m going to go read a bunch of the other stories.
It’s so awesome here!!
~Tsara
October 3, 2015 — 4:11 PM
Elly Conley says:
This is straight-up literature. Thank you for sharing <3
October 5, 2015 — 10:57 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
Thank you, Elly, for taking the time to read and comment!!
Huge hugs!!!!
October 5, 2015 — 2:45 PM
Butch McGovern says:
Stunning. Absolutely fantastic, thank you for sharing this.
October 8, 2015 — 3:52 PM
Tsara Shelton says:
It was my absolute pleasure to share this. Thank YOU for taking the time to read and comment, Butch!!
October 9, 2015 — 7:02 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Beautiful from start to finish – how on earth you managed to fit so much of life into one short story is…. I’m in awe, truly. Thank you so much for posting this.
October 9, 2015 — 7:14 AM
Tsara Shelton says:
Wendy, your comment is a gift. Thank-you!!
All of these comments are gifts!!! Truly, truly!!
Writing is such fun and deeply personal. When I come up for air I’m a bit sensitive (I assume some of you other writers feel this way too?). But the vulnerability is worth stepping into when you know that perhaps one or two strangers just might feel the way I feel when I read their stories. Understood and enlightened and a little bit changed.
So, with all of my heart, thank-you for taking the time to read and comment on my memory!!!! Hugs!!
October 9, 2015 — 7:07 PM
angeliquejamail says:
I hope it counts if I wrote it a few days ago. Here is “The Pep Rally I Cannot Forget.”
http://sapphostorque.com/2015/09/26/the-pep-rally-i-cannot-forget/
October 2, 2015 — 2:12 PM
M T McGuire says:
That was the most proper creepy thing I ever read. Loved it.
October 3, 2015 — 3:23 AM
angeliquejamail says:
Thanks!
October 3, 2015 — 7:56 AM
Chad R Smith says:
Ahhh, to fondly look back on more innocent days. It is a shame that society has moved to a point that men are accused of rape after giving someone mouth to mouth resuscitation. I liked your memory/ story
October 3, 2015 — 1:38 PM
angeliquejamail says:
Glad you enjoyed it.
October 3, 2015 — 2:30 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Blimey, talk about ‘taking one for the team!’ I enjoyed reading this one – even whilst going “ewwww!” inside 🙂
October 7, 2015 — 3:38 PM
Butch McGovern says:
Well done. Excellently crafted, and all the better for the fact that it’s true! I love the madness of real stories like this, MOSTLY innocent.
October 8, 2015 — 4:01 PM
angeliquejamail says:
Thanks. 🙂
October 8, 2015 — 5:56 PM
SamKD says:
Too easy: http://samkdsonlinepace.blogspot.com/#!/2015/10/prokofiev.html
October 2, 2015 — 2:49 PM
Laduchessederat says:
When is the deadline ? I’m new around here.
October 2, 2015 — 2:51 PM
dcxli says:
Next Friday.
October 2, 2015 — 4:26 PM
Cabocalla says:
Well, this happens to be my specialty. Or problem? WHEE. http://cabotocallaghan.com/2014/06/05/jump/
October 2, 2015 — 3:03 PM
Butch McGovern says:
Wow, this hits. I’m constantly trying to stay out of my comfort zone, but haven’t found the courage to take a leap like you’re describing. Thank you for the inspiration. Good luck on your journey
October 8, 2015 — 4:12 PM
M.J. Diedrich says:
This was a great chance to reflect on what I’ve been thinking about on and off all week.
“The Unexpected Discovery”
As I watched the news of flowing water on Mars come in this week, two feelings battled inside me. The first was excited delight, flavored with warm memories of childhood. The second was haunting, unrealistic regret best expressed as, I should have been there…
http://mjdiedrich.com/2015/10/02/the-unexpected-discovery/
October 2, 2015 — 3:46 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
Really nice reflection on the “might-have-been”.
October 8, 2015 — 8:21 PM
M.J. Diedrich says:
Thank you!
October 9, 2015 — 2:29 PM
Anna says:
Yes. I can relate. I felt something like this too. Ever since I discovered Star Trek, I wanted to be Mr. Spock, but then life happened and I chose to study medicine instead of physics or mathematics. (McCoy it is, then:)) There is a part of me that wonders if I should have chosen differently.I guess that’s why I ended up writing science fiction stories…
October 9, 2015 — 4:14 AM
M.J. Diedrich says:
McCoy was always one of my two favorites! (Sulu was the other.) And I, too, think part of my desire to write science fiction comes from the parts of me that wonder about a more Star Trek kind of life.
October 9, 2015 — 2:39 PM
Ashlee says:
Mine is about a crazy b*tch trying to kill my mother:
http://cubiclemonster.weebly.com/writings
October 2, 2015 — 3:49 PM
Butch McGovern says:
Holy shit, I think we should wrote a book of short stories together. Been there, several times!
Nicely crafted, thank you for sharing.
October 8, 2015 — 4:16 PM
Elly Conley says:
That awkward moment when someone calls you out of the blue to tell you to go to the ER. http://eidolonkami.blogspot.com/2015/10/flash-non-fiction-project-via-terrible.html
October 2, 2015 — 5:48 PM
Mozette says:
My brother has said to me that sometimes things don’t only happen in Vegas… he’s got a saying for me now, ‘What happens in London, stays in London.’ … 😛
enjoy!
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/london-calling.html
October 2, 2015 — 8:00 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Oh my LORD – did that really happen? No wonder that woman got sacked! Great story – and I’m glad they treated you right in the end.
October 7, 2015 — 8:21 AM
Mozette says:
You know something? None of my family believe me about that… my brother does, but my folks don’t. Oh well… like I said above ‘What happens in London, stays in London.’ 😛
And big hotels really do want to keep people coming back… so they lavish attention on those treated badly by the staff. 🙂
October 7, 2015 — 8:23 AM
Adam Hughes says:
Thank you for posting this challenge, Chuck. I first wrote about my pal a few years ago on a depressing night when things didn’t look too good for him, but squirreled away those lines in a dusty old Google Doc.
This was my impetus to bring them out again, and to pick off the scabs … “Decline of the Uninvited Friend”: http://adamhugheswriter.com/2015/10/03/decline-of-the-uninvited-friend/
October 2, 2015 — 8:47 PM
Elly Conley says:
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Who put these tears on my face, dammit!
October 5, 2015 — 11:35 AM
kakubjaya says:
Like the kids say, got me right in the feels.
October 7, 2015 — 10:39 AM
vetgirl2014 says:
This is my Anti-Romance. (No offense to any real romance writers out there.)
https://vetgirlblog.wordpress.com/?p=244&preview=true&preview_id=244
October 2, 2015 — 11:29 PM
kakubjaya says:
Ha! I don’t know if it was the intent, but I got a laugh out of it..
October 7, 2015 — 10:29 AM
JT Lawrence says:
Does the word ‘endometriosis’ make you want to stick a fork in your eye? No? Then perhaps this excerpt isn’t for you. It’s funny, and (sometimes alarmingly) frank. It contains an impressive array of synonyms for ‘vagina’ and it’s certainly NSFW.
https://pulpbooks.wordpress.com/project-douche/
October 3, 2015 — 2:21 AM
Mozette says:
So good! I love it! A friend of mine had the same problem as you… and after many years, she went to a wonderful doctor who has helped her and her husband have children. They went through the same things… but you made it sound so funny… I sat here laughing my head off at your ‘yoga positions’.
October 3, 2015 — 9:07 AM
JT Lawrence says:
Thanks Mozette. This story took place 4 years ago, and I have since had 2 little ragamuffin children.
October 5, 2015 — 2:41 AM
Kristin Mireles (@kristinmireles) says:
I’m sharing my story of how I was diagnosed with a disease I had never heard of before diagnosis. Stay tuned.
October 3, 2015 — 10:40 AM
Kristin Mireles (@kristinmireles) says:
The Devastating Battle I Didn’t See Coming
http://mireles-musings.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-devastating-battle-i-didnt-see.html
October 3, 2015 — 1:31 PM
Anna says:
Wow, that’s scary! And it sounds like the treatments would be really expensive. It makes me appreciate the Finnish health care system. (Everybody’s entitled to treatment, and you don’t have to have insurance.)
October 9, 2015 — 4:28 AM
Laurel Avery says:
Recalling a small incident when I was wrongly accused of something in junior high.
http://laurelavery.com/2015/10/03/righteous-indignation/
October 3, 2015 — 11:11 AM
mjbrewer2015 says:
Your story is marked as Private, so I did not read it.
October 5, 2015 — 12:53 AM
Laurel Avery says:
Thanks very much for the heads up. However, when I log into WordPress it is marked as “Public” so I’m not sure what is happening or what I can do to fix it. If anyone else here attempts to read the story, please let me know if you have the same problem. Thanks!
October 6, 2015 — 4:33 AM
Elly Conley says:
I also had the problem =(
October 6, 2015 — 8:27 AM
Laurel Avery says:
I think I’ve figured it out. I apparently had my overall site set to “private,” so even though the post itself was public, nobody could see it. If you don’t mind giving it one more try and letting me know you can see it, I would be most appreciative and send virtual chocolate to your inbox.
October 6, 2015 — 4:47 AM
Elly Conley says:
Seems to be fixed, huzzah!
October 6, 2015 — 8:29 AM
boundbeautifunk says:
“I wouldn’t trust me, either, considering I’d just tied her up and stabbed her in the neck.”
There are Far Worse Things than the Dark.
https://cheesywriterblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/there-are-far-worse-things-than-the-dark/
October 3, 2015 — 5:54 PM
Elly Conley says:
Oh geez, now I want to know if Phil was okay =o
October 5, 2015 — 11:52 AM
boundbeautifunk says:
He was, actually. To this day, I have no idea where he went or what he did. Like his mother, I stuck to the “no-questions-asked, just-come-home” theory.
It’s a little funny, but I was retelling the story to a friend later the same week, talking mostly about Molly. We had a long week together. She couldn’t get up that night and a second infusion with calcium caused her heart to slow down, so we couldn’t give her more. The next morning, we tied her to the skidloader bucket and drove her in. NOT PLEASED.
I spent the next three days rolling her three times a day so her leg muscles wouldn’t lose too much blood and hand-stripping her by tying back her leg to I could access her udder. On the third morning, I walked into our box stall and went through my usual get-up routine (all farmers have their own get-up routine. Mine involves clapping and yelling “comeoncowcowcow, getupcowcowcowcowcow. I want to see those cow-ey butts in the air). And she stood. I almost cried.
Phil was safely home while the Molly crisis was still resolving itself, so I was focusing on that while telling the story to my friend. We’re speeding down 78 on our way to Harrisburg and she just GRABS my arm, jerking the wheel.
“WAIT. WHAT ABOUT PHIL?”
“Phil? Oh, Andrew brought him over for dinner on Thursday.”
“Where was he?”
“I dunno.”
October 7, 2015 — 10:31 AM
Elly Conley says:
OMG so funny! Happy endings all around! Glad to hear it.
October 8, 2015 — 12:52 PM
Fatma Alici says:
A short, odd tale of one of my many days I spent in Turkey one summer in High School. Warning, teenager logic is used.
http://www.fatmaalici.com/2015/10/03/challenge-bribing-fisherman/
October 3, 2015 — 11:57 PM
Anna says:
Here’s mine. I wrote about my visit to the catacombs in Paris. Come, join me in the darkness…
http://strangeandcuriousthings.blogspot.fi/2015/10/terribleminds-challenge-flash-nonfiction.html
October 4, 2015 — 6:00 AM
Wendy Christopher says:
For a non-fiction piece, this still had all the drama of a top-notch horror fiction – I loved it! I felt like I was actually here with you… and I’m still not sure if I’m glad or sad that I wasn’t… 😉
October 7, 2015 — 3:16 PM
Laurel Avery says:
Nicely written. You captured the catacombs well. I recall going down there the first time and wondering why they had built those long white stone walls down there until I realized I was looking at the ends of femurs neatly stacked on top of one another. Looking at the skulls, I wondered what each of their lives had been like. Perhaps a bit of Hamlet creeping in there…
October 8, 2015 — 7:50 AM
Anna says:
Thanks guys! I’m glad you liked it:)
October 9, 2015 — 4:05 AM
writefirster says:
“Just try something”, a piece of life advice coming from a simple moment with my father.
https://write1st.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/just-try-something/
October 4, 2015 — 7:47 AM
bethbishopwrites says:
That time no one would help, so I did.
http://bethbishopwrites.com/2015/10/04/i-learned-a-lot-about-myself-from-a-dead-guy/
October 4, 2015 — 1:03 PM
Rebecca Douglass says:
Ugh! What an experience.
October 8, 2015 — 8:16 PM
szokal92 says:
http://stevenzokal.blogspot.com/2015/10/life-experiences-are-crazy.html
October 4, 2015 — 7:11 PM
angelabellman says:
https://fictionwriting1510.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/break-time/
Not my best, but just a simple moment that I cherish
October 4, 2015 — 9:52 PM
Fred G. Yost says:
I used to drink quite heavily. This tale is one of the reasons I’m now sober.
http://fredgyost.com/2015/10/04/flash-nonfiction-challenge-concert-hero/
October 4, 2015 — 9:57 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Is it okay that I laughed like a fool at this one? WITH you though, not AT you 😉 Sympathy laughter. Brilliantly told, and with the perfect poignant ending. Loved it!
October 7, 2015 — 8:50 AM
boundbeautifunk says:
I’m glad you were okay! I’ve seen more than a few people pass out badly at shows. Generally punk crowds look out for one another, but still…
October 7, 2015 — 4:03 PM
mjbrewer2015 says:
Here is my entry entitled “Bitter Cold Streets,” which was as therapeutic for me as I hope entertaining for the audience. Thank you for inviting my share. http://storybrewer.blogspot.com/2015/10/bitter-cold-streets-true-story.html In -6 degree temperatures, the weather can dangerous in a thin nylon jacket, but not as unforgiving as a predator.
October 5, 2015 — 12:28 AM
Laurel Avery says:
An amazingly touching (though harrowing) and well-written story. Thank you for sharing it.
October 8, 2015 — 11:02 AM
Noel Thomas Fiems says:
Zombie genitals.
http://noel-fiems-hy0o.squarespace.com/blog/2015/10/5/traveling-bruises?logout=true
October 5, 2015 — 5:03 AM
dcxli says:
Here is the story of when I was rushed to the ER in fifth grade. Titled “Stitches”, this is a throwback, as I wrote it in eighth grade.
https://dcxli.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/nine-stitches-flash-nonfiction/
October 5, 2015 — 4:13 PM
thanosrules says:
https://grouchyguyscifi.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/117/
heres mine…title Pressure Treated
October 5, 2015 — 5:02 PM
boundbeautifunk says:
I know exactly where this is coming from. I’ve experienced the same things with my old man and farm work. A little sad.
October 6, 2015 — 9:19 AM
Kitten says:
https://threemagic8balls.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2597&action=edit
October 5, 2015 — 6:02 PM
Kitten says:
https://threemagic8balls.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2549&action=edit
October 5, 2015 — 6:03 PM
Elly Conley says:
I don’t belong to WordPress, so I can’t read this =(
October 8, 2015 — 1:02 PM
the oncoming spork says:
Cathartic.
https://apostrophobic.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/test-post/
October 5, 2015 — 6:47 PM
thanosrules says:
I really enjoyed this…well done.
October 8, 2015 — 3:07 AM
Evolet Yvaine says:
Here’s mine: In Living Color. http://wetpantystories.com/2015/10/05/wps-shawties-in-living-color/
October 5, 2015 — 9:34 PM
Tsara Shelton says:
I was unaware of racism for much of my life, being a white girl from Canada. But prejudice was something I had to accept pretty early on. My brothers were adopted and had various disabilities, my mom was a single mom and a comedian–prejudice kept tapping us on the shoulder.
Once I moved to the USA with my two half-Arab sons, well, racism started to say hello. And when I married my black back yard mechanic husband, and we lived together in a trailer house in small town Texas, well, racism became the order of the day. I write articles (many are in my book) about it often. I want to make change, but I also feel an obligation. It’s so easy not to see racism when it isn’t perpetrated against you. Easy to assume others are making a mountain out of a mole hill.
How terrible! How easy it was for me to assume that people were “wrong” about their own experiences!!
As you so clearly illustrate in this story, being surrounded by diversity encourages us to open our eyes. And when we don’t like what we see we can look away, or we can help clean up the mess. Mostly, I try to clean up the mess.
Hugs!!!!!
October 9, 2015 — 11:04 PM
Brad Bailey says:
http://bradbaileymusic.com/blog1/violation_sticker/
October 6, 2015 — 4:18 AM
peri.fae says:
*finally begins to participate with the class*
Wherein I reminisce about nearly being carried away by a hot air balloon: (fear of heights? who, me?)
https://writertude.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/not-my-autobiography-that-time-i-was-almost-carried-away-by-a-hot-air-balloon/
October 6, 2015 — 8:24 AM
Anna says:
This was so funny and scary at the same time. Nicely done! I especially liked the line about the people with a hot air balloon related death wish.
October 9, 2015 — 4:44 AM
Wendy Christopher says:
Hoo-kay… this is me taking a biddova leap here, since it documents a time in my life I have never talked publicly about before. Ba-bye facade of coolness, it was nice knowin’ ya! 😉 Ah well, here goes…
http://wcprawncrackers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/girl-with-white-ankle-socks-chuck.html
October 7, 2015 — 9:30 AM
boundbeautifunk says:
Thanks for sharing that.
I recall a friend going through intensive out-patient group therapy during college once telling me, “It helps because, you know, you’re not as crazy as the others.”
October 7, 2015 — 10:35 AM
kakubjaya says:
An excerpt from that great American tradition, the Ill-Conceived Road Trip. Ladies and Gents, “Shotgun Wedding”: https://manyfacesof.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/shotgun-wedding/
October 7, 2015 — 9:53 AM
Laurel Avery says:
Nice. I like your descriptive style, and you have done a good job of combining dialogue and exposition, something I am particularly challenged by.
October 8, 2015 — 8:06 AM
Suzanne Joshi says:
My nonfiction flash story for this week’s challenge is at the following link:
https://patriciaruthsusan.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/back-to-school/
October 7, 2015 — 10:03 AM
innerouterawkward says:
When you visit your mother’s corpse.
https://innerouterawkward.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/flash-nonfiction-challenge-via-terribleminds-com/
October 7, 2015 — 11:16 AM
Sarah D says:
A quick tale of the unknown. I’m sure I left out some things but this story has been retold many times in my family and throughout the years
http://sarahwatches4u.blogspot.com/2015/10/true-life-flacs-fiction-occurrence-at.html?spref=tw
October 7, 2015 — 2:59 PM
myzania3350 says:
Here it is: https://myzania3350.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/a-kind-of-magic/
Anyone else remember the satisfaction of finally winning at something?
October 7, 2015 — 8:47 PM
rossnewberry says:
Here’s mine. Swamps, scary costumes, and gunfire. Every word true, from one who lived it: https://rossnewberry.wordpress.com/stories/memoir-a-taste-of-his-own/
October 8, 2015 — 11:08 AM