Day 16: Negations
If you've been battling holiday shoppers, menu planning, gift lists, or just grouchiness brought on by super-short days, then you may enjoy a chance to embrace the negativity with today's little prompt.
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Write a story in which each sentence involves a negation, e.g. a negative word, phrase or clause that contradicts something, or indicates the absence or opposite of something.
Common examples of negative words include 'no', 'not', 'never', 'none', 'nowhere', 'nobody' and contractions like 'isn't', 'don't', 'won't', 'hadn't', 'can't', 'couldn't', 'wouldn't' and 'shouldn't'.
For an extra challenge, tell the story entirely with negations. No affirmatives allowed. Instead of specifying what happens to your main character, describe what your character doesn't do, think, want or notice. Leave the reader fill in the gaps....
And, of course, no fair using two negatives that resolve to a positive. We couldn't not say that, now could we?
Do you run a lit journal or project that celebrates flash fiction? Would you be interested in cross-over projects of any size on or around National Flash Fiction Day? If so, we'd love to hear your ideas, share some of ours, and promote your events. Drop us a line!
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'Long winter shadows' by Nic McPhee is licensed under (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Find out more about National Flash Fiction Day at our website or get in touch if you'd like to learn more about how you can get involved.
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