Day 17: Say that again?
When we edit, we're constantly on the lookout for unintentional repetition, clichés and go-to words and phrases. Today, however, you have our permission to embrace the repeated word, the recurring sentence.
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For today's prompt, write a story in which you intentionally repeat a phrase or sentence at least three times.
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For an extra challenge, try writing a prose villanelle, e.g. a flash which steals the skeletal format of a villanelle. Ignore the rhyming, but choose two refrains, and write your story according to the following recipe (where R1 = refrain 1, R2 = refrain 2, and s = any sentence):
Paragraph 1: R1 s R2
Paragraph 2: s s R1
Paragraph 3: s s R2
Paragraph 4: s s R1
Paragraph 5: s s R2
Paragraph 6: s s R1 R2
Focus on effectively weaving in the two refrains, and letting them build throughout the piece, feeling familiar but fresh every time the reader revisits them. (If you'd like to include internal or end rhymes and/or write sentences in trimeter or pentameter, feel free, but that's icing on the cake.)
At the risk of repeating ourselves, the National Flash Fiction Day Bookshop is open for business! You can buy ebooks and print copies of our past anthologies on Amazon in most countries, but if you're looking to support future NFFD projects, buying print copies directly from National Flash Fiction Day helps the most.
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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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