Friday, April 27, 2018

New Feature Rory’s Story Cube Inspired Flash Fiction

I realized two things the other day. First, Matt gave me a really cool Christmas gift last year that I’ve been struggling to figure out how to use. Second, I need to get back into short story writing again.

Specifically, flash fiction.

Technically, flash fiction word count ranges from about 300 to 1500 words. That was where I got my start as a fiction writer.

My countless journals are a testament to that fact. And I kinda miss the style of shorter pieces. Words must all have impact. There’s no time for fluff. Dialogue is only there to further a characteristic or a plot point. Nothing meanders.

Luckily, Matt’s gift is the perfect way to inspire myself into some flash fiction.

And thus, a new blog feature was born!

The gift in question, Rory’s Story Cubes, are nine dice cubes, all with six sides a piece. The object is to put them in the bag, spin the bag string around your finger, and smack yourself in the brain with a basic layout for a fun story.

Yes, yes, I know. You’re only supposed to figuratively smack yourself with inspired brilliance.

Roll the dice out of the bag and use the images to jolt a creative burst.

I tried it today and I’m already hooked.

The images are great, multiple definitions and meanings are possible even in the same image. That’s because meanings can be inferred from the context of the cube images as a whole, whatever comes to mind first per image, or any combination of both of those concepts.

Actually, there are endless combinations! (Okay, to be fair, there is a real number and I think it has something to do with “to the power of” or “x is equal to y” but that involves a level of math I don’t feel comfortable trying so I’m just sticking to words.)

So here’s the picture of the roll I’m using to start this up next month. What do you think? What are some things you might associate with the images?


Like I said, I’m already hooked. I’ve got an outline and some story written for this roll already.

I’m going to make a go at doing this as a once a month feature here on the blog and we’ll see where it goes from there.

So if you want to check out some new flash fiction every month, come on over every forth Friday. The first story goes up on May 25, 2018. 

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In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

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