#FFFC – Facts, Fictions & Fantasies

WDYS/MFFFC — Christmas Prank

December 25, 2023December 25, 2023Fandango14 Comments

Hank walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “What time did the kids get up?” he asked his wife.

“They’ve been up since the crack of dawn, impatiently waiting for their sleepyhead father to get up,” Allison said. “It’s Christmas morning, Hank. You know that your sleeping late is torture to them. They are eager to open their presents.”

“Those kids are up to something, I know it,” Hank said. “Did you hear them giggling when I came downstairs? Giggling, wearing mischievous smiles on their faces, like they’ve concocted some devious plan. They’re up to no good, I tell you.”

“Calm down, Hank. Finish your coffee so we can join them at the tree and they can open their presents,” Allison said.

A few minutes later Hank and Allision walked into the family room where the kids were waiting for them. As soon as Mom and Dad walked in, they started giggling and laughing again. “See what I mean?” Hank whispered to Allison.

Ignoring Hank, Allison said to the kids, “Time to open presents. Let’s all gather around the Christmas tree and see what Santa brought you last night.” The laughing and giggling coming from the three children got even louder, but Allison was determined to get control of things.

She bent down to grab some gifts, when all of a sudden she stood up, jumped back, and screamed. The kids started shrieking with laughter while Hank ran over to Allison to see what was going on. He looked at the tree and immediately ascertained the situation.

Hank really tried hard to not smile and to sound very serious. “Okay, which one of you guttersnipes took Lizzie out of her cage and put her on the Christmas tree? Are you trying to give your mother a heart attack?”

All three kids were rolling on the floor and even Allison started laughing.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See. Top photo credit: Nathan Dumloa@unsplash. And for Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Bottom photo credit: Claudia Nass at iStock.

FFFC — A Lone Wanderer

September 25, 2023September 25, 2023Fandango18 Comments

In the vast expanse of a scorching desert
I am a lone wanderer, an aimless man
The desert stretches endlessly in all directions
Its dunes and mirages
Echo the uncertainty that clouds my life.
A solitary figure lost in this harsh realm
The merciless and unforgiving desert
Reflecting my inner turmoil
Like the shifting sands
My direction changes with the wind
Leaving me forever adrift.

Written for Melissa Lemay’s Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Photo credit: Dan Grinwis on Unsplash.

Personally, I want to thank Melissa for taking over this prompt that I abandoned at the beginning of this month. I’m flattered that she’s chosen to keep the name and banner for what is now Melissa’s Flash Fiction Challenge.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #234

August 28, 2023August 27, 2023Fandango14 Comments

Welcome to Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenging bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from Jill Wellington @ Pixabay.com.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a woman wearing a polka dot dress pouring brewed tea from a teapot into a cup and saucer sitting on a tray that is on an ottoman.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

August 26, 2023August 26, 2023Fandango46 Comments

September is less than a week away, and starting in September, I’m going to be making some changes to my blog. Nothing major, but I will be cutting back on the number of prompts I host. This is subject to change, but at this point, here’s the lowdown:

Prompts I will continue to host:

Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC With Fandango): posted just after midnight PT every night of the week.
Fandango’s Flashback Friday: posted at 3:00 am PT every Friday morning.

On the cusp:

Fandango’s Story Stater: posted at 3:00 am PT every Tuesday morning — I may continue this for a while longer.

Prompts I will definitely be dropping:

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge: posted at 3:00 am PT every Monday morning — There already are plenty of other photo prompts out their in Bloglandia.
Fandango’s Provocative Question: posted at 3:00 am PT every Wednesday morning — I’ve been doing this for more than 4 1/2 years and I’ve run out of steam.
Fandango’s Spam Comment of the Week: posted every Sunday morning — Between Pomeranian puppies, the Keto diet, RV repairs, unnamed but fantastic movies, spammers hawking Amazingness (whatever that is), and 40 year old mothers who want to talk and/or show me their naked bodies, it’s pretty much the same thing every week. If something really different, unique, or funny shows up in my spam folder, I’ll post it on an ad hoc basis.

Why am I doing this? Almost nine months after fracturing my hip, undergoing emergency partial hip replacement surgery, and fracturing the humerus in my right arm at the shoulder, I’m still going to outpatient physical therapy three times a week, plus spending two hours on other days doing my at home exercises. It’s eating up both time and energy and it’s a little depressing to still be somewhat disabled after all these months.

Also, I would like to get back to writing more flash fiction and to posting political rants when the mood strikes me. If I drop some of these scheduled prompts I may have more time for that.

If any of you want to pick up the gauntlet for the weekly Flash Fiction Challenge or the Provocative Question prompt stating in September, please feel free to do so.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #233

August 21, 2023August 20, 2023Fandango16 Comments

The image below is found on Pinterest from pikabu.ru at catasters.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows an older lady standing next to a table and on the table is a cat on its hind legs leaning up agains the woman and seemingly embracing her with a warm hug.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Story Starter #110

August 15, 2023August 14, 2023Fandango15 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you a “teaser” sentence or sentence fragment and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that sentence/fragment. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

I didn’t see her when I opened the door, but I knew she was there.

If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and to tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #232

August 14, 2023August 13, 2023Fandango18 Comments

The image below is from Saeed Karimi at Unsplash.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a young girl leaning over and whispering something to a young boy.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #231

August 7, 2023August 6, 2023Fandango18 Comments

The image below is from TJay at Pinterest.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a teenage girl wearing a light blue dress and boy wearing a bow tie and sport coat sitting on the stairway in a home taking with each other over something seemingly serious.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #230

July 31, 2023July 30, 2023Fandango25 Comments

The image below is from AI-ART.

For the visually challenged writer, the image shows a man walking with his dog on a country road on a foggy night.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #229

July 24, 2023July 23, 2023Fandango17 Comments

The photo below is from sandas04 at DeviantArt.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a young girl sitting on a bench in a retail area with a shopping bag next to her and a sad or bored expression on her face.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.