Fifties by the Fire — a fifty-word, prompt-based writing challenge. Feel free to share your response below…or simply read/comment to join in on the fun.
Prompt: Write a fifty-word story based on John Lightle’s photo, “A String of Droughts.” Here are the other guidelines:
Make sure your piece is exactly fifty words. Feel free to use Word Counter or the word processor you use.
Write a title with the genre in the first line. (Example: Old Soul, Fiction)
The title does not factor into the word count.
Good luck and have fun. Happy writing!
Special thanks to John Lightle for providing his photo for our writing prompt.
John Lightle is a Texas writer, poet, and photographer who spends many hours sitting on his woodpile contemplating. When away from his frame shop, he schleps his artwork among area art shows. The job takes him across the countryside, occasionally overseas, photographing the quiet resolve found within the golden hours.
Dusty relics off old Route 66: rusted Winnebago, vacant motels. An abandoned homestead sat crookedly in a field, broken windows and fallow earth as beaten down as the economy. The town itself had dried up long ago.
So many empty places, she wrote, and they all remind me of me.
*Author Note: John’s stunning photo dovetailed perfectly with the journaling from my cross country road trip a few years back. Love how this week’s prompt is an image!*
This photo feels like the perfect fit for your writing/journaling/road trip experience. I asked John if he had any photos that "told a story" and this is what he provided. What an awesome shot, right?! I hope to create more prompts like this one in the future.
Abandoned, the building sat like an open sore on the otherwise empty plain.
Brett stared at the house in which the pain of a childhood best forgotten had unfolded, willing the ruin to crumble and fall. He had buried his father yesterday. It was time to leave the past behind.
Oh, Dascha. You and I have the same stories rolling around in our heads, and it makes me wonder if we have a similar past, or similar unhappy ancestors..? See this, for example: https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/crossroads
I suspect that your immediate family hustory may have been more difficult than my own, though we had our challenges and Mom left with us kids when I was eleven.. Lots of history a little farther back. But a lot of my inspiration (flavor only not details) for stories like this comes from 22 years working as a physician psychotherapist.
Dust poofed with each step I took into the house. The silence was deafening and achingly familiar. A thread of memory tugged at me. With it came pain and a voice.
“Welcome home.”
I knew that voice, but before I could place it, blackness swept in, and I was gone.
That's awesome! I'm overwhelmed with reading I'll never catch up with, but I'm going to subscribe and hopefully remember to look for that story next week.
Thank you Claire. I think I may be able to make this into more, either a flash fiction or short fiction. When I first came up with this, I had a more elaborate story.
Looking back at the house I realized why I'd always felt safer outside it. For too long I'd believed it was I who was haunted and not the walls themselves, like a rib cage of stone and wood and plaster where the beating heart of my childhood terror sat caged.
New World - Fiction
This is the house that saved us.
We were passing through – on our way to Albuquerque – when the first bombs fell. The doomsdayer poked his head outside and waved us in emphatically.
Months later we emerge to a world of ash and ruin.
For some reason, we choose to rebuild.
I agree with Claire. Great story, Justin.
I appreciate it! Thanks, Dascha.
Great story, Justin! Your first and last lines play off each other really well!
Thank you so much, Claire!
Reckless Abandon - Nonfiction
Dusty relics off old Route 66: rusted Winnebago, vacant motels. An abandoned homestead sat crookedly in a field, broken windows and fallow earth as beaten down as the economy. The town itself had dried up long ago.
So many empty places, she wrote, and they all remind me of me.
*Author Note: John’s stunning photo dovetailed perfectly with the journaling from my cross country road trip a few years back. Love how this week’s prompt is an image!*
Beautiful writing, Amie. I love the last line!
This photo feels like the perfect fit for your writing/journaling/road trip experience. I asked John if he had any photos that "told a story" and this is what he provided. What an awesome shot, right?! I hope to create more prompts like this one in the future.
The last line is wonderful! Great story, Amie!
This is powerful!
Crumble (Fiction)
Abandoned, the building sat like an open sore on the otherwise empty plain.
Brett stared at the house in which the pain of a childhood best forgotten had unfolded, willing the ruin to crumble and fall. He had buried his father yesterday. It was time to leave the past behind.
Powerful!
Thanks, Justin.
Oh, Dascha. You and I have the same stories rolling around in our heads, and it makes me wonder if we have a similar past, or similar unhappy ancestors..? See this, for example: https://sharronbassano.substack.com/p/crossroads
I suspect that your immediate family hustory may have been more difficult than my own, though we had our challenges and Mom left with us kids when I was eleven.. Lots of history a little farther back. But a lot of my inspiration (flavor only not details) for stories like this comes from 22 years working as a physician psychotherapist.
Aha. Yes, I see.
Chills!!
Thank you, Claire.
Excellent!
Thank you!
Amnesia - Fiction
Dust poofed with each step I took into the house. The silence was deafening and achingly familiar. A thread of memory tugged at me. With it came pain and a voice.
“Welcome home.”
I knew that voice, but before I could place it, blackness swept in, and I was gone.
Mysterious. I liked this a lot, Claire!
Great job!
Dreamy?
This raises so many questions. I love when a piece makes me think beyond the words on the page (or screen). Well done!
Thanks, Dashca! This was a fun one to write, and I've actually got a longer version in the works that I'm planning on posting next week!
That's awesome! I'm overwhelmed with reading I'll never catch up with, but I'm going to subscribe and hopefully remember to look for that story next week.
Lost Treasure – Fiction
“Mitchell, there it is!” said Jen.
The ancient house was crumbling from the decay of old age.
Entering the stone building, they found the trap door.
Spider webs clung to the ceiling and stairs as they crept down and into the basement.
Jen screams as she gets to the bottom.
An adventure gone wrong! Great story, Matthew!
Thank you Claire. I think I may be able to make this into more, either a flash fiction or short fiction. When I first came up with this, I had a more elaborate story.
I was thinking this too, Matt! Nicely done!
Thanks Justin!
Treasure and terror. Fodder for a great tale. It would be fun to see what you might do if you expanded on this story.
Thanks Dascha! I plan to expand upon it. I have a couple of avenues I think might be interesting. Now to find the time to do it. 😀
Time is always the issue!
Life, Surrendered (prose-poem)
She’s come back here now,
but everyone and everything are gone,
the family home, an empty frame.
No more days of tending animals,
digging up turnips,
shoveling snow,
washing overalls.
She stands now before the persistent wind
that blows across the heated fields,
listening,
breathing in the fragrance of grass.
Sharron at 🍁Leaves
Beautiful. One of your best!
Thanks Justin, for the gorgeous photo to work with. It was so brilliantly two-dimensional. Other-worldly.
Very nice Sharron. I like what you came up with.
Thank you! It was a very evocative photo.
Another great edition to Fifties, Sharron! You make me want to go back and visit my childhood home!
Thank you, Claire. These "50s" are quite a puzzle aren't they? They are harder than they look.
Yes! They are definitely harder than they look. I had to cut mine down a lot for this one.
Me too. Originally, I had 64 words.
We both wrote about someone returning to a dilapidated family home but with very different perspectives. This is lovely!
Thanks. I noticed that. I love working from photos. Nearly all my flash fiction and 50-word stories arise from photos.
A lot of my stories now come from images I create on Midjourney.
I will check that out. Thank you.
The Honeymoon Inn, Fiction:
"It's a fixer upper, but it'll do."
"Honey, this looks nothing like the picture on Airbnb."
"Don't worry, it was a really good deal."
"Does it even have plumbing?"
"All we need is a sturdy shovel. One hole to drink from. Another to shit in."
"I'm sleeping at my mother's."
Haha! This made me chuckle. He’s ambitious, I’ll give him that much! 🤣 Fun story.
Safe as Houses — Supernatural Horror
Looking back at the house I realized why I'd always felt safer outside it. For too long I'd believed it was I who was haunted and not the walls themselves, like a rib cage of stone and wood and plaster where the beating heart of my childhood terror sat caged.
Great details and sense of foreboding in so few words. Awesome job, Amanda! Thanks for sharing.