A string of 10.   Choose any or all as a jumping off point for a story.  A fun challenge would be to use them all .

Is today Sunday?  Is today the first day of the String-of-10 THREE contest?  Did I blow it last night by not posting?  Yes on all three counts.  Apologies on the delay. And will add 8 hours onto the contest on the other end.

So here are the prompt words for the contest.  There will be no other prompt words for this week while the contest is running.  Regular daily prompts will begin again next Sunday.

FEBRUARY 6  2011

DUST-SUSPECT-VIRGIN-COOL THINGS-CRACKLING-UNWRITTEN-FEEDER-QUARREL-DOGGED-JAM

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.   –Mohandas Gandhi

And here’s the rest of the information you will need:

For the week of February 6 through February 13, 2011, Flash Fiction Chronicles is  having its third String-of-10 Micro-Fiction Contest—String-of-10 THREE—for the best 250-word story written from a prompt posted at this site at 8:00AM on Sunday, February 6: a series of ten random words, four of which must be woven into your story.

This year, writer Michelle Reale, follows previous guest judge, Joel Willans  in the task of selecting the winning story.  She will also choose the second and third place winners, as well as honorable mentions for String-of-10 THREE.

Michelle is an academic librarian on faculty at a university in the suburbs of Philadelphia.  Her work has been published in a variety of venues including Eyeshot, Pank, Moon Milk Review Smokelong Quarterly, The Los Angeles Review, Word Riot,Wrong Tree Review and others.  She was included in Dzanc’s Best of the Web 2010 anthology.  Her fiction chapbook, Natural Habitat, was published by Burning River in 2010.   See below for links to some of Michelle’s on-line work and a link to her chapbook.

GUIDELINES FOR String-of-10 THREE

  1. Read the String-of-10 contest’s Writing Prompt which will be available at 8:00 AM PDT on Sunday, February 6, 2011 on the FFC Daily Prompt Page here at Flash Fiction Chronicles.
  2. The contest is open to stories of  up to 250 words. Entries over the word limit will be disregarded.
  3. Submissions will be electronic through our submission manager.
  4. There is no entry fee.
  5. You may enter up to two (2) unrelated stories each limited to 250-words. Please enter each story separately.
  6. All stories must contain at least four words from the String-of-10 prompt.  Any stories without at least four words from the String of 10 will be disregarded.  The prompt words may be slightly modified such as tense, number, etc.  (Example: walk can be amended to walks, walked, even walker or walkers)
  7. The quotation does not need to be found in the story, but rather is there as an additional source of inspiration.  No story will be judged on its use of the quotation.  Note may be taken if a story uses the meaning of the quotation in a unique way.
  8. What matters most is your story, not the prompt words or quotation.  Seamless integration of any four of the prompt words is the goal.
  9. All entries must be in English, original, unpublished, and not submitted or accepted elsewhere at the time of submission. Flash Fiction Chronicles/Every Day Fiction/Every Day Publishing reserves one-time publication rights to the 1st- through-3rd winning entries to be published at Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Chronicles.
  10. Entries must be received via our submission manager by 8:00  AM PDT Sunday, February 13.
  11. Winners will be notified by March 20.  Publication will follow in April.
  12. The decision of the staff judges of the top ten stories is final and the decision by guest judge, Michelle Reale, of the top three stories and honorable mentions is final.

PRIZES

1st Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in April 2011 and paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.   A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction THREE (coming this spring) along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles, will also be awarded as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt.

2nd and 3rd Place: Winners will have their stories published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April.  (NOTE: There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles.)  A copy of The Best of Every Day Fiction THREE (coming this spring) along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles,  will also be awarded to both 2nd and 3rd place winners.

Here are some links to story from the first and second String-of-10 Contests.

Stories from the first String-of-10 Contest can be read at these links.

1st Place—The Haircut by Sharon E. Trotter

2nd Place— The Forever Summer by Mary J. Daley

3rd Place—Choices Made by Jim O’Loughlin

Stories from the second String-of-10 Contest can be read at these links.

1st Place—Salvation by Ann Pino

2nd Place—Gypsy Flour by Jon Towler

3rd Place—Good Morning Susan by Brittany Soder

Here are some links to stories by guest judge, Michelle Reale.

What Passes for Normal at SmokeLong Quarterly

Mercy at LITnIMAGE

Arbitration at Kill Author

Walk in Fire at Vagabonage Press

Maternus at Word Riot