Flash Fiction Challenge: Wonderfall

adirondack stream 1994 copyright K. S. Brooks
Photo copyright K. S. Brooks. Do not use without attribution.

When he was little, Mark had come here with his father, a life-long fisherman. Mark had misunderstood the word “waterfall,” and called this place the wonderfall. Mark’s dad thought it was cute, and his nickname for this special fishing place stuck.

In the course of an otherwise long and difficult relationship, that was really the only inside joke he and his father shared. They loved each other, but they were very different sorts of men. Their interests diverged further as Mark grew older until they were estranged. It stayed that way until it was too late.

Mark now looked down at his own young son who seemed more than a little disappointed in the wonderfall. Perhaps this is how it starts. A tiny twinge of fear that he and his own son were too very different got him thinking…

Welcome to the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. In 250 words or less, write a story incorporating the elements in the picture and the written prompt above. Do not include the prompt in your entry. The 250 word limit will be strictly enforced.

Please keep language and subject matter to a PG-13 level.

Use the comment section below to submit your entry. Entries will be accepted until Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. No political or religious entries, please. Need help getting started? Read this article on how to write flash fiction.

On Tuesday night, judges will select the strongest entries, and on Wednesday afternoon, we will open voting to the public with an online poll so they may choose the winner. Voting will be open until 5:00 PM Thursday.

On Saturday morning, the winner will be recognized as we post the winning entry along with the picture as a feature. Then, at year end, the winners will be featured in an anthology like this one. Best of luck to you all in your writing!

Entries only in the comment section. Other comments will be deleted. See HERE for additional information and terms. Please note the rule changes for 2015.

Janni Styles Wins Flash Fiction Challenge

Janni Styles is the readers’ choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge.

The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.

Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:
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Continue reading “Janni Styles Wins Flash Fiction Challenge”

Trying Something New – Serialized Episodes

Author Mark HamnerGuest Post
by Mark Hamner

One of the benefits of being an independent author is the ability to try new things. This has lent itself well to a recent experiment I’ve undertaken: telling a continuous, cover-to-cover story via a series of short story episodes – or, basically, serializing.

How did I come to the point of giving this a shot? Continue reading “Trying Something New – Serialized Episodes”

Kindle Unlimited’s New Wrinkle: Pay by Pages Read

Kindle Unlimited BooksIndie-author-land has been agog this week over Amazon’s latest changes to its payment system for borrowed books. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or don’t have any books in KDP Select), here’s what’s going down.

In the past, Amazon has paid authors on books borrowed from either of its lending programs, Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, only when a reader reached a certain percentage of the book. The amount the author was paid varied from month to month, depending on the size of the global fund that Amazon designated for these payouts. In other words, you wouldn’t know what you were earning on your borrows in June until mid-July, when the Zon announced the per-book royalty it would pay authors for qualifying borrows. Continue reading “Kindle Unlimited’s New Wrinkle: Pay by Pages Read”