Welcome to the twelfth in the new series: 5pm Fiction.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s prompt was to write a story including keywords drop, throw, heading, ability, tick, so here is my 158-worder.
The innocent brick
“Throw it, Danny!”
“No.”
“Now! It’ll be gone…”
“But I’ll hit it.”
“That’s the idea.”
“But there’s someone driving.”
“So?”
“What if it hits them?”
“So?”
“I can’t.”
“Ability, Danny.”
“What?”
“You’re capable of doing anything, my Gran tells me. You can do anything, Danny.”
“I can’t!”
“Just drop the thing. Not like that. What did you do that for?”
“I’m not playing anymore.”
“You want to join us, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have to do what I say.”
“OK, but not that.”
“It’s tradition.”
“…OK.”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“I know what makes you tick, Danny. Don’t forget it.”
“OK.”
“There’s another one. No, turning off. This one, Danny, it’s heading for us. Pick up the brick… wait… wait… ready… hold it over the edge.”
“I know the car.”
“Don’t be silly. Now, Danny! Let go! Yeah! Direct hit! Way to go!”
“I’m scared.”
“Look! It’s crashing! Well done, Danny.”
“I feel sick.”
“No! It can’t be. Gran?”
***
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Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) 
on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.
