Flash Friday! Do you have anything fun you’re looking forward to this weekend? I’m thinking I’ll rustle up the motivation to make a Costco run.

For this week, we will draw again from Imaginative Writing. This particular prompt is from the “Setting” chapter’s section on mood and symbol. Remember to think flash!

I usually compare the novel to a mammal, be it wild as a tiger or tame as a cow; the short story to a bird or a fish; the microstory to an insect (iridescent in the best cases).

Luisa Valenzuela

Try This 5.6

“[C]hoose one of the clichés below. Using concrete details rather than the words of the cliché, create the setting suggested by it. You might begin with a single sharply focused image, then pull back to reveal the larger landscape. Use a persona, or introduce a a character if you choose.

• a dark and stormy night
• raining cats and dogs
• you could fry an egg on the sidewalk
• pattering on the roof
• cold as a witch’s tit
• gonna be a scorcher
• stars like diamonds”

(pg. 145)