#sfwc “Hide”

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  We’ll send the link out to all our followers to enjoy.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of January 5, 2024

In Sync: Whether they’re “drift compatible,” finishing each other’s sentences, part of a flash mob, or just traveling the same direction at the same speed, when has your character been in sync with others? Lovers come to mind right away, but long-time friends, work associates, and even parents and their children can vibe together on an intuitive level. Musicians, dancers, a crowd of strangers waiting for a concert or the new year to start. Hours of practice together or spontaneous? How and why did it happen and what happens after?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are: 

Hide: Perhaps they’re playing a childhood game. Perhaps they’re being pursued. They’ve just escaped custody (deserved or no) or crashed behind enemy lines. They’re a hacker evading security systems. They can’t bear a loved one finding out what they used to be like, and try so hard not to be anymore. They can’t break character and let their mark know he’s been had. When (and what) has your character had to hide?

5/5 Stars!: Ratings--stars, tomatoes, numerical scales--all seek to quantify the unquantifiable: satisfaction and reputation. Does your world have a system like the ratings we’re so familiar with? Is your character subject to it? Are they a five-star rated bounty hunter with the Bounty Hunter Association? Did they get a 1/10 for “sociability” on their last performance review (because zero and negative numbers aren’t permitted)? Do they check user reviews before making a purchase? Do they take pride in patronizing the armorer with less than one star? In worlds without explicit systems, reputations still matter. How does your character maintain theirs, and how do they navigate others’?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition. Let it spark your imagination. Any character, any fandom, any original world. Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge! We’ll send the link out to all our followers to enjoy.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of September 13, 2024

It Matters to That One: Our characters are often involved in world-changing events, saving the day or the world or the universe. Especially if they’re the Chosen One. Do they ever stop for something smaller? Maybe only one? Whether they have special powers or connections or plenty of money, or just a vehicle or an umbrella or cab fare. Write a story this week where your character makes a difference for just one person, animal, or plant. (hey animals and plants need help sometimes too) 

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are: 

The Fine Print: Any Bounty Hunter knows better than to sign anything from Gault without reading it first. Still there may have been contracts our OCs wish they hadn't signed. What details did they miss? Was it something small and insignificant, even humorous? Something major and problematic? How did they inconvenience your character? Did they get back at the beings who made the contract and took advantage of them? Chalk it up to a learning experience and move on? Something else? Was the contract more akin to our familiar Terms of Service Agreements that no one reads deciphers anyway? Did they fulfill the contract or did they renege? Why? This week consider what may be hiding in the fine print and how it affects your character.  

Keep on Keeping on: Now that our characters have been on the job for quite some years, what keeps them going? What makes them do just one more job, instead of retiring, settling down, or doing something completely different? Tradition, momentum, habit, joy, satisfaction, can't think of a reason to change or anything else they're good at. Everyone's reasons are their own. What's your character's? Prompt courtesy of @frauzet

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  We’ll send the link out to all our followers to enjoy.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of August 25, 2023

Run!: Away? What from? Toward what? Who’s commanding your character to run and why? Is your character telling others to run? Are they sacrificing themselves to stop some horror? Are they about to become the horror? Are they furious? Is your character in danger? Are they panicked? Giving up? So many possibilities! Run with it!

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Practice Makes Perfect: No matter how skilled your character is, there's always room for improvement. What does your character do to keep in practice? Are they building on existing accomplishments or learning something new? Is it a skill they need for their main occupation, or something they do for fun? Are they edging toward perfection, or always terrible but having a great time anyway? Practice your own writing this week.

Rude Awakening: All was going well--except that it really wasn’t and your character only just now found out. What situation has drastically changed and why? Did it actually change, or did your character’s knowledge or perception change? Was someone keeping the truth from your character? Were they willfully blind? What are they going to do now? Was your character the one hiding the facts from someone else? Were they protecting someone or covering themselves? This week, give your character a rude awakening.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Forever Will It Dominate Your Destiny - Darkness is the figurative and literal opposite and complement to light. Whether it's the physical state, the Dark Side, or some kind of ignorance, we may find darkness concealing what we need, dirtying what it touches, or hiding on the unexpected flip side of something. Write about your character's interaction with darkness.   

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!SFWC FAQ

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Scent: Humans as a species aren’t known for having a particularly good sense of smell.  Despite this, perfumes and scents are incredibly popular, either to hide, replace, or enhance natural odors on both their person and possessions.  Does your character care?  Do they have a favorite scent?  A soap, a perfume, an incense?  Do their species’ preferred fragrances turn off others--or smell really good?  How do their companions (some of whom may have better olfactory abilities) deal with the profusion of clashing or complimenting scents?  Or do they prefer your character au naturel?   

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!

SFWC FAQ

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  We’ll send the link out to all our followers to enjoy.

This time the Month of Meta from Short Fiction Weekly Challenge is: Environments! The environment can be setting, worldbuilding, complication, or straight-up antagonist, depending on its role in the story. 

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of March 29, 2024

Plains:  Grasslands, pampas, tundra, savannah. All of these places are flat, with few or no trees. Some are more hospitable than others and they may be surrounded by forests or deserts. While some, as in the US, were converted to farmland, others remain wild, or at least more resistant to humankind’s invasion. Your character can see for miles--but there’s nowhere to hide. No hills or mountains to get in the way of travel--but likewise few trails to follow or landmarks to navigate by. Put your character under the bowl of the sky this week, with nothing but grass as far as the eye can see.

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are: 

Power! Given this blog started in a Star Wars fandom, it’s surprising this prompt never appeared before. What does your character consider power and how do they pursue it? Just as important: why? Some seek power for its own sake but most have an agenda. Are they a reformer? Do they want to change the system they're part of to fit their vision? Do they want the ability to destroy whomever they view as enemies? A secure enough position to voice their opinions without backlash, or at least without fearing the consequences? Do they gain power despite not wanting it, because their fellows see them as a leader? Or are they seeking more mundane power? A ship fast enough to outrun the authorities? Superpowers: magic, reality-bending abilities, flight (if they can’t already), telepathy, or teleportation?

Blame: When something goes wrong it’s human nature to try to figure out who’s at fault. Blame isn’t quite the same as being at fault, though. And while they can coincide, blame is often assigned regardless of actual responsibility. Has your character taken the blame for something? Blamed others or events? Were they innocent? Guilty? A combination of both? Blame often isn’t logical and events have complicated causes. How do they change someone’s mind, or make amends?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Ships that Pass in the Night: Sometimes, two important characters miss each other completely.  Perhaps they’re actively avoiding each other: hiding, in disguise, or incognito.  They might notice one another, but without recognition.  Perhaps their circles are so different they don’t realize who they've seen.  Maybe they don't even do that much, passing like ships in the night.  This week, write about the encounter that might have happened, but didn't. 

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!SFWC FAQ

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Dialect and Accent:  Everyone has one whether you're aware of it or not.  Your words and how you say them reveal a lot about where you were born, where you grew up, what you like to read, or where and how you learned another language. What do your character's word choices tell about them?  Does it mark them as ruling class, streetwise, coreward, rimward, immigrant, outsider, insider, or something else?  Do they try to hide their unique pronunciation or revel in it?  A source of shame or pride?  Are they right and everyone else talks funny?  Explore it!

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!

SFWC FAQ

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of May 5, 2023

Priceless: What’s most valuable to your character? Something that can’t be quantified, something without a price tag attached. Intangible things: Friendship, love, joy, happiness, family, all usually considered positive. Negative ones too, like vengeance. Something impermanent, and thus valuable for its rarity: quiet in a crowded place, a sunset or sunrise, a favorite season. Perhaps it’s a precious memory of a place or person long gone. Certainly money can help your character get many of these things, but your character must have something that cannot be bought or sold, something beyond money, something priceless. What is it?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Don't Fall Asleep: We’ve had several prompts regarding rest and sleep. How about the opposite? When has your character needed to stay awake when they otherwise would sleep? These usually aren’t entirely voluntary situations: guard duty, cramming for tests, finishing a report or project in the wee hours before it’s due, or working a double shift (for any number of reasons). Why does your character have to stay awake? What methods do they use? What’s available to them? Suppose they can’t rely on their usual stimulant beverage of choice? How much of a challenge is it to stay awake, anyway? It would be harder to stay awake for a boring stint of guard duty than an eventful one--but then making decisions while sleep-deprived has its own consequences.

Keeping Secrets: Not always a great idea, but one our characters often do anyway. Secrets can be anything from being Darth Vader’s son to the family fried chicken recipe. How does your character keep it? Not telling is far too easy. If the secret is important to your story, your character should find it challenging to keep that way. Do they rely on half-truths? Out and out lies? Evasion? A clever disguise? There are likely to be holes in whatever fabrications they’ve employed--who finds them and what do they conclude? Is your character the one poking holes in a companion’s cover stories and wondering what they’re hiding and why? This week consider not the secret itself, but how your character--or someone they care about--protects it.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled prompts

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of April 7, 2023

Practical Jokes: Practical jokes sit on one end of a continuum through harmless (if annoying) pranks, and outright bullying. All too often people hide their malicious intent behind the word “joke” to minimize the victim’s pain. But practical jokes can be fun when they end with everyone laughing, and even annoying pranks do no real damage. When has your character pulled a practical joke? Been the butt of one? Watched it go down? Was it really a joke, or torment in disguise? Was it all an honest mistake that ended up being a joke--and maybe a hilarious story to relate to their friends?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Partners: Who is your character’s partner? Or perhaps who are your character’s partners? Romantic partner(s) aside, who are some of your character’s other allies? They can be friends, business relations, co-workers, or even partners in crime. How loyal are they to your character and vice-versa? Not every partner would follow your character everywhere. Some might be reliable only so long as the money (or whatever they get out of the arrangement) lasts. Your character might feel the same about them too!

Curve Ball--as writers we plan our character’s encounters. This week, throw them into something new. Something they didn't expect. Something they never saw coming. Who panics? Who takes it in stride? Who stumbles but runs with it?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of August 19, 2022

Hide: Perhaps they’re playing a childhood game. Perhaps they’re being pursued. They’ve just escaped custody (deserved or no) or crashed behind enemy lines. They’re a hacker evading security systems. They can’t bear a loved one finding out what they used to be like, and try so hard not to be anymore. They can’t break character and let their mark know he’s been had. When (and what) has your character had to hide?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

The Spirit of the Law: Last week your character used the law as written to get what they want, for good or ill. This week, have them interpret the law as they believe it is supposed to be followed or enforced. Maybe all those procedures have a purpose, but mostly keep people from using the services or getting the protection they need. Maybe it should protect the vulnerable--but it’s not written that way. Maybe it’s outdated and no longer relevant to current times without some creative interpretation. This week, have your character uphold the intent--as they understand it--behind the law.

Out of Touch: A phrase with a number of meanings. When has your character been out of touch, and how? Did they drop out of contact with their friends and family?  Why? What interfered? Maybe they are always out of step with cultural norms: missing jokes and references and classically “out of touch.” Is this a choice? A facet of their personality? Were they removed from the larger culture for some reason and now miss everyone’s references and make ones no one remembers? Are they from the future, having learned of the present only from books? From the past, unmoored in their new world? A character can be out of touch in a number of ways. Explore some this week.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of November 19, 2021

Beneath Notice: What things in your character's life or world are invisible because they’re common or believed to be unimportant? Cooks and cleaners are often beneath notice, giving a clever character a way into a secure place. Or, an enemy a way into your character’s stronghold! Most such duties are also necessary--so what happens when your cyborg character’s mechanic is kidnapped, or their janitorial staff quits en masse? Could your character cripple their enemy by stirring up unrest among their underlings? Notice who’s usually overlooked this week.

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s prompt not for you?  Look for something more to your taste in the Prompt Archive.  Consider all the prompts active and waiting to inspire you.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Bodies: Everybody has a body, your character included. How do they take care of themselves? Are there features they like and ones they don’t? Things they change regularly? Others they accept as permanent? Do they make allowances for their own unique issues and inform others of their requirements? Do they try to hide what they see as imperfections? Compensate for a lack, reasonable or otherwise? What about upgrades or other alterations? A cyborg might replace parts for any number of reasons. In a magical or biologically advanced setting they might regenerate, regrow, or augment what occurs naturally. Alternately, they might be stuck with what they were born with, good and bad alike. This week, give some thought to how your character relates to their physical form.

A Matter of Life and Death: This week the stakes are high. Your character has to intercede or maybe they're the one in the situation. It's a matter of life and death. Whose? Why? How did the situation get this serious? Is there any way out? Is it really a Matter of Life and Death or did someone use the distress beacon to order pizza?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

It’s a new Month of Meta! Prompts for honing writerly skills and pushing at comfort zones, and examining aspects of writing you might not have thought much about. This Month of Meta theme is: Actions Speak Louder Than Words. Telling your story through the physical actions your characters take.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of October 1, 2021

Fight! Fight! Let's start with an obvious one: a fight scene.  A physical fight scene. Not a heated argument, not a verbal fight, the real deal. Combat tells a story just as much as description or dialogue. It's not a litany of who punches who. Fighting characters both want something and their method of settling is violence. They might not want the same thing and what they do in the fight will reflect their goals. Are they both (or all--enemies might bring backup or it might be a multi-way disagreement) committed to fighting or will one back down? How far are they willing to go? Does someone have to die? Is injury or humiliation enough? What happens to the winner? This week, tell a story where a fight scene expands on characterization, is central to the plot, or both.

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s prompt not for you?  Look for something more to your taste in the Prompt Archive.  Consider all the prompts active and waiting to inspire you.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Looking Forward/Anticipation - There’s always something new on the horizon, be it an opportunity, an event, or even just a well-earned rest.  What is your character looking forward to?  What do they anticipate happening?  Are they excited?  Anxious?  A little of both?  Something else entirely?  What future thing or event is your character eagerly awaiting?

Masks and True Faces: Some of our characters wear physical masks. Why? Do they protect their body against harm, their identity against retaliation, or hide something they are ashamed of? Some eschew protection and flaunt their identity, their face, their safety. Other characters take on new personalities and identities depending on who they’re with or the job they need to do. Not a physical mask, but protection just the same. Write about the masks your character wears and to whom, if anyone, they show their true face and self.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Masks and True Faces: Some of our characters wear physical masks. Why? Do they protect their body against harm, their identity against retaliation, or hide something they are ashamed of? Some eschew protection and flaunt their identity, their face, their safety. Other characters take on new personalities and identities depending on who they’re with or the job they need to do. Not a physical mask, but protection just the same. Write about the masks your character wears and to whom, if anyone, they show their true face and self.

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!

SFWC FAQ

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of August 27, 2021

Rude Awakening: All was going well--except that it really wasn’t and your character only just now found out. What situation has drastically changed and why? Did it actually change, or did only your character’s knowledge or perception change? Was someone keeping the truth from your character? Were they willfully blind? What are they going to do now? Was your character the one hiding the facts from someone else? Were they protecting someone or covering themselves? This week, give your character a rude awakening.

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s prompt not for you?  Look for something more to your taste in the Prompt Archive.  Consider all the prompts active and waiting to inspire you.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Keep Grandma Happy: Okay, okay, not necessarily Grandma. Every family (or other social unit) has that one person whom you simply appease. The one you just don't want flying off the handle because it's such a bother and not worth the resulting tirade and calming down process. Surely your character's circle has one. Who is it? Is it your character? What's their hot button and why? What do the other characters do to avoid it? How do they settle them down when, inevitably, it gets pushed? Does someone push it on purpose for the fireworks? (note: while the intent of this prompt is humorous, feel free to make a more serious case, i.e. trigger or content warnings. Polite characters avoid the topic out of empathy or compassion and only dickish ones bring it up.)

You're Not the One I Was Looking For: It's fun to set your character up with the perfect match. The One They've Been Dreaming of. Hold that thought--what about someone else? Someone close, maybe overlooked. Someone who's right for your character in all the ways that matter, but not necessarily the ones your character thinks are important. Maybe they catch your character on the rebound; maybe they've been there all along but never thought about your character in a romantic way. Maybe a casual hookup turns into something more. This week, consider your character finding, not the one they were looking for, but The One just the same.

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Short Fiction Weekly Challenge

Time for a new prompt from the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge, tumblr edition.  Let it spark your imagination.  Any character, any fandom, any original world.   Reblogs welcome!

Post your story to your blog and send the link to Short Fiction Weekly Challenge!  The link will appear in our feed and the site index, and your blog will be listed on the Participating Blogs page.

This week’s SFWC prompt:

Week of September 3, 2021

An Embarrassment of Riches: When has your character had too many good things? So many they had a hard time choosing among them? So many they were ashamed in front of their friends who were not so blessed? What did they have and why? Is it something they can share--and do they? Must they choose only one, exclusive of the others? It need not be things. It could be several events on the same night, rival suitors for your character's hand, or all of their college applications were accepted. How does your character choose when all the options are wonderful?

Feel free to continue submitting stories for any prompt.  A masterpiece missed the deadline?  Don’t let it gather electronic dust.  Submit it anyway and Short Fiction Weekly Challenge will publish it.  

This week’s prompt not for you?  Look for something more to your taste in the Prompt Archive.  Consider all the prompts active and waiting to inspire you.  

This week’s featured previous prompts are:

Scent: Humans as a species aren’t known for having a particularly good sense of smell.  Despite this, perfumes and scents are incredibly popular, either to hide, replace, or enhance natural odors on both their person and possessions.  Does your character care?  Do they have a favorite scent?  A soap, a perfume, an incense?  Do their species’ preferred fragrances turn off others--or smell really good?  How do their companions (some of whom may have better olfactory abilities) deal with the profusion of clashing or complimenting scents?  Or do they prefer your character au naturel?  Credit to  @alaurin101’s story for inspiring this prompt.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Every character wants something.  It might be tangible: food, money, an ancient artifact.  It could be intangible: respect, success, fame or infamy.  Often, their entire story is the pursuit of their desire.  But something always gets in the way.  What happens when something or someone thwarts your character?  Gets in between your character and what they want?  How do they deal with it?

Got an idea for a prompt?  Submit it here.