When I first came up with Darren Gilbert, I pictured a grumpy wizard thwarting a random burglary of a shoe store. As I’ve explored Darren’s past I’ve discovered the joys that sprung up in his journey of mastering magic. But I needed to shape this eager student of magic into someone who would eventually storm into the shoe store to replace the boot he’s worn out. And while I have Volodar as Darren’s primary antagonist, if I wanted to fully degrade Darren, I needed to alienate Darren from Maxwell. And while I planted some seeds previously, introducing Wayne has provided me a stronger tool to sour their friendship. During the last installment, Wayne blew up the plans Darren and Maxwell had for their Night Off...

After Dorian got the council to agree with his plan to investigate the missing colonization ship. Once the workers laid the last bolt for the new ship and the council finished selecting the crew, the newly commissioned spacecraft launches to the world their ancestors vanished while attempting to colonize. As the vessel settles into an orbit around the planet, the command crew scans the world below. Neither member of the ship’s crew can make sense of the received data, but they transmit the confusing data back home to discuss the fate of the expedition’s mission...

As my wedding races toward me, my mind keeps getting pulled in about thirty different directions. While I’ve always intended to publish stories on Wattpad monthly, last month, the things I needed to do for that special day kept me from getting any tale published in September. And while those responabilites will continue to grow as the big day continues its march, I fully plan on publishing all five narratives in October. Unlike some of my previously busy months, instead of back loading my posts this time I’m planning on posting each of them over the next two weeks, so I can enjoy my wedding...

Whew! September has been a frantic month. There are a lot of moving parts in my life at the moment and ensuring that everything keeps running smoothly isn’t easy. But with Beginnings and Ensnared finished, I turned to my last piece of flash fiction for the month, a Ghost Story. One of the first ones I wrote was called Journey of Thanks, and out of everything I’ve written, it’s my Dad’s favorite tale. I know that I’ll never be able to recapture that emotional rollercoaster, but there’s a bigger concept in those thousand words that I wanted to explore, and this tale gave me the perfect opportunity...

With the month coming to an end and having finished Beginnings, I turned to the second genre of the month, a fantasy. When I pulled the results for the month, I planned on steering clear of Darren Gilbert. So, I turned to DeviantArt and searched its library for fantasy. Thumbing through the resulting images when an image by lukesynek captured my attention. The ape-like creature dominating the stormy landscape demanded Darren’s attention...

After rushing to complete my second challenge for this year’s NYC Midnight Flash Fiction competition, I took a breath and turned to World of Warcraft to unwind. The game, coupled with life, helped September, much like the rest of the year, fly right past me. Thankfully, I saw the end of the month coming and pulled the genres to the forefront of my mind. First up was the Crime Caper, and I dusted off the notes I made for the tale when the poll closed and sketched out its skeleton...

Shawn glanced from the assignments in front of him to his watch. He laid his pen down and folded his hands on the pile of papers, “Zachary, you’re the last one here, and your time has expired. Please turn in your exam and start your weekend.”

“Can I take another minute?”

Shawn shook his head and thumped his desk, “You are out of time. I’ve already given you an extra thirty minutes, now give me your test, or I’ll be forced to reward your hard work with a zero.”

Zachary slipped his pen behind his ear with a groan and strolled up to Shawn’s desk. He dropped his exam next to the assignments his professor was correcting, “Thank you for giving me what you could...

Sorry for the rant, but since I pulled out my 3D printers and resumed printing objects, I’ve had the itch to create 3d models of my own. But with the all complex models I’ve printed off Thingiverse, the very idea of creating designs was a little intimidating. Thankfully, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge, so I downloaded Fusion 360 and started experimenting with the software. While the bits were streaming to my machine, my CR-10S was hard at work printing TAK game pieces. For those who don’t know, TAK is a game that first appeared in Patrick Rothfuss’s book The Wise Man’s Fear..

Having watched the Vodan, land on its assigned moon of Aurora 3, Isaac and Jasmine return home to report the successful landing. Jasmine wonders about the other two colonization ships that were assigned to the other two viable satellites of the planet. Specifically, she wonders if those pilots would return to Aurora. Isaac remembers that those pilots were planning on settling on their new world and so doubts that they’ll return. Jasmine places a friendly wager that they’ll follow protocol and return before they settle on their new home...

Confident with his work to undermine Liam’s agenda to abandon the platforms, Rylan focuses on other problems facing Tergara. And while he focuses on those issues, Rylan skips several council meetings because he’s unable to stomach the propaganda spewing forth from Liam and his constituents. On the day of the vote, Rylan arrives to find Liam arguing his position on several unrelated topics...

With Simple Pleasures and Uninvited Guest finished, I turned my attention to the last piece of flash fiction for August, Science Fiction. Just like with Fantasies, I love Science Fiction because it gives me an open-ended playground to work with. That benefit is also the biggest drawback to the genres. The canvas is blank. So, once again, I turned to DeviantArt for inspiration once more. While browsing through the catalog for science fiction, I stumbled upon Self-propelled general-purpose work platform by Ricebirdmon...

Every month brings me new challenges, and after writing Simple Pleasures, I turned my attention to a few other projects in my queue. After making some progress on those, I returned to the list of genres for the month and smiled. The next genre up for Patreon is a Fantasy. And while it was tempting to return to Darren Gilbert, I decided to explore something else. So, I turned my attention to DeviantArt and searched for something to inspire me. While there are some amazing images on the site for fantasy, Magic Trouble by Lyraina caught my eye...

For most of my picture prompts, I’ll take a picture that speaks to me and write the story I see leaping from the pixels. But every so often, I have a story whirling about my mind, and I’ll discover an image that pairs with it. With this image, the story that in my mind is a bridge for two different projects, Colonization and Discovery, an upcoming collection of Flash Fiction that will be published on Wattpad. Both series center on the same strange planet, but they take place after a century of inaction from their homeworld...

After an exhausting day in the Academy, the Leodor gifted all the students with a free night. Maxwell and Darren seized the opportunity and race into the city for a good meal and an enjoyable evening. Unfortunately for them, Wayne insisted on joining them despite their pleas for him to leave them alone...

It is already August, it’s hard to believe that we’re more than halfway through 2020. But I also have another set of stories to write for my patrons. The first Patreon exclusive is a Drama. So, I started toiling with some potential storylines, but I couldn’t lock onto a single coherent thought, until I visited NYC Midnight’s challenges of the past. These prompts have a way of focusing my creating juices and narrowing my scope. When I plucked one of the Drama posts, I didn’t know how I’d work a strawberry field and a tote bag into the tale, but I came up with a dramatic story...