Interesting in writing or reading flash fiction based on a photo prompt? You’re in the right place. You can read the “rules” and join in by going to http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/. Or you may just read by clicking on the little purple cutie at the end of my story and checking back often to indulge in all the offerings. The picture is from Friday Fictioneer at the Hawaiian office, Douglas M. MacIlroy. The entire shebang, started by Madison Woods, is ably continued by Rochelle Wisoff (no h)-Fields at http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/. Join our merry band sooner rather than later. Every day you wait, you’re missing out on the fun.
Almost forgot to mention that I’m scheduled, before bringing our younger daughter back for Christmas, to meet Fictioneers Sharon (newpillowbook) and Rich on Monday in Philly. Pictures are sure to follow!!
To Be or Not To Be
There it sat.
Inert.
Inanimate.
Looking real, features in place, calculations done, the detritus of their efforts everywhere.
But…nothing.
It just sat there.
“Why can’t we do it?”
“No idea. We’ve tried everything, even cloning, and done it right. It just won’t sustain life.”
“We could email Dr. Joyce for more self-building molecules.”
“Didn’t work before.”
“Maybe it’s climate change. I’ll search online again.”
“Look! Isn’t that a bit of ice over there? Maybe there was something just for a minute or two.”
“I still think…”
“Don’t go there again!!”
“It’s Christmas. Couldn’t we try ‘Let there be…’ just once?”
……………
To read more about Dr. Joyce’s efforts, you may start here: http://gizmodo.com/5825539/scientists-striving-to-create-life-out-of-nothing.
This, that and the other thing 
Very interesting take on the prompt, like it!
Thanks, Len. I tried to do something a bit different, yet still interesting.
Len, just wanted to let you know your link on the inlinkz page went to a “not found”.
DRAT! DRAT! AND DOUBLE DRAT! NOT AGAIN.. I just fixed it ..I thought ..thank you Jan I really appreciate it.:)
Well done!!! I am clueless as to what to write lol
I know. This is a tough one. Just wait and let your mind work while you’re doing something else. Something will come.
Oh, I like this. Very nicely done!
Thanks much!!
And yet another prompt I look at and say “no way”! Yet you seem to have no problem! Well, since it’s only Wednesday I figure I’ve got at least 3 days to let it simmer!
Put it on the back burner and go about your business. I’m betting in the next day or two, something will have percolated and be ready to write. This is a tough one!
Dear Janet,
Are you mixing science and Christmas spirits here? Are they trying to conjure up Frosty the Snowman? Forgive my one track mind. i’m two days away from my Santa appearance at Keck headquarters children’s Christmas party. Getting swept up in the season.
Good story and great advice to Paul.
Aloha,
Doug
Yes, Doug, I am mixing. They’re trying to create life on their little planet and not succeeding too well. I’d be excited if I were in your Santa-to-be shoes. What fun!! As it is, I’m sitting in my house where the painters are doing a great job, but I have no decorations because the painters are here.
However, when we got to Bill’s, we’ll decorate and enjoy lots of family (and couple) time. That will be a lovely gift.
I can just imagine you doing that! Ron is a Santa, too – via his Rotary connections. Have fun!
Interesting. Nicely done. I’d like to hear more!
Making life out of inanimate objects. Like talking to my son.
Is this a spoof on Frankenstein – making life out an old soccer ball?
A Frankenballs of sorts?
Randy
Good, different, original twist.
Randy
Frankenballs?? LOL. Who’s doing this and why (and will they ever succeed)? Who can say, since the story’s only 100 words? But that’s part of the fun. It just might be that only one “person” was ever able to do this.
Have you ever seen “Three Amigos”? The Frankenball reminds me of one the funniest in a plethora of funny parts:
[a small plane flies overhead]
Dusty Bottoms: “What is it doing here?”
Ned Nederlander: “I think it’s a mail plane.”
Dusty Bottoms: “How can you tell?”
Ned Nederlander: “Didn’t you notice its little balls?”
Ha. Okay. I will refrain from doing any more ball jokes or ideas. Although I feel like Cinderella, not being able to go to the (i’m not writing that b word)..
“dance” 🙂
that works.
Thanks,
Ballandy
Always happy to see the word detritus used…
Always enjoy using the right word and detritus is a good one.
Oh dear..Frankenstein Santa Claus about to appear! Very difficult genre, well done -and great dialogue!
Thanks. Not really sure what might appear, but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?
Yes – absolutely – my comment was made as my imagination started working. Enjoyed your piece.
Original take on the prompt. I hope there was light, in the end. Nicely done.
Or life.
That’s a very interesting research. I wonder what the repercussions of this could be.
A very unique take on the prompt!
I wonder the same, Parul. I personally have my doubts about any significant type of life being “created”, but we’ll see.
Dear Janet,
You made me look! You made me look! Detritus. Thanks for providing the link for Dr. Joyce. I had to read your story twice. Intriguing if not baffling. Can you really email self building molecules?
Nice work.
Can’t wait to see pics of you with Sharon and Rich. (I know he doesn’t look like Springsteen ;))
Shalom,
Rochelle
I doubt if the molecules can be mailed, but if we always stuck to the possible, what fun would there be in that?? 🙂 As I said to Parul, I have my doubts about life creation anyway (other than the original one) but that lead me right into trying God’s approach when all else failed. Glad you enjoyed detritus. I’ll look for it to make an appearance in one of your stories.
If Rich shows up first, how will I recognize him unless he has a Springsteen mask? Maybe he won’t allow pictures because then we’ll know he and Bruce aren’t twins. 🙂 Should be fun.
I’ve seen his pictures on facebook. He’s nice looking but not Bruce. 😉
I like this piece very much. Here’s hoping when they get the thing going, this version turns out lots better than the awkward first prototype we’ve been hanging out on….
🙂 Glad you liked it, Perry, and as always, thanks for stopping by, reading and commenting.
Gonna take more than seven days to complete that project! Great idea, well done.
Ah, but the hubris of man acknowledges no such time limits. 🙂 Thanks for the read and comments.
Now that’s real world-building. Good story.
Thanks, Anne.
I, too, am stumped by this one! Great job on this, Janet. Great multi-layered story. I’m interested in checking out the research.
Ah, it’s all atoms and energy in the end (or the beginning). Loved this re-readable piece, Janet!
I’m so jealous – Fictioneers up close and personal! He’ll always be the Boss to some of us anyway ;-).
Happy decorating (paint and baubles!),
Mik x
Thanks, Mik. So glad you’re back regularly. Funny that i “met” you before I was a Fictioneer (or perhaps before you were, too.) The internet is an interesting place. As for meeting Fictioneers, I’d love to come over and meet you, too. Maybe sometime when I’m visiting my s-i-l in Provence…
Glad you liked my story.
Please, please, please tell me when you are in the area! It would be such a pleasure to say hello in person!
Wish I would be there soon, but I don’t know when it will be. However, it would be lovely, so I’ll let you know. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas.
Nice story. You had a similar idea as me. All I could think of was a little world when I saw the planet.
Great minds and all that. 🙂
Very well done, Janet – this was an interesting and thought-provoking read. Hope your painters move out soon….
They’re doing today but it will really be odd not having them here. They’re three of the nicest guys you can imagine and excellent at their craft as well. I’ve been sharing Christmas goodies with them and enjoying the whole process as much as it can be enjoyed, so I can’t complain. Thanks for your comments on my story.
Interesting. Certainly different.
Well done.
Thanks, Abraham.
Hi Janet,
Creating new worlds is frustrating work. Loved the humor you worked into this. Some Christmas magic may do the trick. Thanks for commenting on my story. How do you always manage to be the first? Ron
I just happened to be checking when your link came up. Don’t know how that happens. 🙂
How apt for the season. 😉 Great, little story.
Here’s mine: http://unexpectedpaths.com/friday-fictioneers/status-update/
Real interesting take on the prompt
Funny!
Scott
*punches fist in the air* YES!
🙂 Appreciate that!
reminds me of a short story i wrote on something similar about three years ago. was about a “supreme being” kind of a guy trying to create life. well done, and this may become a reality.
Are you calling me a copycat? A plagiarist? 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it, even though it was deja vu all over again.
no, silly. but i know you didn’t mean that seriously. but just for that, i’ll be deleting all my short stories off my blog. (giving you evil glare)
Well, I guess that will show me!! (Rolling my eyes.)
yeah, taught YOU a lesson, didn’t i then, there. that.
I’m abashed and abject.
going easy on you this time, but don’t let it happen again.
LOLLL!! 😀
Very cool. I love your take on the prompt. Will the mad scientist be able to pull away and enjoy the holiday? Something’s aren’t meant to be tampered with.Of course, that won’t stop science from trying.
So true! I hope he can just relax and enjoy, but you never know.
I see the similarities in our ways of interpretation. I liked yours a lot.
Thanks. Great minds on the same track must be true. 🙂
Really interesting take on the picture. It was a hard one too!
Thanks, Jackie. It definitely wasn’t one of the easiest ones we’ve had, that’s for sure.
When you said Dr. Joyce, I assumed you meant Dr. Joyce Brothers. I suggest you bring some of those Pfizer scientist onboard this project. Things will be looking up in no time.
I thought I’d better include the link at the bottom so that people realized that I didn’t mean Dr. Joyce Brothers. But I didn’t want to waste another word on a first name. 🙂
Well you pulled that one out from somewhere. Well done.
🙂 Glad you liked it. That may be one of the most interestingly worded comments I’ve ever gotten.
🙂 I guess cause I couldn’t find anything to pull out for this prompt. 🙂
Ha. Funny lines…
If writing is like pulling something out of somewhere, then a story must devolve from plucking the gizzards out of a store bought chicken. We know it’s in there somewhere.
just a little thought I plucked out of nowhere that I thought I’d share.
Took me a few reads. Couldn’t decide on the ages of the ‘scientists’. I liked the ice thing, and thought they were creating Earth at first… and maybe they are.
p.s. be careful when you meet Rich, he may give you a report card…
I’m trying to think, look and feel with a perspective of a scientist, but it is not working any better than your character’s project there. Ha Ha. But, very interesting, and has me thinking instead with the perspective of just another created being, scratching my head. LOL It is a difficult prompt to write something about it. Still thinking. 🙂
This was a difficult one but I’m sure a story is brewing somewhere in the inner recesses of your brain. 🙂
It did for a while, Janet (with the photo prompt) and then I changed my mind and felt as if I should instead post one of my older poems I wrote years ago but used the current year to post it today on my blog. It is entitled, He Came Like a Star. For reasons that others might not understand I felt as if it could minister to those today that might need it, and the encouragement it could bring, especially in light of the tragedy yesterday and others still coping with loss of another kind. Hope some will like it. You can view it now on my blog site.
Christmas and science hand in hand. This was a good read! Nice work
Thanks. Glad you could make it over to read. I always appreciate it and comments as well.
Very interesting.
Blew me away, especially with the article as context. You did a nice job setting a scene with a creative take on that idea while mixing in the Christmas mythology. I got flashes of Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle with the ice too.. Well done!
So please you enjoyed the various layers although I hasten to add that I don’t believe Christmas or creation are myths. 🙂 Haven’t read Cat’s Cradle, but my husband probably has.
A miracle certainly couldn’t hurt! Clever.
Interesting. Loving the different responses to this prompt.