Flash Tales, Week Six: “Twist Beginning”

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Evan Henry // 6 Comments

Oedipus, an early victim of the plot twist.

PROMPT: You’re probably familiar with the concept of a twist ending, where we learn that the villain was really the hero’s “dead” brother, that it was none other than our main character herself who embezzled the money, or where Burgess Meredith, alone with his beloved books at last, breaks the glasses that enable him to read. This week, I want us to take the concept of a twist ending and reverse it. I’m not sure what a twist beginning might look like, but I think we’ll all enjoy seeing what we can come up with.

GENRE: Open

LENGTH: < 1,300 words

DEADLINE: Thursday, October 23, 11:59 p.m.

About Evan Henry (257 Articles)

Evan Henry is a graduate student in English at the University of Virginia, where he works on the legacy of eugenics and scientific racism in American pop culture. As Head of Publishing for Black Ship Books he seeks to further social analysis of popular culture and develop new and unique voices in both creative and critical writing. His credits include Broken Frontier, the Virginia Literary Review, and numerous small publishers of fantasy and science fiction. His short story collection The Great City will be released this summer.

Contact: Twitter

6 Comments on Flash Tales, Week Six: “Twist Beginning”

Rose Green (@RoseGreen71) // October 20, 2014 at 7:27 pm // Reply

Well, here it is! Hope you enjoy it.

http://scribblesofarose.webnode.com/news/twist/
- Ingrid K. V. Hardy // October 24, 2014 at 11:50 am // Reply
  
  I couldn’t see where to leave a comment on your Blog, Rose, so I’ll leave it here. Great piece! Sad and happy at the same time… You know, I remember those train doors with handles because my parents used to bring me with them to Europe when I was small (family visits), and we took the trains everywhere. Absolutely terrifying to go from one car to the other – the noise was incredible and those doors slammed shut like they were going to eat you… lol!
  - Rose Green (@RoseGreen71) // October 25, 2014 at 6:59 am // Reply
    
    Ingrid – glad you enjoyed it. I need to look at the comments feature on that site, it can be a pain.
- Evan Henry // October 24, 2014 at 10:52 pm // Reply
  
  Well, you know I can’t resist a story with a main character named Amy! Ordinary and plain in a really great way. I’m not sure exactly what happened at the end, but maybe Amy wasn’t either. Lovely story, Rose!
  - Rose Green (@RoseGreen71) // October 25, 2014 at 7:00 am // Reply
    
    Thanks for reading! It was deliberately ambiguous at the end – even I don’t know what was really going on 😀
Ingrid K. V. Hardy // October 22, 2014 at 6:57 pm // Reply

I’ll be reading yours, Rose, so hopefully I can understand what I was supposed to do! Here is my story, though it doesn’t fit the prompt: http://scififangirl.rabidhorse.com/mirror-mirror/