Forum / Flash fiction challenge for a cause!

• 
  Thomas Pluck

  Sep 03, 04:02pm

  My friend Fiona Johnson and I are donating $5 (and 5 pounds) for each story entered in this week's challenge at Flash Fiction Friday. 700 words is the limit, and the subject is Lost Children. Street kids, runaways, the lost, the forgotten. The kids who grow up with dead fish eyes. Some transcend it, some join the vicious circle. Tackle this rough subject in 700 words, and tell us a story.

  I will donate $5 to PROTECT, the National Association to Protect Children, for each entry, and Fiona will donate 5 pounds to Children 1st, a Scottish children's charity.

  The link is below; you can post your story to Fictionaut or your own website, but to be counted, you must post a link to it in the comments at the blog post below at Flash Fiction Friday.

  http://www.flashfictionfriday.com/2011/09/02/f3-cycle-47-the-city-of-lost-children

  If you'd like to donate yourself:
  PROTECT: http://www.protect.org/
  Children 1st: http://www.children1st.org.uk/

• 
  Jane Hammons

  Sep 03, 04:14pm

  This is a great cause and a wonderful idea, Thomas. Maybe create a group here for the stories contributed? I'll post my entry here at Fictionaut.

• 
  Thomas Pluck

  Sep 03, 04:30pm

  I've created a public group named The Lost Children Challenge. Thanks for the advice!

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Sep 03, 04:36pm

  Literary activism. I love this.

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 03, 04:46pm

  This is very good.

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 03, 05:56pm

  Will somebody please instruct me about HOW to post a link on the Flash Fiction Friday site?
  I wrote the story and posted to F'naut group.
  But I see no place to post the story link on FFF--

• 
  Jane Hammons

  Sep 03, 06:39pm

  I just posted this in the group, but I'll put it here, too. According to the About info, you put the link in the Comments section where the prompt is posted.

  http://www.flashfictionfriday.com/about/

• 
  Gill Hoffs

  Sep 03, 08:56pm

  This is brilliant - doing what we love, with folk we love, for a good cause. Thomas and Fiona - I salute you! [And I'll post mine in a wee bit]

• 
  MaryAnne Kolton

  Sep 03, 09:21pm

  Thomas and Fiona,
  I've often commented on how generous the people here at FN are and you both are shining examples! So happy to be able to contribute. . .

• 
  Gill Hoffs

  Sep 03, 11:29pm

  The stories I've read so far have been beautiful and diverse, and I fully expect the flood to keep coming. Be prepared to be broke, Thomas and Fiona - and thank you again!

• 
  Linda Simoni-Wastila

  Sep 03, 11:54pm

  Thank you Thomas and Fiona -- very generous! Peace...

• 
  Kari Nguyen

  Sep 04, 02:22am

  Great causes! Will check this out. Thanks for the info.

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 04, 02:42am

  Now here is something to put our attention to as a writers community. It's a terrific project and doesn't involve beating anyone up.

• 
  Sam Rasnake

  Sep 04, 12:38pm

  Great cause and project.

• 
  Robert Vaughan

  Sep 04, 01:04pm

  I admire you, Thomas, (and Fiona) for bringing this sensitive, harsh, realisitic subject before our "eyes." As I just posted a poem at Fictionaut, I can't post a second piece currently, but I donated directly to the site.
  Thanks.

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Sep 04, 01:41pm

  Thomas, this is turning over some really good writing from so many people. The writing, yes. The reality is staggering. You and Fiona are doing a good thing here.

• 
  Joani Reese

  Sep 04, 02:47pm

  What a generous idea. I hope you raise much for such a worthy cause.

• 
  Darryl Price

  Sep 04, 03:45pm

  Thomas,here is my entry;I will do whatever I can to help spread the word about this cause:
  

  If Only I Were a Kitten
  
  Some famous singer would write
  A song about my broken face
  And beg on my behalf for a
  New set of whiskers, some warm bed.
  
  I haven’t tasted any milk
  In so long I can’t even think
  What it should feel like going down.
  Sometimes I dream of owning my
  
  Very own water fountain. I
  Could fill up everybody’s cups
  All day long for free. Nobody
  Could say a thing about it to
  
  Me. No one ever wants to talk
  I’ve noticed. This really hurts a long time.
  They give their coins like I’m going
  To reach out and grab them by the
  
  Throat and force them to swallow a
  Handful of germs. I only want
  To say,” hello”. I don’t know what
  Else to possibly say, give them.
  
  darryl price

  Thank you!

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 04, 04:13pm

  DP, I just love this poem so much! It expresses something deeply internal that exists in people, that they don't know how to tap.

• 
  Susan Gibb

  Sep 05, 05:15pm

  It truly is heartwarming how writers come together for a cause. We may not always donate financially, but like The Little Drummer Boy, we always try to give what we can, what we feel we're skilled at, what we feel we can offer as a gift with some pride.

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Sep 06, 08:59am

  The stories continue to come in for this important project. It's heartwarming to see such powerful work written for an important cause. What is worse than the torture of the innocents?

• 
  Ingrid K. V. Hardy

  Sep 06, 12:01pm

  Darryl, that is a beautiful poem...

• 
  Seamus Bellamy

  Sep 08, 04:02pm

  Done and done… albeit just under the wire. My story "Larry" can be found right about here http://www.fictionaut.com/stories/seamus-bellamy/larry

• 
  Thomas Pluck

  Sep 08, 04:29pm

  The Flash Fiction Friday Post is up at:

  http://www.flashfictionfriday.com/2011/09/08/f3-cycle-47-stories-of-lost-children/

  44 entries. Thank you all for writing. That's $600 going to PROTECT, Children 1st and Living Water for Girls!

  Please feel free to keep using the Lost Children group to post stories that fit. It's not something that goes away.

  -Tom

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