Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Tide Line
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt – The Tide Line.
Every morning, the tide leaves something unusual on the beach outside your character’s home: a single glove, a child’s shoe, a perfect blue shell. One morning, it leaves something that belongs to them—something they lost years ago.
by 
Novel Kicks Writing Room: Character Challenge – The Past
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room.
It’s week four of our character challenge.
As we progress through this challenge, we’ll take a character from a simple idea and gradually develop them into someone with a personality, history, relationships, flaws, fears and a meaningful character arc.
You don’t need to be writing a novel to take part. Your character can be created specifically for these exercises, or you can use a character from a story you’re already working on.
WEEK 4 — The Past
Our characters didn’t begin on page one. Something happened before the story started that helped make them who they are.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Countdown
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt: The Countdown
A radio host begins receiving calls from listeners describing a nightmare they all had: a tall figure standing at the foot of their beds, counting backwards from ten. The calls stop when the final caller says, “It’s at number nine.”
Then the studio lights flicker, and the host realises the counting has started again—this time from inside the booth.
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: Character Challenge – The Secret
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room.
It’s week three of our character challenge.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a character from a simple idea and gradually develop them into someone with a personality, history, relationships, flaws, fears and a meaningful character arc.
You don’t need to be writing a novel to take part. Your character can be created specifically for these exercises, or you can use a character from a story you’re already working on.
WEEK 3 — The Secret
Everyone has things they don’t tell other people.
Give your character a secret.
It could be:
- Something they’ve done.
- Something they haven’t done.
- Something they’re ashamed of.
- Something they know.
- Something they are afraid someone will discover.
- Something from their past.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Wrong Name
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt: The Wrong Name.
Every morning, a woman visits the same little café on her way to work. She orders the same coffee, sits at the same table and exchanges a few words with the owner.
One Tuesday, the owner greets her by a different name.
by Book Club
