At this month’s writer meeting, we spent a lot of time discussing short story structure. Building off of that, we did two prompts instead of just one. The first prompt used a three-sentence structure, explaining what each part of this tiny bit of flash fiction should do.
First sentence: Establishes character. Who is the hero or heroine?
Second sentence: The shattering moment that happens to this character; something that changes their world.
Third sentence: The aftermath.
The second prompt went back to the usual requirement of three words that had to be included in the story. The words for this month were carriage, sandwich, and house.
While everyone else there wrote two separate pieces of flash fiction, I combined mine into one slightly longer story.
You can try this prompt out for yourself… or you can just let me know what you think.
Here’s what I ended up with.
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Old Jodd had trained as a carpenter, not an innkeeper, though he’d never doubted he would someday take over the Cackling Crow when the mountains called his father home, and the inn would bring new challenges.
Challenge was the last thing on his mind the moment the dragon’s tail ripped through the front wall, shattering glass and spraying splinters backwards across the tables.
Troublesome, but not impossible, as the timbers still stood—promising a chance to use the skills he knew as he rebuilt with a new open-air floor plan.
Houses were easier to remodel, but the Crow was not the first three-story building Jodd had worked on, and at least the mountains above his new home provided plenty of timber. He ruminated over how many trees would be felled because of this week’s dragon attack while he sat in front of the bar with a sandwich in his hand. He scarcely looked up when a black-lacquered carriage bearing the duke’s crest on its side creaked to a halt in front of what used to be the front door.
The driver stared for a long time before he cleared his throat. “Is the inn… open?”
Jodd turned his head, examining the tanner’s shop across the street, and raised his sandwich for another bite. “More than it’s ever been!”