Happy Halloween everyone!
This year for the very first time I am joining in a Halloweensie contest set up by children’s author Susanna Leonard Hill.
A Halloweensie is a not-very-long (100 words or less) story for children.
I’ve been getting plenty of practice writing short stories in response to the flash fiction challenges set by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch; and, as my stories often feature children, I thought I’d give Susanna’s challenge a go.
Rules of the contest are:
Write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words, children here defined as 12 and under), using the words spider, ghost, and moon. Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!)
Stories must be submitted before Monday October 31st by 11:59 PM EDT.
There are some very generous prizes for contest winners.
For more information, check out Susanna’s post.
I am submitting mine a little earlier in case some of you don’t know about the contest and would like to join in. There’s still time. There’s also plenty of great Halloweensies to read on Susanna’s post if you have time for some fun reading!
Here’s mine:
Spider scare
No moon was out,
So ghosts were about,
Looking for people to scare.
Little Ghost was unsure,
He’d not joined in before,
Anxious, hesitating to dare.
“You’ll be all right.
Simply give them a fright.
It’s easy, just give it a try.”
Dad sounded brave,
With advice that he gave:
Nothing would scare him for sure.
“I’ll give it a go.”
Little Ghost followed slow,
As Dad floated up to the door,
Then let out a scream
As, down from a beam,
A spider descended nearby.
Little Ghost laughed
At his Dad taking fright:
A spider like that wouldn’t bite!
Thank you for reading. And thanks to children’s author Vivian Kirkfield, who blogs at Picture Books Help Kids Soar, for introducing me to Susanna and her fun contest.
If you are looking for a fun game to play on Halloween, check out the Trick or Treat board game.
I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
What a cute story Norah. I came by from the link you left at Janice Wald’s blog. 🙂 Go figure a ghost would be afraid of a spider. LOL 🙂
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In a story, anything’s possible. Thanks for checking out my post from Janice’s link. I’m not sure how I got there, but I noticed you and your Ouija board story there too. Perhaps I followed you over. 🙂
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Lol, that is strange? Well, it’s Halloween you know! 🙂 🎃🎃❣
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I hope you had a wonderful, Halloween. I’m looking forward to reading about it. I assume you have written about it, I just haven’t got there yet. 🙂
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Thanks Norah. Oddly enough, I only wrote one article featured on Colleen’s blog about the Ouija board and reposted on my page. You’ve already read it. 🙂 Thank you. 🙂 x
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Yes, I have read your Ouija board post. I thought you may have also written about your current Halloween celebration. That’s okay. I still have others of your posts waiting patiently to be read. 🙂
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Lol, thanks Norah. I’m inundated with posts too. 🙂
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We do what we can! 🙂
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Exactly! 🙂
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That is a very cute and fun poem! I love it! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, Bec. 🙂
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I’m late to the Halloween party but love your poem! So cute 🙂
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Thank you, Christy. So pleased you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Very cute story, Norah! Love Little Boo following in Dad’s footsteps, learning the ropes of being spooky, only to have Dad spooked himself! Great twist! Good job with your rhyme/meter too! Thanks so much for joining in the Halloweensie fun!
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Thank you, Susanna. I loved joining in. It was a great challenge. 🙂
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Cute twist!
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Thanks for reading, Marla.
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Love the unexpected ending. Great entry!
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Thanks Patricia!
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“Spider scare” is not only splendidly frightful,Norah–it’s absolutely delightful! 🙂
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Thank you for your beautiful compliment, Bette. I appreciate it.
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I did see this at the weekend but didn’t have time to comment. I love your rhyming story and glad you found another flash fiction prompt as we seem to be missing Charli’s this week and we’re at risk of suffering withdrawal symptoms.
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Thank you for reading, Anne. I am missing Charli while she is settling in to her new home. It actually worked well for me to not have her prompt this week though. I don’t like to post more than twice a week, but do like to post twice a week. This competition fitted my schedule perfectly.
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Delightful, Norah. Just goes to prove that even Dads can be frightened of tiny little things like spiders. I wonder if spiders are ever scared of ghosts? 🤔
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Thank you, Hugh. Now there’s an interesting question. I wonder who we can ask.
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I’ll ask my young niece and nephew next time I see them. It will be interesting to find out what they think.
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It will!
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Super cute rhyming story, Norah! And the twist at the end is fabulous. Good luck and Happy Halloween!
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Thanks so much, Gabi. I’m pleased you enjoyed it. I hope you had a great Halloween.
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Very funny and ironic story!
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Linda. I’m pleased you enjoyed it.
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Nice poem. Good luck and Happy Halloween!
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Gregory. I’m pleased you enjoyed it. I hope you had a great Halloween!
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Love your Halloween poem Norah, it made me smile! What a fun challenge 🙂 Happy Halloween to you my friend!
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Thank you, Sherri. I’m pleased it gave you a smile. 🙂
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Aw so cute! Love the ending 🙂
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Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m pleased it worked!
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Ha! Very cute. So glad you found this contest. Good luck and Happy Halloween!
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Thank you, Sarah. I’m pleased you enjoyed it. I enjoyed the challenge. Happy Halloween to you too!
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Good luck. With all your experience, an audience that you are comfortable with and a funny twist like that, I’d say you’re in with a good chance.
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Thank you for your support, Steven. It was fun having a go. There are many great entries. I don’t expect to even be shortlisted, but that wasn’t my purpose for joining in anyway. I was happy to have a challenge for a more familiar and, as your say, comfortable for me, audience for a change. It was just as much a challenge as those set by Charli though. 🙂
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I give an A+. I love that the brave ghost dad is more afraid of a little spider than his child.
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Thank you very much for your lovely comment, Dayne. I’m pleased you enjoyed it.
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Love that the kid is the brave one…fun story, Norah!!! So happy you joined in this year. I’ve participated in each of Susanna’s Halloweensie’s…they are a great way to practice wriitng short and sweet.
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Thank you, Vivian. I’m pleased you enjoyed the story. Thank you for letting me know about Susanna’s contest. It was fun having a go. I look forward to reading all the stories.
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I like the little twist in the story. Brave Dad turns out to be frightened of a little spider. Hahaha.
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Thank you, Cindy. I’m pleased you enjoyed it. 🙂
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