During the days leading up to this weather event people on the islands were optimistic. They were Hawaii, after all, and Hawaii tough.
The Islanders hoarded rice and Spam even in good times. They added to their stockpiles under their beds and met Iniki head on.
The ordeal lasted hours, people gathered and rode out the storm and came out to view the destruction.
Phones were down, everywhere and cell phones were scarce, cell towers, even more so. There was no way for the Islanders to reach out to their families.
A few days after the storm, the phone companies erected free call stations, actual phone banks. People would stand in line and make quick calls to worried family members.
Clean up had begun.
Between phone calls I received letters in the mail. It was interesting to note that on one day, the people would pitch in and chainsaws ran until it was too dark to work. I would speak with my family member and she would be so
excited and moved by all of the people coming out. A man with a chainsaw was as popular as a Chippindale’s Dancer.
A day or two later, the mood would change. People would go through various stages of grief. The same woman who was so upbeat and inspired would spend her phone call expressing anger at not being able to find a place to stay.
This went on for a very long time. Calls and letters eased up. The Islanders began to find their new normal. Housing was a huge problem. Senior housing was made available but my family member had a son who didn’t meet the age
requirement.
They eventually found a hotel. Things became predictable again. My mailbox began to fill with little packets of hotel soap. When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in hospitals and would save my sugar packets with images of North
American Birds and send them home for my siblings to enjoy.
During the past few weeks, our world has experienced uncertainty and fear and anger and our day to day is filled with dread, doubt and worry.
During Iniki, people did not have cellphones, internet and many of them didn’t have homes to shelter in. We have The Writer’s Chatroom and we are open every Wednesday and Sunday. Come on over. We can talk about writing or talk
each other off the ledge. We can do this.
Hurricane Iniki (/iːˈniːkiː/ee-NEE-kee; Hawaiian: ʻiniki meaning "strong and piercing wind") was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Hawaii in recorded history.
Our Flash Fiction Contest is still happening. I made the announcement a Sticky Post.
To Recap the Prompt
You are on your last errand of the day. You should have been home, already. You are inside a store or business or bank or gas station.. You name the place. People in hazmat suits suddenly rush the place. They have secured all the exits. You are all being quarantined for an unknowable amount of time. Write a story about how you will be passing your time.
Have you ever felt pressured by friends, editors, publishers, or fans, to include Gratuitous Sex or Violence? Do you feel compelled to add colorful language?
What lines will we draw when it comes to pleasing our readers?
Does it bother you that some of your favorite authors toss in a gratuitous scene?
Does the topic sound interesting? Share this email with your writerly friends.
Flash Fiction Contest
We are going to attempt our first Flash Fiction No Prize Contest here at the Writer's Chatroom.
There is no prize, we are a non profit chatroom but if we gather enough submissions we may turn the work into an e-booklet and encourage you to download it
from our site. Free of Course.
We will begin collecting Submissions on March 9th.
The Deadline for the final submission is Wednesday, March 25th.
Posting should happen on Sunday, March 29th
For this bit of flash fiction you are free to write between 750 and 1500 words, not including the title.
In the Subject Line of the Email put the words “Quarantine Submission.”
In the body of the email ..
Your Name or Chat Room Name
The Title of Your Story
Then the Story
The story itself as formatted as you can get it, maybe a copy/paste from a word processor.
At the end of your submission put ### and on the next line the number of words, not including the title.
Over the next few weeks I will be working on getting the submissions up on the website.
The Contest Prompt...
You are just at your last errand of the day. You should have been home, already. You are inside a store or business or bank or gas station.. You name the
place. People in hazmat suits suddenly rush the place. They have secured all the exits. You are all being quarantined for an unknowable amount of time. Write a story about how you will be passing your time.
Let's Do a Few Writing Prompts
To make it easier I am going to list four of them here. You may work on them before chat or during chat.
My advice is to keep them short. (Less than 300 words or as short as, I don't know, a few lines. It is totally up to you.
Now, I am handing it over to you. Take one Prompt or all four Prompts, don't go over 300 words. Bring them to the chatroom. If you do not have time, come on to chat and I'll give us some time to write on the fly.
Visit all of the links in this article to find more prompts.
See you Wednesday 4, March at 8PM ET at the Writer's Chatroom.
Writing Prompts and Contests or Challenges
We talked a bit about Prompt Chats on Wednesday. I have also been thinking about having a sort of everybody votes and everybody contributes to a Flash Fiction Contest.
Because I have never really done this I thought I'd rely on you to help me through the steps of setting it up. If you don't know any more than I do, come anyway and learn with me.
