Hello Fifty-Worders and Friends of Fifty Words. Okay, I just made that up. In this post you'll find highlights from last week's #fiftywords posts, and a new prompt for this week's 50-word fun and games.

I had a great week, and I hope you did too! I wrote a couple of flash fiction pieces for short story contests (En Route, a fantasy/historic fiction piece for an Art Prompt contest, and The Char Man of the Candahashee Bridge, my foray into the horror genre for @dirge's horror fiction contest), and two 50-word posts for last week's prompt (In that moment, a romance story, and What remained, a ghost story).

But enough about me. You guys! You produce such interesting stuff each week. It really is like opening birthday presents each time I sit down to read these pieces. The clever vignettes of life, the moments of heightened emotion, fear, love, loss and crazy stuff going down, all told in 50-words, just take my breath away! And the support you all give to each other for producing and posting these little gems continually warms my heart. Kudos to all.

About the 50-word challenge

I always include a little something in these posts for the uninitiated. The week kicks off on Sundays with a one word prompt, and the fifty-word writers use the prompt to create a micro-fiction story in just 50 words.

Each week I also pay homage to the #fiftywords challenge founder, @miniature-tiger who has been developing a seafaring strategy game called Archipelago for the Utopian.io open source community. Check out the linked post for the latest update.

(Image credit: Original image by pixel2013, Pixabay)

Last week's 50-word stories

Last week's prompt -- wing -- resulted in an amazing variety of stories as you might expect! What is a wing, after all? It is a part of a butterfly, a bird, fairy, a plane, a building, and an angel -- not to mention mythological characters such as Pegasus and Icarus. As usual, picking a top story was impossible, so I've chosen "highlights" of the week.

Here is the complete list of last week's mini-masterpieces. If you haven't done so, I hope you read them all.

• Wings, by @iamthegray
• Heartbroken: She wants to fly, by @lightoj
• Astral Travel, by @puppetmaster1111
• Fairy Wings, by @pyrowngs
• Tradition and Science, by @botefarm
• On the wing of love, by @desmoniac
• Timeless love, by @donnest
• Blowing Amid the Gloaming, by @creatr
• Fixing the Wing, by @ablaze
• Death of Icarus, by @marie-jay
• Final Exams, by @dirge
• To fly or be invisible?, by @ficciones
• Apocalypse Just Now, by @anikekirsten
• undiscovered discovery, by @negativer
• North wing, by @anixio
• Pegasug, by @foxfiction
• Wings of Death, by @theironfelix
• A 5 Year Old's Flight, by @thatlovechild
• In that moment, by @jayna
• What remained, by @jayna

Highlights of the week

Oh my, so many great stories! Here are just a few special highlights from the week with a little teaser about their plots:

• A 5 Year Old's Flight, by @thatlovechild, is so poignant and powerful that it took my breath away. I think this may be the first time a 50-word story brought me to tears.
• Death of Icarus, by @marie-jay, reminds us of the powerful mythological character, Icarus. What, you skipped that class? Well, go read this story!
• Fixing the Wing, by @ablaze, explores a universal idea in 50 words, and leaves us hungry for more. What will happen?
• Apocalypse Just Now, by @anikekirsten, throws us into a cataclysmic event with lightning and flying beasts. This one could definitely be expanded, Anike!
• undiscovered discovery, by @negativer, tells of the metamorphosis of a butterfly, with his own amazing pictures.
• Final Exams, by @dirge, examines (pardon the pun) the painful pressure a student must endure.
• Blowing Amid the Gloaming, by @creatr, is a charming poem about dandelion seeds. I dare you to read it and try not to smile.
• Pegasus, by @foxfiction, tells the story of the beautiful winged horse, Pegasus, and leaves us with a fearsome question.

Great job, everyone!

This week's 50-word story prompt

The prompt for this week is “hatch.” Let's see what you come up with, #fiftywords friends!

Guidelines

Please review carefully. Images must not be pulled from any Internet site.

1. Write a story in 50 words. (It's especially cool if you can hit 50 words exactly!)
2. Use the #fiftywords tag, and post the link in the comments of this post.
3. Be sure to read and upvote the work of the other participants. It's all about community!
4. Use only artwork that you have the right to use, and attribute it properly. See the “Proper use of images” topic below.

Proper use of images

Proper use of images means one of the following:

1. It is your image.
2. The image is public domain, or under creative commons licensing rules.
3. If it is not one of the above, you have actual permission.

Be sure to mention that the image is yours, or attribute its source. And if it's not public domain or creative license, be sure to state that you have permission.

I have two resources for you, from my friends at @thewritersblock:

• Image licensing, by @rhondak
• Creative Commons Resource Library, by @therosepatch

And speaking of #thewritersblock, if you would like editing help for your stories before posting them, follow the tag to find them on Discord.

Deadline for this week: Saturday, May 12th.

The 50-word story clan

Welcome new 50-worders!

I'm mentioning you here if have participated in the #fiftywords short story challenge in the past. Please let me know if you would like your tag removed in this or future posts. (Note that I am starting to reduce the list. Those who have not participated for a long time or are not active on Steemit will eventually drop from the mentions.)

@ablaze, @adigitalife, @agmoore, @ahmadmanga, @aksounder, @alheath, @andyartland, @anikekirsten, @anixio, @anjkara
@beginningtoend, @bhop42moro, @botefarm @brandonsadventur, @bryarose23
@caleblailmusik, @carn, @cheekah, @cizzo, @clacrax, @creatr
@damianjayclay, @deirdyweirdy, @desmoniac, @diebitch, @dirge, @divineinyang, @donnest, @douglasbalmain
@eaglespirit, @elementm, @emwalker, @enjar, @eroticabian, @evgsk
@feebie, @felt.buzz, @ficciones, @fitinfun, @foxfiction
@galactichunter, @godwine
@hope-k
@iamthegray, @ilt-yodith, @intheory, @isa93, @isufbakaj
@jadams2k18, @janine-ariane, @jakeybrown, @jayna, @josecarrasquero
@kaelci, @kimberlylane, @kingernie, @ktfabler
@ldacey-laforge, @lightoj, @lucylin, @luiskrupaz
@Mammasitta, @marie-jay, @mark-dahl, @mikesthoughts, @mineopoly, @miniature-tiger, @momzillanc, @mydivathings
@naquoya, @naso, @navaneeth, @negativer, @niallon11
@onewithearth
@paintingangels, @photovitamin, @pixiehunter, @poeticnest, @preparedwombat, @prydefoltz, @puppetmaster1111, @purpledaisy57, @pyrowngs
@rodgriocabrera
@saoirseronan, @sciencevienna, @sharoonyasir, @skoolielove, @spalatino, @stayoutofherz, @steemitdiversify, @sukhasanasister
@tanglebranch, @thatlovechild, @theblackcrow, @theironfelix, @therosepatch, @tiatu, @tibra, @tin-tin, @tony-duke, @tuwore, @tygertyger
@udayakumarage, @upen-srv
@vaitelavicius, @vivek-g
@wales, @whitewizard, @wilfredn, @wordsalmighty, @wylde
@yimiipsa, @yomibolo
@zen-art

Thanks so much for reading. As always, your upvote, comment and resteem support is greatly appreciated!