Vampires Next Door

My current writing project is a series of short stories, flash fiction, really, rarely more than a thousand words long.

I'm writing from a set of one-line prompts, which are story starters to give writers a step in a new direction. In truth, I think these were designed for middle-school children, but that's okay with me. That's how my mind thinks. Anyway, it means the prompts are sometimes outlandishly quirky.

And I write from them, full bore.

Today's prompt started with: I jumped over the fence to retrieve my ball, and the Johnsons were asleep in their coffins.

Naturally, I could start the story with jumping over the fence, but the Johnsons in their coffins had to come much later in my tale. I needed to get the boy over the fence using a believable reason, drop in lots of foreshadowing indicating they might be vampires (without giving it away), and have it all happen within the parameters of my eighth-grade character's teenage mindset.

So off I went, adding in a little sister, a mother who distrusts her son, and a black sports car the Johnsons drive only at night. Then there's the bat that enters the Johnson's pet door each night.

I hope you get to read this enjoyable tale someday. It's fun. It's middle-school crazy. Best of all, it's mine.