note – Facts, Fictions & Fantasies

Fandango’s Story Starter #209

July 15, 2025July 14, 2025Fandango9 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you a “teaser” sentence or sentence fragment and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that sentence/fragment. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

The woman sitting next to me slipped a note into my hand that read, “He’s not who he says he is.”

If you care to write and post a story built from this story starter teaser, be sure to link back to this post and tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

Can You Tell a Story in 30 Words?

June 19, 2025June 19, 2025Fandango9 Comments

For her “Can You Tell a Story In…” prompt today, Esther Chilton has challenged us to tell a 30-word story using the words note, dodo, ski, and lampshade.

Fred’s note said to meet him in the hotel lobby. When I got there, that crazy dodo was prancing around with a lampshade on his head skis on his feet.

Image created using ideogram.ai.

Weekend Writing Prompt — Used Book Shop

January 20, 2024January 20, 2024Fandango11 Comments

When I learned that the used book store around the corner was closing, I rushed over to see if I could find a treasure. I came across a book I cherished as a child, Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.”

I opened the book up and I saw a handwritten note written on the title page. Tears came to my eyes when I saw that it was from my parents written to me.

(Exactly 72 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the challenge is “note” in exactly 72 words. Photo credit: somewhere on the internet.

#WDYS — Christmas Eve Eve

December 23, 2021December 22, 2021FandangoLeave a comment

She asked me to come by the house on the night of the 23rd, what she always called Christmas Eve Eve. She said that I could stop by and leave presents for the girls under the tree that evening because she would be out of the house with her new boyfriend.

She could have just told me that she would be out with friends, but no, she had to specify that she’d be with her new boyfriend. Fine, I was better off without the bitch and didn’t need the aggravation of her being there. Besides, this would enable me to spend some quality time with my two daughters.

My girls were happy to see me when I arrived with pizza that evening and we had a very pleasant visit for a few hours. I put their presents under the tree and made them promise not to open them until Christmas morning.

I was about to leave when my older daughter told me that their mom had left a note for me under the tree. The note was made from brown paper wrapped in a bow of twine. On the front of the folded note was a drawing of flowers in white.

I picked up the note and untied the twine bow. When I unfolded the note, a small card about the size of a business card fell out. I picked up the card and written on one side of it, in my wife’s handwriting, was, “Merry Christmas. See you in court.” I flipped the card over and saw this:

I asked my daughter what Mommy’s new boyfriend’s name was and what his job was. She said that his name was Jon and she thought he was a lawyer.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Photo credit: Jonathan Borba @ Pixels.

FOWC with Fandango — Note

March 31, 2021March 17, 2021FandangoLeave a comment

FOWC Welcome to March 31, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “note.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.

Finish the Story — Andrei and Eartha

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020FandangoLeave a comment

BBAE266B-AC7F-4CA6-9318-51DE5DF0CAF5 Teresa, over at The Mapless Wanderer, tagged me for her latest Finish the Story prompt. The rules for this challenge are simple.

Copy and paste the story as you receive it.
Add the next segment or choose to finish it.
Tag someone for the next installment.
Have fun and let your imagination roam free.

Here’s how Teresa got this started.

It all started with a hastily written, albeit vague, note left in an old book.

“To the one I love,
Meet me at our spot.”

Andrei browsed the shelves at Jim’s Used Books, not looking for anything in particular when he spotted an a gray and silver spine. Huh? He pulled out the book, tracing the strangely familiar symbol on its cover. No title? No author? Lemon and a hint of peppermint floated in the air as he opened the book.

A small piece of paper floated gently to the floor and caught his attention. A simple handwritten note on tanning paper. His fingers tingled as he picked it up and read it. Without giving the book a second thought, he placed it back on the shelf, tucked the note into his jacket pocket and left the store.

Eartha had just settled into the booth at Phil’s Cafe, plugged in her laptop, and opened her latest manuscript draft. There was nowhere better to write a contemporary story than the corner of a busy cafe in the University district. So many snippets of passing conversations ended up in her stories without anyone knowing.

She giggled as a young couple argued over whether pineapple belonged on pizza, and another pair of young men, probably football fans by their non-player jerseys, debated the finer points of surviving a bullet hell.

Jasper brought over her order and smiled. “Someone left this the other day and I asked Phil if I could give it to you since no one claimed it.” He pulled a small, red leather journal with a heart pressed into its cover out of his apron pouch, smiling.

“Really?” She beamed. “Thanks.”

He grinned, nodded, and returned to his work.

She examined the journal and paused before opening it. “What if it’s like personal? That poor person.” Okay. If it is personal, I’m going to find the person who lost it and return it.

As she opened the front cover, a small piece of paper flitted into her lap. Giggling, she picked it up and read the pristine handwriting. Fancy script from long ago. Her smile faded as she tucked the journal into her bag, unplugged the laptop, put it away, and left her untouched pizza on the table with a ten dollar bill.

Andrei wandered to the nearest rail line and stood by the long row of windows that overlooked the tracks. Lemon, peppermint, and pineapple tickled his nose. He glanced up and saw a beautiful young lady walking toward him. She paused at the other end of the hall and gazed out across the tracks.

His heart fluttered and the note’s message played in his mind.

The longer he watched her, the more he felt he knew her. Compelled to speak to her, he walked toward her and …

And now for my contribution.

… said, “Excuse me, miss, but you look awfully familiar. Have we ever met?”

Eartha looked at the man. She admitted that there was a spark of recognition, but she was unable to recall a time or place. She figured maybe she had seen him around town or perhaps at Phil’s. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I know you,” she said.

“My name is Andrei,” he said, “and I know this is going to sound crazy, but a very strange note fell out of a book I picked up at a used book store in town. And after reading it, I felt compelled to come here. Then, when I saw you, an overwhelming feeling that you are the reason I’m here came over me.”

Eartha turned pale upon hearing Andrei’s words. “What did the note you found in the book say?” She asked.

Andrei pulled the note out of his pocket and started to read it. “It said, ‘To the one I love.’”

Eartha interrupted Andrei and finished the note, “‘Meet me at our spot,’ right?”

“How did you know that?” Andrei asked.

“I found the same note in a journal that someone handed to me this morning,” Eartha said, showing the note to him. “And like you, I felt the need to come here to this rail station.”

Andrei gazed at the note. “You found this in a journal? May I see it?”

Eartha opened her bag and handed the small, red leather journal with a heart pressed into its cover to Andrei. “Oh my God,” Andrei said as tears started flowing down his cheeks.

And I’m going to tag Susan, over at Susan’s Place, to pick things up from here. I hope she will.

FFfAW — The Epilogue

March 6, 2018March 5, 2018Fandango30 Comments

3BE3AE21-B6AB-493B-8B6B-3C2289FCF23D Everyone was under the impression that the giant had perished upon falling to the ground when Jack chopped down the beanstalk. But while he was stunned and unconscious after the fall, he hadn’t died.

After several hours, the giant awoke. And he was angry. Some little pissant had stolen his golden goose and his mission was to get it back. He went to where the base of the beanstalk was and, after sneaking around, to the extent that a giant can sneak around, he managed to locate the goose and grab it.

Then the giant plucked a long, golden feather from the goose’s tail and fashioned it into a quill. He crushed some blueberries he found to make ink. He located a piece of paper, dipped the quill into the blueberry ink, and wrote a note.

After he finished the note, he pinned it to Jack’s front door and left with the goose.

The next morning, Jack opened his door and saw the note, which said, 893E70DE-058A-43FE-ADC3-F9F7834C61B0

Written for this week’s Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers prompt from Priceless Joy. Image credit: Goroyboy.

Twittering Tales — The Note

February 6, 2018February 5, 2018Fandango10 Comments

9FC31FFF-3708-4134-A1CC-51798E496FB9 “Where did you get this?” the deli owner asked me.

“I found it sitting under a rock on a bench in the park,” I answered. “It seems to be written in German, so I brought it here. Can you tell me what it says?”

“You need to take this to the police,” he told me. “It’s a suicide note.”

(280 characters)

Written for this week’s Twittering Tales prompt from Kat Myrman. Photo credit: PIRO4D @ Pixabay.com.

By the way, the note appears to be written in German. I can’t read German, so for all I know, it could be a love letter, a “Dear John” letter, or maybe even a rough draft for a blog post. But for some reason, I came up with a suicide note.

#100WW — The Search

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017Fandango11 Comments

8CF57C00-AC27-49BD-AFC0-49367EBA3E09 The apartment was dark when Alex walked in. He flicked on the hall light and saw his backpack, cameras, and other stuff spread on the floor just past the entryway.