Gion District at night from r/japanpics This photo is photoshopped, but it’s so beautiful and inspired this short story. The Pixie Dust Sky Java’s grandmother always told her that pixies were allergic to iron, and when they sneezed, they released pixie dust into the air. When there was enough pixie dust, it made the sky appear closer, which was probably why the sky was always full of stars here in the blacksmith’s quarter of Flammelia. Java had finished her last order and had put the carefully dried and crushed herbs away on the shelves when the clock was striking midnight. She didn’t like working so late at the pharmacy, but lots of orders meant money for food and eventually the home she hoped to buy once she had saved enough. She locked the heavy wooden door to the shop, tugging a few times to make sure it was solid and strong. Rarely did anyone bother to try to rob her, since lack of medicines could affect everyone, including thieves, but once in a while, some teens would...

This fantasy romance short story was inspired by this photo prompt: Shizuoka Sengen Shrine (3428x2301)[OC] from r/japanpics The Assassin’s Homecoming The assassin had not been back to his hometown in many years, and everything seemed both strange and familiar to him. The leaves were bright green with the warmer weather, which was in contrast to the cold fortress he had left in the north. Here, life was vibrant and everything was shouting, "I am awake!" Even the practical vegetable gardens of the villagers were steeped in cheerful color. It was still daytime, but he made his way to the manor house, disguised as a traveling merchant. He would scout out the house and plan his assassination, which he would execute tonight. The manor house was on an extensive tract of land, so he had to enter the estate from the woods at the backside so as not to be seen. Security patrols were sparse, almost nonexistent here—if it had been the secret base and training facility where he...

Here’s another short story inspired by a picture writing prompt: I’m not sure why, but I’m coming up with a lot of paranormal stuff from these writing prompts. It’s fun because it’s so different from what I’ve been writing for the past few years. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The king had hired a charmer to fill the trees with pixies of different species, and so they flitted in the branches, streaks of various colors like iridescent starlight. The water garden looked even more enchanting than it normally did, but it was mostly empty at this time of night, because most of the guest were at the Pavilion for the speeches for the king's birthday. One figure skimmed the edge of the glass lake, skirting the low round bushes, until she reached the jagged line of half sunken boulders that led to the small man-made island in the middle of the lake. There were pixies swirling in the trees on this island also, but they flew...

I suffered a pretty severe writer’s block for the past several months (I think I’m still a bit blocked), and one suggestion was to write short fiction, which I hadn’t done in a long time. Someone on the r/writing subreddit mentioned that if you write a short story a week, it’s impossible to write 52 stories that are ALL bad, at least some of them will be decent. So I decided to give it a shot. I might post some mediocre stories, but hopefully this will help get my creativity juices flowing. My favorite writing prompts are pictures, so I went onto Reddit and found some really great ones on the r/learnjapanese subreddit. This one picture spoke to me: Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017 [OC] Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017 [1265x949] As soon as I saw this photo, I immediately had the idea to write this short fluffy piece. Feel inspired? Write something yourself and post a link in the comments! Pixies in a Garde...