Dollar Challenge - Quote Me Baby (Royal Edition)

If you are new here, or you've been living under a rock, (or if I'm not as wildly important in everybody's life as I imagine myself to be,) then you might not be familiar with my little challenges.

Here's the deal: Each month (ha!) I post a quote that has inspired me or stuck with me in some way, and I give you a little nudge to write a story inspired by it.

The quotes can be from anywhere - books, songs, films, other stories, or historical figures (remember that, it's important later). Occasionally it's specifically for micro fiction, but often it's broader, or includes poetry. The original plan was to do them monthly, but sometimes I'm too busy (sorry).

Here's the challenge I set for October:

The prompt for October was:

The dead know only one thing

- "Private Joker", Full Metal Jacket

This time, there were nine entries. Here they are, in order of submission:

The Responses

Down There, by Mike Singleton

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I Haunt This House, by Archibald Thorne

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I Know, by Sara Wilson

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To The Dead We Owe The Truth, by Paul Stewart

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When the Dead Knocks, by Antoni De'Leon

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That Unfettered Desire by Callum Summers

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The Corridor That Remembered: A Record from the Faculty of Forgotten Rooms by By K.H. Obergfoll

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Dead Still by S. A. Crawford

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On an Evening Walk Past Oakhurst Park by Rebekah Conard

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I had to pick my moment to read these, because, as requested, they scared the crap out of me.

It was hard to pick a favourite, but I think getting whispered at by bodies in the morgue might be the most unsettling thing I've read in a very, very long time.

A shiny dollar has already hit the author of each of my favourites on their respective foreheads.

As always THANK YOU to absolutely everyone who took part. It has been an absolute pleasure to read your stories. Stephen King can hang up his keyboard.

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A Prompt For November

I have reasons against marriage which I wouldn't divulge to a twin soul

- Queen Elizabeth I

I love this quote, but I am afraid I might have mangled it a bit. Apologies if so. I can't find the precise one anywhere (I swear, Google has gone downhill as a search engine in recent years).

Mission: Impractical

Your mission (should you choose to accept it):

Write me a piece of short historical fiction inspired by the quote.

Stretch!

Given the time of year is bleak, wet, and cold for a lot of us, I would love for Hope to be a strong theme in your story.

Them's the rules

Word count: Lately, I've had a laissez faire attitude to word count. I'm pressed for time, so I'm only promising to read any that are published in the fiction community, and listed as a 5 minute read or less.

Prize: Same as usual, I'll tip my favourites a dollar each.

Winners: Again, same as always! If there's only a few entries, I'll just pick one or two people. If more than 10 people enter, I'll pick 3. More than 20, I'll pick 5. For the stretch, enough people try it (say, 5), I'll also do a $10 first prize, and $5 second.

Content: You can include the quote, in which case it should feel like it belongs. Or your story can be inspired by it, in which case the link should be clear. Feel free to mix genres if you like, as long as it has a strong historical fiction angle. Sci-fi could work (time travel), humour, heck, I'll even give romance a fair shake.

Accuracy: It doesn't have to be completely accurate, but please give me some footnotes! What weird thing is your story is actually true, or inspired by a real event? What did you play fast and loose with? Fascinate me!

Limits: You can submit as many as you like, but I'm only promising to read the first two that meet the criteria from each person.

Closing date: 11:59PM GMT, Sunday 30th November, 2025. Please note I'm in the UK, so keep that in mind if you are in a different time zone.

Really important: Please do link your story below! I'd be gutted to miss anyone. I'd appreciate it if you could link back to this challenge as well.

Why This Quote?

I especially like this quote as a story prompt. Firstly, having a secret that deeply held is a delicious concept for a story. Secondly, I like the symmetry of it. On one hand, it is against marriage, which is interesting in itself, and on the other it mentions a twin soul. Contradiction is conflict, no? Isn't conflict the seed of a story?

The anniversary of her coronation falls on 17th November. Plus, I haven't yet done a historical fiction version of this challenge, and this seems like a neat opportunity.

Queen Elizabeth I is one of my favourite historical figures. She's the only English queen who never married, did you know that? She stopped the Spanish Armada. Her mother was Anne Boleyn, the mother of divorce (which makes the quote itself even more interesting to me). She is absolutely gorgeously depicted in Blackadder by Miranda Richardson (who also, would you believe, also never married, and who is also a huge favourite of mine).

I think the thing I love most about her, is that Henry VIII was so damn sure England would fall to wrack and ruin if he did not leave a son. He was completely convinced that a daughter just wouldn't do. Elizabeth I absolutely smashed that notion to a million billion pieces.

Here are some more quotes from this incredible woman:

• I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.
• If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married.
• Men fight wars. Women win them.
• Life is for living and working at. If you find anything or anybody a bore, the fault is in yourself.
• God forgive you, but I never can.
• The past cannot be cured.
• ...if I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.
• For I am soft and made of melting snow
• Video et taceo (I see and remain silent).

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Thank you for reading!

PS. Anyone shouting that bit about the concrete elephant at me is automatically my new best friend.