I'm a busy mouse, and I don't have time to come up with some fantastic stunt prompt to satisfy your cravings for gimmickry. So we're taking it back to the bridge, and then we're jumping off.

You have 1000 words to make me cry with the saddest story you can conceive. Any genre, any style, so long as it has a heart ... and breaks it to leave it weeping and alone on the cold, cold pavement.

Avoiding mawkish sentiment and puppy-death cliché is the order of the day. This is a hard path to follow, so I fully expect most of you to run home to Mother and not sign-up. So be it - but for those with the courage to face the deepest of sadnesses, victory is only a tear drop away.