Tag: writing challenge

Welcome to prompt 14 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Goal

I had a slight panic attack when the generator spat out this week’s word. I’ve been struggling with setting concrete character story goals for book two of the Deniable Unit (DU) series this past week—had two competing plots in the outline. Aargh! And, when I saw goal, it felt like someone/something was messing with me.

When I finally got over my freak out, I got to work on the challenge. I forced myself not to write anything sports-related—mainly because I’m not into sport. I decided to play around with the outing of a character’s secret goal.

Welcome to Week 13 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Texture

Last week I changed the challenge rules, thinking it would make it a bit more fun. Yeah, thanks Susan of the past. Wow, was it tough.

The tough part wasn’t so much coming up with something for the word, it was the trying to keep it under 250 words.

But, I did manage to get it there. Maybe I had to cut a hundred words here and there to make it fit. Maybe I tore my hair out just a little bit. But I did get there.

So, here’s my response to the challenge (basic editing):

Abby crouched on the dusty floor of the crude subterranean chamber and delicately brushed away the debris on the slab before her. It was magnificent. The history, the artistry, the beauty.

Sir Laurence-Bett’s cane clicked as he paced behind her, his impatience echoing around the chamber. “You’ll authenticate it?”

She traced her fingers along the edge of the ancient stone tablet. “I need to inspect it, then there’s carbon dating…” There was something off with it, the texture was all wrong. Coarse where it should be smooth, crisp carvings where they should be worn. The stone was ancient, but the working of it wasn’t.

Alarm bells sounded in her head. The tablet was a fake—a damn good one—and she’d been too eager to see it before anyone else. So eager, she hadn’t bothered to tell Jason about it.

“You’ll authenticate it now,” he said from behind her, causing her to jump. It wasn’t a question.

Abby forced her breathing back under control. Panicking wasn’t going to help her. She needed to get out of there. Think, think, think. If she could just get past him, she had a chance to lose him in the maze of tunnels leading to the surface. She surreptitiously scooped up some dust from the floor and stood. “I’ll sign whatever you want.”

The man smiled at her. “Good girl.”

Abby steeled herself then threw the dust into his eyes. She sprinted down the nearest tunnel.

“Bitch!” The word echoed behind her.

Thanks for reading! And feel free to join in. Have a great weekend.

HOW IT WORKS

1. Don’t think too hard on the word; just write about it for a maximum of twenty-five minutes or 250 words.
2. Once you complete your sprint, give it some basic editing.
3. Be courageous and post your results to your blog.

RULES

1. Complete the challenge on your blog before 1700 UTC of the following Friday.
2. Link to the original prompt post and make sure to use the tag Genre Scribes so that we can see all the posts together in WP Reader.
3. Your text must be fiction (preferably one you publish in (or plan to).
4. No real-life stories.
5. The text can be dialogue, an interior monologue, a scene, flash fiction, anything… so long as it’s fiction.

Full information is on the Genre Scribes: Friday Fiction Writing Challenge page.

Welcome to Week 11 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Prescription

Before I started the five-minute sprint, I had no idea of where I was going to go with the word prescription. There are the old cliches relating to broken hearts, but I wanted to do something different. Though, I had no clue what that different was. So, I had to trust that my inner chimp would come up with something. (If you haven’t read The Chimp Paradox, give it a try, it could change your life)

Here’s the (unedited) sprint:

Kirk held himself as still as possible. He couldn’t help Lori. Blowing his cover now would get them both killed.
Anton tilted his head, observing the woman. “Tell me, what do I do to thieves?” He didn’t wait for her answer before turning to Kirk. “Get me the bag.”
Kirk forced his limbs to move. The last thing he wanted to do was get that bag; it contained Anton’s prescription for dealing with those who wronged him. He grabbed the bag from the other side of the warehouse and handed it to Anton.
Lori lifted her chin, her eyes shining and defiant in her tear-streaked face. “Fuck. You. Anton.”
Shit.

I’ve got to give it to my inner chimp. I like the above sprint a lot. It’s definitely going to be a jumping-off point for a story for me. I’m not going to do another sprint from this text for two reasons: (1) I really do like it and (2) forcing another sprint when I’m happy with what I have takes the fun out of the challenge.

With that, I’ll wish you a fantastic weekend. Until next week. Thanks for reading.

HOW IT WORKS

1. Don’t think too hard on the noun; just write about it for five minutes.
2. Once the five minutes are up, walk away for about five/ten minutes.
3. Now, come back to the text and re-read it,
4. Pick out something that piques your interest and write about that for five minutes.
5. Be courageous and post your results to your blog. (Both sets of writing sessions or just the one, it’s up to you.)

RULES

1. Complete the challenge on your blog before 1700 UTC of the following Friday.
2. Link to the original prompt post and make sure to use the tag Genre Scribes so that we can see all the posts together in WP Reader.
3. Your text must be fiction (preferably one you publish in (or plan to).
4. No real-life stories.
5. The text can be dialogue, an interior monologue, a scene, flash fiction, anything… so long as it’s fiction.

Full information is on the Genre Scribes: Friday Fiction Writing Challenge page.

Welcome to Week 10 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Childhood

When the generator spat out the word childhood, I groaned. Loudly. I think all my characters have some kind of damaged childhood—though, weirdly, not my bad guys—and the idea of creating a new one that I’m not going to use in a story annoyed me. Maybe not annoyed, more it made me not want to play. But, I forced my bahookie into the chair, set the timer for the first five-minute sprint, and got my head down.

Here’s my first sprint (unedited):

Kay stared at Rex, her mouth still hanging open. How was she supposed to respond to that? Her mind raced for something comforting to say, but she had nothing.
Rex cleared his throat. “You’ll catch flies, sweetheart.” He crossed the room until he was right in front of her and tapped under her chin for her to close her mouth. “That’s better. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, can we get back to blowing the bridge?”
Back to business. Kay shook her head, trying to catch up with his mental gymnastics. “No. Wh–what did you mean by you spent your whole childhood training for this?” 
Rex tipped his head back as if he couldn’t believe they were still talking about this. “Exactly what it sounds like.”
“So, when everyone else was playing with Play-Doh, you were playing with C-4 and det cord?”

I actually like what I came up with for the first sprint. Since I only put up a single sprint last week for the same reason, I didn’t want to give myself a way out of doing the second one. So, I went ahead and looked for something that piqued my interest to a higher level than the rest of the text. One of the sentences really stood out for me because I could see it so clearly in my head. The sentence I chose to spark the second sprint is: Rex tipped his head back as if he couldn’t believe they were still talking about this.

Here’s my second sprint (basic editing):

“Again,” yelled Shiny Suit as his fist slammed into Rex’s gut.
Rex couldn’t stop the yelp of pain from escaping. Three days they’d been at this. Rex cuffed to a chair and Shiny Suit being a dipshit. “I’m cuffed to a fucking chair,” he raised his hands as high as the metal would normally have allowed, “how could I have killed the guard?” Rex tipped his head back. He needed Shiny Suit to get closer. Needed him to inspect the cuffs.
The man moved behind Rex and wrapped an arm around his throat in a chokehold as he used his other hand to check the cuffs. Rex jerked his hands up, the empty cuffs clanking against the metal chair, and stabbed Shiny Suit’s hand with a sharpened piece of chair.

I ran out of time before I could really come up with something better than the first sprint. As mentioned above, I liked the first sprint. And, to be honest, I wanted to spend more time on that than working on something new. The first sprint will definitely make it into my story seed bank.

Until next week, thanks for reading!

HOW IT WORKS

1. Don’t think too hard on the noun; just write about it for five minutes.
2. Once the five minutes are up, walk away for about five/ten minutes.
3. Now, come back to the text and re-read it,
4. Pick out something that piques your interest and write about that for five minutes.
5. Be courageous and post your results to your blog. (Both sets of writing sessions or just the one, it’s up to you.)

RULES

1. Complete the challenge on your blog before 1700 UTC of the following Friday.
2. Link to the original prompt post and make sure to use the tag Genre Scribes so that we can see all the posts together in WP Reader.
3. Your text must be fiction (preferably one you publish in (or plan to).
4. No real-life stories.
5. The text can be dialogue, an interior monologue, a scene, flash fiction, anything… so long as it’s fiction.

Full information is on the Genre Scribes: Friday Fiction Writing Challenge page.

Welcome to Week 9 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Wetsuit

As prompt words go, this one is full of possibilities—most of them wet. Although, for some reason, during the first five-minute sprint, I went dry. Super dry. Like desert dry.

Here’s my first sprint (unedited):

Welcome to Week 8 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Salesman

Okay, this was a tough one. When the random word generator spat out salesman, my brain went blank. I had nothing for it. Like a lot of people, I’ve not had the best experience with them—especially car salesmen. But, tapping into my bad experiences gave me a starting point for the first five-minute sprint.

Here’s my first sprint (unedited):

Welcome to Week 7 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Program.

Oh, this is a fun word. There are so many ways to go with it–TV, schedule, computers…. I usually need to psych myself up to do these challenges, mainly because I’m forcing my brain to be creative on a strict timetable. Today, I’m chomping at the bit to get on with the first five-minute sprint.

Here’s my first sprint (meandering and unedited):

Welcome to Week 6 of the Friday Fiction Writing Challenge! Here’s a complete list of all the posts so far. Feel free to join in.

This week’s random word is: Cardigan.

Huh, as words go, cardigan is a wee bit of a doozy. The first word that sprang to mind was boring—think stroppy teenager.  But, there’s something to be said about lackluster words, they really make your imagination work hard to get something juicy.

I set the timer for my five-minute sprint and crossed my fingers that I’d stumble upon something, anything, that I could work with.

Here’s my first sprint (meandering and unedited):