Writing Exercise: Damn hyphens

A couple of weeks ago the below three words were chosen at random to create a short story:

• Hyphen
• Irish
• Bottle

With only five minutes to come with something, often times I find that I have no idea where I’m going with a story when I get started. It’s surprising to see where you end up when the timer goes off.

Max put down the bottle of Irish whiskey and stared at the word he just wrote.Damn hyphens, he thought to himself. They were his nemesis; always unsure when he should use them, but when he had enough to drink he stopped caring, so he poured some more into his glass and made short work of it.  He sat in his chair waiting for the alcohol to do its job, but it was no use. Max was more agitated than normal and he knew why. It was the woman he met today. She was beautiful with her long dark hair and blue eyes that seemed to pierce his soul.

For other great responses go here.

Writing Exercise: I stared into the blackness

What I love about our writing exercises is that they give me the opportunity to try different types of stories. The three words for our latest are:

• Blackness
• Coy
• Halt

I stared into the blackness of the pond hoping to find a glimmer of life, but there was none. It used to be teeming with coy, but they had all died suddenly as if a plague had swept through them. It had all started here. The death, the evil and tonight I would restore the balance of life and death. I looked around once more to make sure that I was alone then took out a leather pouch and untied the string. The contents sparkled in the moonlight. Once I threw this in there was no going back, but it was the only way. I took a steadying breath as I moved to drop the ashes into the water when I heard someone yell, “halt!”

Want to read more responses? Here is the link. Have fun!

Writing Exercises: His Senses Were Heightened

I wrote the below response to our latest writing exercise. We had five minutes to write a story using the below three words.

• Crescent
• Buckle
• Pant

“Jake’s muscles strained and pulled causing the shackles around his arms to buckle and then finally to give way. He immediately took off into a run, finding his way out of the stone cellar and into the woods -the trees towering overhead. His senses were heightened, but something was wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen yet. It wasn’t the right time. Jake looked up into the night sky and saw the crescent moon staring back at him. It pulled at him causing his bones to break and reshape. All he could do was run and hope that he could make it to the sanctuary in time. Jake came to a sudden stop panting from the pain and exertion as he came to the edge of a cliff. All was lost, at least for tonight. He never should’ve trusted her.”

You can read the other great responses here!

Writing Exercise: A rush of nerves…

This is my response to one of the writing exercises at our last Ink Slingers Guild meeting.  The three words we had to use were:

• Eloquent
• Rush
• Zombie

The below was written in five minutes.

Eliza stared at William as if she were a zombie. She knew that what he had spoken to her must have been eloquent, but she had to admit that she found herself greatly distracted by his beautiful blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the candlelight. That’s why she was taken by surprise when he took her hand and raised it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss upon it. A rush of nerves made her face flush and she felt a longing that she didn’t understand as she watched him take his leave for the evening.

To read the other fun blurbs that were created with those words go here!

What would you write in five minutes?

Writing Exercise: Golden Idol

On 30 September 2015, these three words were chosen:

• Cankerous
• Flustered
• Treasure

I stared at the golden idol from across the booby trapped floor.  It was the treasure of a lifetime and I had come so far to get to this point.  But why was I hesitating?  Deep down, I knew why.  Rumors of the curse that would fall upon those that would dare disturb the idol had been plaguing me since I heard them.  Forcing out the voice of warning swirling in my head, I moved forward dexterously avoiding a false floor plate that would surely send me to my death.  To my surprise, I did not see the one just after it and I fell but manage to catch myself on the lip of the floor and pull myself back up to safety.  Flustered by my close call, I took a deep breath and continued.  It seemed like another hour before I came face to face with the idol.  It staring me down as much as I it.  I removed the idol from its resting place and half expected the temple to fall down around me, but nothing happened.  I laughed aloud, relieved and pleased by my success.  On my way back to town, my mouth started to bother me.  It felt sore, but I chalked it up to the fact that I hadn’t had a drop of water for what felt like days.  It wasn’t until the next morning, that I knew what was really going on.  My mouth had become a cankerous cesspool. I pulled the idol out of the bag and it now looked at me as if it were laughing.

Writing Exercise: Brings Out Blemishes

Check out these great writing exercises we did last week.

We used the below words to come up with some fun stories in eight minutes.

• Ruby
• Sleep
• Cream
• Irritated

Ruby woke up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes although it felt like she just got to bed.  “Morning already?” she asked out loud irritated.  Most of the night she spent tossing and turning.   She remembered feeling like her face was on fire, what a weird dream she had she thought.  Grudgingly, she slid out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to splash some water on her face.  She felt around the sink for the towel she knew was there, patted her face dry, looked in the mirror and let out a blood curdling scream.  Her face was covered with warts with hair sprouting out from their centers.  Desperately, she reached for the cream she purchased a couple of days ago.  The salesman promised that it would bring out her amazing complexion.  She picked up the bottle and read the fine print, “Warning. Not to be used by witches. Brings out blemishes”.

Mindlessly Stirring

On 16 September 2015, these four words were chosen:

• Reflection
• Terror
• Honey
•  Supernatural

I sat at my desk mindlessly stirring the honey in my tea, lost in thought.  “How did this happen? “ I said aloud holding my head in my hand.  The spell seemed so simple, so easy, a baby could do it.  Once again, I proved that being supernatural wasn’t the fun adventure that movies often depicted.  No, upon reflection, all I’ve succeeded in creating was terror.  The screams outside at least seemed to have subsided.  How could I have known?  All I wanted to do was make the leaves of the trees turn color.  I missed the fall so much.  But instead, the trees took on a life of their own and they were not happy.  All day they’ve been chasing my neighbors up and down the street.  The worst part, my parents were going to be home from their trip to the monthly coven meeting, and boy are they going to be pissed.