Our prompt this week:
“I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.”
Category Archives: Writing
Play With The Prose VI, Challenge 1
This is my third time playing in this writing contest. In my previous two attempts, I reached the semifinals and the finals. With 18 contestants this time, it’s going to be tough to get that far again.
In this contest, the moderator is providing us with a quote for inspiration, and then we just run with it.Once again, judges are awarding medals and after twelve challenges, the top three contestants in each division will make the playoffs. This week’s inspiration:
Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi
Word Limit: 318
August, 1995
“Ready? Set? Go!”
His son was getting quicker, perhaps even a little smarter. But he had a long way to go. Gary deftly hopped over the jousting stick and on the way down landed a blow right behind the shoulder blades. His son collapsed off his platform.
“You okay, sport?”
“Yeah, Dad. Let’s go again. This time, I’m knocking you down!”
“Tell you what, let’s take a break from that and try the atlaspheres.”
His son’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yep! I think you’re ready.” They walked to the backyard where Gary had set up the course as well as the two giant hamster balls. He opened up the door on the first one and urged his son inside.
“Um…”
He could tell his son was scared. “Look, I know you’re frightened. But I can assure you it’s completely safe. And if you’re ever going to be an American Gladiator–and I know you will be– you have to train early.”
His son beamed. Nothing made Gary more happy than knowing that his son shared his dream. A dream that ended six years ago when the producers chose the better looking Rico Constantino over him.
“Dinner time!” Mom’s voice shattered the shared moment.
“But Mom! Dad’s letting me use the atlasphere!”
She shot a glance at Gary before responding. “Now Force, remember what I said?”
“Yeah, Mom,” he groaned. “A true gladiator eats well and obeys his mother.”
“That’s right, Force,” Mom said. “Oh, and Gary, before you come in will you put the air cannon in the garage? I don’t want to scare the neighbors.”
K: Utilizing a pro wrestler? SOMEone knows me (Rico Constantino worked as a pro wrestler for some years after his stint on Gladiators). As a story, it’s certainly charming, and the gags work as intended, though I don’t feel like we got any kind of resolution at the end. It’s great for an anecdote and okay for a story.
CP: I don’t know what I was expecting from this prompt, but it definitely wasn’t this! I like the goofiness of the situation, but ultimately this feels more like a joke than an actual story–nothing really happens to our main characters. Some of the writing also feels cliched, such as the son’s eyes lighting up, or redundant, such as the sentence stating Gary could tell his son was scared, which isn’t necessary given the dialog that immediately follows it.
Don’t ask how the Sound of Music inspired me to write this. Anyway, no argument here about the judge’s comments. It was a very weak story, but at least I got some gags in.
Survivor XV, Challenge 15: Best Served Cold
For this challenge I teamed up with Bret, my former teammate. He wrote a story about a reason for revenge, and I wrote the revenge served cold.
Continue reading Survivor XV, Challenge 15: Best Served Cold
Survivor XV, Challenge 14: The Mole
Write a story about a group of characters working towards the same goal, while one of them, obviously, is not on the same page. Word Limit: 1500
Survivor XV, Challenge 12: Old Job, New Job
I’m back from my honeymoon, so it’s time to catch ya’ll up on how things are going in Survivor. I wrote two stories while on the plane and did no editing, so please forgive me. This week we had to write about someone who takes elements of their old job and puts it into their new job.
Continue reading Survivor XV, Challenge 12: Old Job, New Job
Survivor XV, Challenge 11: Success
This week we got to choose to write a story where all the characters fail at everything they do, or all the characters succeed at everything they do. I took the latter. Word Limit: 700
Survivor XV, Challenge 10: The Hook
We had 100 words to tell the beginning of the story that introduces no characters.
Zork 1: The Great Underground Empire
Publisher: Infocom
Developer: Infocom
Year: 1980
Platform: Everything
Yes, Zork was the most important computer game of the early 1980’s. Perhaps even more important than King’s Quest. You are standing in an open field, west of a white house, is quite possibly the most well-known line in adventure games. It laid the foundation for many wonderful things to come. And it was an incredibly impressive, engaging adventure when it was released. But other than nostalgia, it has little going for it after all these years.
Survivor XV, Challenge 9: Damn Mutants
So we have a guy who’s developed a superpower, but ends up not dealing with it so well. Word limit of 300.
Survivor XV, Challenge 8: Bygones
This we had a choice. We could either write a eulogy about someone the character disdained, or write a wedding toast where the toaster had been romantically involved with the bride or groom. I chose the latter.
Death By Troggles 
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