The plot for this one came pretty quickly to me, but as soon as I started writing it sprawled out of control with too many characters and not enough theme to hold them all together. Also, I’m not sure a single Beatles pun counts as “satire”. But it was exciting as I wrote, trying to cram everything I was thinking into words on the page. It just needs a lot of work before it’s properly readable. That’s how first drafts usually work: there’s something good or fun in it, but it takes work to communicate that to the reader.
If you want to try your hand at this exercise, please link or post your version in the comments below!
When ‘satire’ was selected as our genre, Robert said he was just relieved it wasn’t romance, which is how I got to the idea of a werewolf breakup. I like the idea of a regular apartment building inhabited by both regular mortals and monsters, in a sort of uneasy truce – I’m adding that to my idea list for a later date! For now, I hope you enjoy the drama of Rodrick and Helen.
Let me know what you think, and if you try this exercise, please let us know!
Our Friday Freewriting process is this: One of us fetches the prompts from random online generators, the other handles timing the segements of the exercise. When we’re done, we read our stories out loud to each other before posting. I really do love seeing what we each come up with; but there are definitely times that I have to suppress a twinge of jealousy. Robert’s idea to set his story in pre-history with his main character inventing and improvising during his hunt is fun. I ended up with a main character who nearly dies of self-inflicted stupidity. I nearly did have him freeze to death, but I know enough folks in Search and Rescue that I decided to write his survival instead. People don’t let people freeze to death if they can help it. So Jonathan and Samantha are able to continue their ill-advised trek through the mountains in the winter.
As usual, if you end up writing a story to go with these prompts, I’d love to see it. Stay safe out there, friends.
We weren’t able to post anything last week, and this week we both took significantly more than the allotted time to complete this exercise. Rationally, we know that nobody’s hurt by this and everything is okay, but it still feels like failure. It feels like one of the try-fail cycles that the exercise talks about. But I’m trying to think of them, not so much as try-fail cycles, as try-learn cycles.
For example, I’ve learned the differences between a mammoth and a mastodon. I’ve also learned that research takes time away from writing.
In fact, the prompts were not that difficult:
Character: Skier
Object: Bowl
Genre/Tone: Historical.
Moreover, I’m actually kinda satisfied with the story that resulted; it needs a lot of work, but it’s basically coherent and even has a couple exciting moments. I might use it as an exercise in editing sometime. I really liked Megan’s dark survival story, too, and I liked that we both took “bowl” in poetic rather than literal directions. So in the end, I’m happy to have plenty to learn from in this week’s writing.
I hope you’re learning things from this, too, and even more from your own writing. If you’re joining us in these (or any other exercises), feel free to share or link in the comments!
Keeping things simple is hard for me. I always want to overcomplicate things, especially with prompts like these:
Character: Sailor
Object: Thumbtack
Genre/Tone: Fantasy/Mystery
But keeping things simple is the key to actually completing a story in this exercise. And I think I did okay, especially given the “mystery” aspect, though I’m not sure I managed to make clear enough how the magic worked. Obviously, it could stand some editing; but I think it’s not bad for a first draft.
Let me know if you think this works as a story, or if you see holes in it. And if you want to try your hand at these prompts, please put the results in the comments, or link to wherever you post it!
This was a fun prompt! I haven’t read much in the mystery genre, so I definitely failed to incorporate that aspect. I think that ghosts are mysterious; and I do love a ghost story. I really like what I named the ship. I might swipe it for other stories. If nothing else, this exercise creates great fodder for other stories.
As always, if you end up using this prompt or any of the other prompts we’ve tried, please let us know – we’d love to see what you come up with! Here’s the format we’re using, if you need a refresher!
This week’s prompts got me so interested in how a fantasy character would fit into a sci-fi world that I nearly forgot to include the object, and I struggled to get anywhere near a plot. I forced something through, kinda, and I think I could make something of this with a little more time and space; but by the time I figured out where I was going, the opportunity to fill it out was basically gone.
This week’s prompts:
Character: Demigod
Object: Deodorant
Genre/Tone: Sci-fi
Of course, I almost forgot to include the Object prompt at all.
If you want to try this exercise yourself, drop your story (or a link to wherever you post it) in the comments below!
As I remember, whenever gods show up in Star Trek, they end up being aliens with advanced technology, but they aren’t actually divinities. So with this prompt I wondered what it would be like to be a real demigod in a world of Star Trek-like technology. This is not a full exploration of that possibility, but it was a fun start. I think that adding deordorant to the mix just begs for a funny, light-hearted story. And maybe that’s ok. As usual, if you end up trying the prompt, I’d love to read what you come up with!
I wasn’t sure what to do when the genre randomizer gave us “drama” as a prompt for this week’s exercise. Isn’t “drama” the foundation of all stories and genres? Valued stakes at risk, conflict in pursuing goals?
But the “drama” section on my streaming platforms usually recommends character-driven stories without other significant elements: contemporary settings, no magic, maybe a little action or romance or mystery but not as the primary plot. Mostly stories about characters overcoming some inner struggle.
So that’s what I tried for with these prompts:
Character: Pianist
Object: Feathers
Genre/Tone: Drama
I don’t know how well I managed to create a compelling character drama, but at least I managed my lowest word-count yet: just four hundred words. (The original exercise aims for two hundred fifty words!)
Let me know what you think! And if you feel inspired to try the exercise yourself, post it in the comments!
The recording studio felt like a large practice room: the same muffling on the walls carried the same musty smell and the same dulling of all sounds to bare thumps. Amanda much preferred the live bright spaces of a stage or even an open-air amphitheater. But she was not here by choice.
Her band leader Lisa, the bassist in their jazz trio, had accepted a challenge to create the most original piece of music, and had bet all their gear on winning the challenge. Now she was stuffed with a baby grand in the most uncreative space she could imagine.
She sat at the keyboard and put the headphones over her ears. They were they only way she could hear Lisa and Gretchen, their drummer. They were each sealed off in separate rooms so that their individual instruments could be recorded without interference from each other. But it was the interference that made the harmonies, that made the dissonance, that made the music. And the first take was an utter failure: a simple ii-V-III-vi loop with the least inspired melody Amanda had ever played. She hated it.
When the engineer called for a break, Amanda turned to open the door. She needed to talk to the others, but the studio was a labyrinth and somehow she opened a door to the alley in back, where the stench of the dumpsters slapped her in the face. A pair of pigeons hopped down from the eaves and into the isolation room with her piano. “No, get out!” She chased the birds around the instrument, but as soon as she got close to one, the other would escape into the sound box or across the keyboard. And she stopped, and listened. Notes she’d never put together before. She turned and shut the door, locking the birds in with her. Amid the flying feathers, she sat back at the keyboard and said to the engineer, “Okay, I’m ready.”
At the end of the day, she ushered the pigeons out of the recording booth, and met her bandmates in the greenroom. Posters and headshots covered the walls, and the scent of cinnamon potpourri covered the sweaty musk, but neither Lisa nor Gretchen were looking anywhere else except at Amanda. “Where did you get those chords? Those melodies? Those… noises?”
“Oh, it’s just something a little bird told me.” She smiled, confident they’d keep their gear.
Did I lean into melodrama? Yes. But since this is a timed exercise, I went with my first idea and stuck with it. I did not do any research into the timing between the male birds molting tail feathers and when the chicks would hatch, apologies to any ornithologist readers! I also totally made up the name Pembledom, please do not judge me too harshly.
I know I’ve said it before, but this is a fun exercise. I like the near chaos (you never know what the prompts will be), but the structure/instruction is always the same. There are other great writing exercises out there, but this one just hits a sweet spot for me. I’d love to see if anyone else does this prompt! Thank you for reading!
