Wednesday, April 6, 2011
POS: Fiction Activator
You will be provided with a random fiction-writing prompt. With the exception of indefinite articles, prepositions and pronouns, all of the words in the prompt are off-limits. Begin with a word-storm and develop a passage based upon the prompt that "shows" the reader the content without "telling" too much. Post it here before you begin the "Plagiarism in Song" assignment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
44 comments:
As soon as I got home she started yelling at me! I know she has the right to control me until I am eighteen, but this is ridiculous. All I did was stay out twenty minutes after curfew and she randomly got really mad at me. I probably shouldn’t have talked back but she was being overdramatic. Then we started to fight over the clothes I was wearing and where I was coming home from and even how I got home. I am now grounded for two weeks for being just twenty minutes late last night. She is usually asleep by the time I get home anyway so I was not expecting that. Sometimes she just doesn’t treat me like I am sixteen I swear she thinks I’m still ten. Now I have to go sit in my room and stare at the wall for the next two weeks just because we didn’t agree on one thing, it’s totally not fair!
As soon as I got home she started yelling at me! I know she has the right to control me until I am eighteen, but this is ridiculous. All I did was stay out twenty minutes after curfew and she randomly got really mad at me. I probably shouldn’t have talked back but she was being overdramatic. Then we started to fight over the clothes I was wearing and where I was coming home from and even how I got home. I am now grounded for two weeks for being just twenty minutes late last night. She is usually asleep by the time I get home anyway so I was not expecting that. Sometimes she just doesn’t treat me like I am sixteen I swear she thinks I’m still ten. Now I have to go sit in my room and stare at the wall for the next two weeks just because we didn’t agree on one thing, it’s totally not fair!
This moment was known to be a long time coming. All this poor old man had lived for was nigh meaningless at this point. He had dedicated his very being to killing those who he deemed deserving and now the reaper was closing in fast. He could almost feel the cold steel scythe perforating his skin and severing his veins. It wasn’t like that though, it was externally peaceful. His last moments were spent pondering all he had done with himself and he could do nothing but regret. Faces of young men drenched in the blood of their friends, ligaments missing and faces broken swarmed his mind as his consciousness slipped away from him. He could almost hear the shells bouncing on the ground and smell the mix of blood, sweat, tears and gunpowder. He was back there. He was back where no man is truly a man and all that is held sacred was necessary to defile. It was only then that he wept for what he knew he was to lose. This was his evisceration of mind.
there was a dude from a town far away. no one knew who he was or where he came from. the dude went to the local pub, ordered a beer, and left. no-one ever learned his name, and no-one really thought much about it. later, a u.s. marshall came into town, looking for the dude, who turned out to be a prison escapee. but since no-one payed much attention, they couldnt tell the marshal where the dude went.
Adam smiled to himself, counting the money he had gotten from his regular Tuesday night of passing X off to his 'clients.' "Sweet green." the smug grin never left his face. "They take the pill, I get the dough. I ought to suppose Tony will want a cut of tonight's profit." He put his thick wad of cash into his wallet. "Tomorrow... maybe." Adam whistled on as he came across Tony himself, under a dim lamppost. "Well, Adam?" "You know, same old same old." "You say that every night. Does this mean that I can assume-" "When I get some cash flow, I'll let tou know." said Adam, his hand nervously gripping the leather pouch in his pocket. "Wrong." "Excuse me, Tony?" Before he knew it, the back of his head was struck and the world went white. By the time he could blink back into focus, he was already being struck into a shady oblivion... It was hours before he awoke. "Tony, c'mon man, this is crazy!" Adam said through a fat, bloody lip. "I'm missing teeth, man!" "Shut your yap, Adam, you've been laundering cash from me for the past year, and you know it!" "I dunno, man, but this is crazy!" "Enough talking" "Crazy!!" Tony had Adam tied up in the back of his own car, a few henchmen in there with them. Tony drove Adam's sweet lexus to the suburbs. "Are you taking me home?" "To hell, I am." Just a few blocks off from his abode, Adam was thrown onto the sidewalk. His body tumbled, gaining severe road rash on his body; if Tony hadn't stolen his thick winter coat, the one which contained his heavy wallet, he wouldn't have been ripped up so bad. In the middle of the February night, Adam bled and froze whilst wallowing in his own lonliness. By the time the morning had arrived, Adam was rushed off in an ambulance [summoned by the neighbors]. His mother, sister, and girlfriend were at his side once he was declared stable. In a coma, yes, but stable... "Who did this?" asked Angela. "Why would anyone do this to him?!" Only Adam and Tony would know.
He was not the best employee, but he wanted respect. Every bit of his time outside of work was spent offering his time to help people. Making people’s lives better, even a little at a time, was his life’s work. He was not of the strange type, but his constant efforts made him seem odd. That was all he ever wanted to be; the odd one out, the lone wolf. His kindness was the only aspect of his life he wanted to be remembered for. Money and business came last.
“Hey John, how are those oxidization titration reaction spreadsheets coming”
John replied with a startled “oh crap! I need to get those done now.”
And right before he could run off to the lap to prepare the potassium permanganate solutions he got a call from his sons schools principal. “Ugh again, alright I’ll be down to pick him up on my lunch break”
As John walks angrily down to his car, annoyed, thinking about that delicious turkey sandwich he has, and the reports hes going to be late on, he decides hes done babying his son. “I’m a nuclear chemist for Christ’s sake, and he can’t even sit in a chair correctly” he thinks to himself as he pulls into the school. “I tried as hard as I could, sat through hours of work with that kid, and nothing” as anger falls, sadness sets in. He remembers his wife’s ovarian cancer, and he remembers that this is his only son. Baffled that he gave up so easily, he decides to never give up again, and try as hard as he can, for as long as he can to do everything he can for his son.
- David Littlefield
Mike and Joey are enemies who are trying to challenge each other for a girl they both would like to date. The two boys are coming up with ways to take her on a date and make sure one is better than the other. Mike decides to take her to Fire and Ice in Providence, it’s a starry night and the weather is nice and warm. After dinner the two take a stroll around the providence area and hold hands. The warmth outside makes the night better and the two laugh the whole time. Joey decides to bring the girl to the beach and have a picnic at the beach for the two with candles and the sound of the ocean in the background. The evening is romantic and the conversation between the two never seem to end, after dinner they get up and decide to walk at the edge of the water getting a little wet. Each night ended with a kiss and the boys felt that their date was the better than the other one.
She had just hung up with her friend on the phone. The girl could not believe what had happened; it couldn’t be true. She was informed that her significant other had been having another relationship on the side. He had a separate affiliation with a girl, while also with his current girlfriend. Upon finding out, the current girlfriend grows insane. In her room, she lets out her anger as she kicks and beats her wall and mattress. She calls him and yells and screams, confessing her hurt feelings. She felt betrayed and used. After hanging up on him, she searched her brain for an answer as to what would make him want to be unfaithful. Did she do something wrong? Did she force him into the arms of another girl? It takes her awhile to calm herself down after receiving the unwanted news, but she was able to overcome her episode of insanity.
Taylor Saltmarsh
Sitting all by her in an empty room filled with old stuffed animals whose faces had plastered smiles and bright eyes and a bed she laid in at night and cried. She sometimes would talk to the animals that never judged her and never thought she was too harsh, they always would sit there and smile back at her. Out the window she sees the faces of people she knows just a few people who say her words are too harsh and thinks that she has a certain social awkwardness about her. She walks down the empty hallway of her two story house, goes to the kitchen which still smells of burnt eggs and toast. Its dark and the coldness of the tile floor sends chills up her spine, and then it happens. The aloof woman gets an angry feeling and loses control, because that’s what always happens. It’s always the small things, this time it’s the stain on her snow white carpet which will never come out, no matter how much Oxi-Clean she douses it with. She screams and yells until she passes out and dreams another time.
Standing scared and unsure in the middle of an office building it’s her first day on the job, nothing’s going right. Friendly people smile and wave, and then it happens. She screams insults and empty threats at her brand new co-workers; they stare blankly, call security, and fire her all in an instant. She wakes up in a cold sweat drags her feet back up the stairs of her empty house. Opens her bedroom door, crawls into bed and cries herself to sleep out of shear loneliness and dreams of another time.
The end of the school year means only one thing for tired and anxious students: end of the year exams. Everyone is yearning, dying to get outside of the school walls that are encasing them in a place in which they wish not to be any longer. It is ninety degrees outside, which means the temperature inside is much higher due to the excess of body heat.
It was the last exam of the day, the last exam before school ended. In Mr. Maki’s English class, students sat at their assigned seats. Dripping with sweat, heat waves permeating off of their desks, the students aggressively swiped their pencils across the damp pages of their tests. The exams were a mess; crinkled and smudged from the sweaty palms of each student. All everyone wanted to do was to finish as quickly as possible and excitedly run out the front doors to the soft, sandy beaches that surround the cool, exhilarating waters of the ocean.
This was what was running through everyone’s head: the vision of bare feet running through the sand, tasting the sweet ice cream on jumping taste buds. That was everyone; everyone except one student. She sat in the back corner of the room, segregated from all of her other peers. This last exam meant everything to her, as did every other exam she had taken that week. School was important, she had to do her best, be the best. Biting her nails, nervously tapping her pencil up and down on her desk, she began to break down. What was she going to do? How was she supposed to answer the essay question? It had to be a riveting piece of writing, but she had no idea how to go about answering it? Everyone was passing in their exams while she sat at her desk glaring at the clock above Mr. Maki’s desk. All of a sudden it hit her like a bat hitting a baseball. Her pencil began as quickly as a bullet leaving a gun and her hand worked rapidly to finish. The bell rang and she continued working. Mr. Maki became irritated; he wanted to go home, be done with teaching for the summer.
An hour later, Mr. Maki sat in the only room that was not vacated in the school. The halls were empty of all students, teachers, and assignment papers. Agitated and annoyed, Mr. Maki began glancing through the exams, pasting a letter on the front page that seemed suitable for each student. The last exam, the exam that belongs the student who sat in the back of the classroom. For some unknown reason, Mr. Maki settled in his seat, eager to read her writing. As he finished reading, he sat staring at the blank words on the page. He pasted a grade and went home.
That night, he began thinking about that last exam. Why had she written something so lost in meaning? Then, an epiphany occurred; he had not read between the lines and had given her the wrong grade. He rushed back to the school, late in the night, quiet streets, and reworked the final lettering on the top of the exam.
Meagan Elliott
Period D
It was about 11pm on a Thursday in June, which marked the first official night of the last day of school. The air was chilly, especially right off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and called for a sweatshirt, of some sort. The eager 6th grader was indifferent to the cool wind coming off the ocean and danced around on the beach with excitement, occasionally dipping his feet into the water. He couldn’t wait until the hot July weather warmed up the water so he could spend every second of his 3 months off in his favorite place. His anticipation turned into anxiousness and soon his dipping of the toes became him going head first into the water. Goose bumps took over his body, but he felt nothing more than joy to be back. “Time to come in!” he heard a woman call from his house up the boardwalk. He slowly made his way out of the water, teeth chattering, and returned home.
Courtney
It might have been a simple competition to anyone else, but to her it was everything. Years and years of practice have culminated into this moment, this grand opportunity to succeed. First came the figure skating, then luge runs a day after, followed by snowboarding, curling, and to close out the season, cross country skiing. Her parents thought of her as a prodigy, and indeed she was, but she did not feel the same. She saw herself as an ordinary young woman wishing to accomplish extraordinary feats. If that meant that she was special, then so be it. Status was never a concern for her; all that mattered was achieving her goals. This competition would decide her fate as an athlete, and facing that decision could end her or provide a new beginning. She was ready to face either outcome.
There was a huge crowd at the stadium. A musical group from back in the day was going to perform again. The drummer was setting up on stage and the lead singer was practicing the vocals in the back. Since they haven’t performed in a long time they were really excited but also, extremely nervous. When the time came for them to start it was exhilarating. They could hear the crowd shouting out their names as if they were the most popular and new musical group in the world. They took their places on stage and the certain went up. The crowd went ecstatic with joy screaming and clapping. They performed for hours on end and that’s not counting the encores they did. After the show there was an autograph signing and so many fans showed up. They signed and took photos for so long but everyone wanted to meet them. When they were leaving they got to their tour bus and many fans were standing near it. After that they finally got onto the tour bus to leave. On the bus they talked about how much fun they actually had and how they couldn’t wait to do it again the next day. Then they drove off as they heard the crowds disappear.
by kelsey costa.
period d.
Crack! All of a sudden, he felt a gentle but violent breeze go by his clean shaven face. He ducked down and stumbled into the middle of the aisle. The crowd gave a loud gasp but the awe struck man paid no attention. he was too focused on the small rubber puck that lay to the side of his girlfriend. Quickly he dove onto it before the other fans flocked to it. He managed to right himself amongst the scuffle and held his prize up high as he was applauded by the entire arena. As he basked in his glory paramedics rushed to the aid of his girlfriend, her eye gushing blood like the breached levies in New Orleans. He turned around only to notice her in a stretcher being taken the aisle. He shrugged and continued to watch the rest of the game without leaving to check on her. When he arrived home at 2am he was greeted by the empty closet space once occupied by his formes lover's belongings. She wasn't coming back. When later asked if he regreted his actions, re replied, "not at all, it was the playoffs!"
The main character of this story feels very insecure about how he/she feels about her recent gallery work and wants the recognition without having too much publicity. Since the character was born with both girl and boy genes it's hard to decide which gender it is. Always dressed as a tom-boy even as an adult. When the main character turns 45 he/she will change career paths from being an artist to some sort of professional actor.
Juliana Ahern
They were inseparable, attached at the hip. Any chance they got, they spent as much time as they could together. Sometimes it was endless hours, sometimes just short minutes. Either way, Ben and Lilly loved the time spent with each other. They had everything in common and never ran out of things to talk about. Lilly most enjoyed sitting with him,on his old, worn-down deck, watching the stars grow brighter and brighter. They would both be so transfixed by the darkening sky, they forgot to speak. But that never bothered them; their company was all that was needed. Ben gently brushed her light hair away from her face, making the butterflies in her stomach flutter. He reminds her its getting late and doesn’t want her parents to worry. She reluctantly unglued her eyes from the sky and nods her head.
Within the past few months, the town’s most productive farmer has visibly been fuming over the imposed taxes on farm products. The tax itself cut the farmer’s pay in half. With a wife and two sons at home, he needs the money to support his family. Outraged with the new tax, the farmer invented a plan to torture the town committee. With the side money that he had saved throughout his lengthy, dull life, the farmer bought a small family of hornets from Western Indo-China. The hornets were rare specimens, costing the farmer ten dollars per hornet. However, these hornets posed as a very dangerous threat, as one sting can be fatal. After growing his army of the hornets to well over two thousand, the farmer prepared to carry out his plan. During the next town meeting, the farmer carried two giant jugs covered with a black silk quilt made by an elderly woman in farmer’s motherland of Russia. When the meeting began, the farmer let loose a pestilence of the hornets from West Indo-China. The hornets had not been fed for two days and were blatantly eager to find food. However, the people of the meeting were blocking the way for these hornets to escape into the fields for the tangy nectar that they were seeking. Thus, the massacre began.
Daniel Sugar-D
A young male child is on the ranch and a bovine steps on his cup. It becomes submerged in the wet ground but the kid consumes the liquid from the cup no matter what. But a negative consequence of this action is a severe infection of the kidneys that requires the child to have a dialisys three days per week.
Allie C.- Yours sounds like its about a mother and daughter having issues
Juliana A.- Yours sounds like it about a coulpe who are in love.
@ Jared F.
An oylpic athelete wishes to prove all the "preconviced" thoughts people have about her
David L
@ Allie C.
An overdramatic teenaged girl gets grounded for staying out past curfew
John K.- Yours seem like its about a criminal who recently escaped and no one can tell the cops where he went because he did not draw attention to himself.
@ Leo L
A self-righteous vigilantes last minutes on earth.
K. Platt- A drug dealer gets beat up by one of his clients.
@ John K
Prisoner escapes and because of humanitys selfish nature, he mannages to elude the law.
Mike W- A selfless man who would rather sepnd his time helping people than making money.
Rob, I like the story here. It's sort of dark humor, but not morbidly dark. The fact that this guy pays more attention to the hockey puck in his hand than his severely injured girlfriend shows how guys can be a bit too excited about sports. I think its a funny little story.
Leo- I think your prompt had to do with a man dying at war and the slow death he died. It was really well-written!
John- I think your prompt was about a prisoner who successfully escaped from jail.
Mike- I think yours was about a man who highly valued the kindness .
Jaron- I think yours was about a girl who finds out her boyfriend cheated on her but then gets over it.
Courtney- I think your prompt was about a boy who is enjoying the last day of school/ the beginning of summer.
Jared- I think yours was about someone trying to accomplish their life dream to be in the Olympics.
Taylor- A woman who is lonely but doesn’t want to be and is really sad.
Prompt guesses:
Dave: Chemist father goes to pick up son and forgives him for being bad because he can’t have more kid
Leo: Mafia member/gang member regrets his violent life as he is dying of old age
John: A fugitive effortlessly slips through a town and out of a US Marshalls grasp; he is escaping with success.
Mike: A kindly entrepreneur [of some sort] is seen as a gregarious figure.
Jared: Eager and optimistic Olympic contestant [female]
Rob: Hockey enthusiast [who seems obsessed] kills his girlfriend in order to get the playoff puck.
Juliana: Young love
Dan: Farmer’s child drinks from a broken cup that livestock [Perhaps a cow, considering the mentioning of the word “bovine”] has tread on; child becomes ill
Stefanie- Two boys try to compete for the same girl's love.
Allie C. – It is about the disconnected relationship between a mother and her daughter.
Leo L. - A man is dying a slow death and everything that happened to him from being at war comes back to him rapidly and it negatively affects him.
John K. – A prison escapee enters a town but everyone is so caught up in themselves they were unable to identify any usable evidence for the police.
K. Platt – Two men have a relationship like no other and they share secrets that no one will ever know the reality of.
Mike W. – A selfless man contemplates his existence and what purpose for him being in the world.
Stefanie W. – Two enemies have challenged each other to see who can set the perfect date with a girl and in the end they both find themselves to be the best.
Jaron C. – A man cheats on his girlfriend and she finds out and has trouble contemplating the reason as to why he did it and blames herself.
Meagan Elliott
Jaron C- A girl hears from her friend that her boyfriend is cheating on her.
@ Katie P
A drug dealer who launders money from his friend suffers revenge.
@ Mike W
A man whos sole purpose in life is kindness.
@ Courtney W
A boy anticipates summer on the last night of school, and longs for the fun hes going to havev
Allie C.: An argument between a mother and her child.
Leo L.: A man thinking back to when he was in war.
Mike W.: A man who was not concerned with materialistic items and wants to be known for the kind person he is.
David L.: A man is upset about his current life, but soon realizes that he needs to enjoy what he has and be happy.
Stefanie W.: Two boys that are in a conflict over a girl.
Courtney W.: A boy celebrating the beginning of summer.
Jared F.: A girl who is extremely good at sports and has trained to compete in multiple events at the Winter Olympics.
John Keay, yours may have been, "a prisoner wondered into a town and no one knew who he was"
Mike W., Yours may have been, "A hardworking man wanted nothing but to help people and did not care about money"
Stefanie, yours might have been, “Two rival boys searched for the same prom date”
Jaron C., yours may have been, “A woman goes crazy on finding out about her boyfriend’s affair.”
Courtney, yours might be, “a young boy awaits the start of vacation only to go back inside”
Jared F., yours may have been, “fate on a race”
Rob, yours may have been, “Wind in New Orleans”
Allie C. - A young girl who is mad at her mom for treating her like she is a child.
Leo L. – A man who is dying is reliving his bad memories.
John K. – A man who escaped from prison was on the run.
K. Platt- A man is outside minding his own business when he suddenly gets robbed by a man.
Mike W. A kind man who works at a business but it’s like the last thing on his mind.
David L. – A man who lost his wife and only has his son left that never wants to give up again.
Stefanie. – Two friends both like the same girl and they both try to win her over.
Jaron C. – A girl who lost her mind because her boyfriend cheated.
Taylor S. – A awkward lady who doesn’t really have anyone.
Courtney W. – A child who is going out because it’s summer vacation.
Jared F. – An athlete who wants to win.
Juliana A. – A couple who is madly inlove.
Dan S. –A child who has to go through kidney infection
kelseycosta
I think this is what we were supposed to do...
Allie: A girl comes home after curfew and is angered by the consequences.
John: An escaped convict passes through a town and when an attempt to apprehend him is made no one knows where he went.
Mike W: A philanthropist is a loner.
Dittlefield: A scientist's son is a troublemaker, and he hopes that through loving him he can reform him.
Stefanie: Mike and Joey are enemies who are trying to challenge each other for a girl they both would like to date.
J-Fitch: An Olympic athlete prepares to compete.
J-Cote: A girl is pissed off after her boyfriend is cheating on her.
-Leo
Leo, I think that your prompt had to do with a man dying and his last few moments on earth.
Dave, I think your prompt was about a man who lost almost everything, but holds onto the last thing that truly matters in his life.
Stefanie, your prompt seems to have been about two enemies who do something for the point of competing against each other and nothing else, but end up enjoying the competition in the end.
Courtney, was your prompt about a boy happy to be on summer vacation?
Jaron, I’m guessing that your prompt is about a character who grows angry because of someone else, but learns to control it.
Jared, was your prompt about an athlete who works hard to achieve her lifelong goal?
Kelsey, I think your prompt had to do with a band about to play a show together after not playing for years.
Screaming with fright after the obnoxious events that had previously happened, it seemed too real to be something from a fiction novel. So after the huge sound of screaming from down the hall, the guy comes out with a BB gun and tries to get more fear from this chick in a scary witch costume and scenery. but turns out the girl unveils herself from her freaky costume and the guy totally discentigrates from the innocent view of a celebrity offering candy to little kids.
Courtney- Ralph jumped into the ocean for a swim.
Allie- A girl is punished for not obeying her mother.
Leo- A soldier is becoming old.
John- A menacing inmate is on the escape from jail.
Dan- A cow steps on a kid’s cup and drinks the liquid that existed in it.
Mike W- Some man lives a life based on kindness.
Jaron- A girl is heartbroken and furious after learning her broken broke up with her.
Post a Comment