Inspiration from Reddit

With some hesitation and meekness, I decided to join Reddit for their writing prompt subreddit. It was meek in the sense that I was amped up and started to create an account but mere seconds after I wondered what sort of people wrote there and I started to read some of the stuff in the front and damn I got scared by the difference. Minutes went by and I wondered if my writing was good enough for them. It ended with my mouse button hovering over "sign up" and my inner mind screaming me to click it.

Well, here's my first comment to a writing prompt from Reddit! The prompt was made by username "EdgarAllanHobo" and titled:

You saw something you shouldn't have. If only you'd have gone to school/work like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened.

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Not like this.

Young Ben trod on the road at a fast speed which made him almost collide with several other strollers. The people would react instinctively with a frown and an open mouth ready to bring out a tirade of complaints but would hesitate and move on. Probably because it wouldn’t help at all when the respondent just focused on the ground like he had an eye-stare contest with it. Combine this with the furrowed brows and clenched teeth made Ben look like a boiling kettle ready to explode upon impact. And no stroller would prefer hot boiling water rained upon them.

It began with some cravings for sweets. This simple notion was the start to the disaster. Due to the cravings Ben made a detour to the local candy store, it would just take fifteen minutes more and he had ample of time before school began.
The mistake was glancing at the dark alley on the back side of the candy shop and noticed a familiar figure standing with a stranger figure. The familiar one was Ben’s own mother and she talked in a hushed voice while pointing at a black garbage bag that the stranger held. The stranger, a taller man with the back turned to Ben seemed to shake his head which made the mother give a stare that Ben knew all too well. She gave that stare to Ben when he told his mum that he was feeling sick because he didn’t want to go to school. She gave Ben that stare when Ben didn’t help wash the dishes.

The stare seemed to have an effect on the taller man, he took a step back and waved with his hand that didn’t hold the black trash bag. The woman nodded and the man opened up the bag to show what was inside.

Ben registered the colors red and blue before his brain screamed for him to stop looking, but it was too late. He walked briskly towards school.

When he arrived in the classroom and walked directly to his spot without even greeting anyone, his classmates knew something was up. But no one dared to interrupt the unfocused gaze and half open mouth that Ben showed. It took a few more moments more before a classmate went up and asked how Ben was feeling.

“I saw mom buying my secret birthday present,” said Ben sourly. “And Breath of the Wild is not even included.”

Writing Exercise 2

Writing Exercise from Writing Excuse 10.2

Take a story idea and change the genre underneath it.

Link for source.

So this time, it's about viewing a story in a different perspective. What would happen if Harry Potter was written by George R.R. Martin, how would you try to write that style? Or if a horror was turned into a children's night time story? Imagine a rendition about Cthulu's first day in school!

The first idea for me was to write about Tom and Jerry, the comical duo that always brought laughter in my childhood. So... let's see how it goes.

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No more.

The grey cat crawled slowly towards its target. Eyes dilated and unfocused, a manic stare that would creep anyone out. 

No more hurting.

The target, a light brown mouse, was hiding behind a yellow teapot quivering in fear. The cat was acting strange, it was usually annoyed by the mouse's pranks but this time the mouse might have gone too far. 

No more.

Sounds of shattered glass exploded in the kitchen as the cat smashed the teapot into the wall. The mouse took the opportunity to dart away, targeting a small escape hole near the kitchen sink. The path was obstructed by kitchen utensils like a rolling pin, whisk and several buckets filled with some yellow white goo. The mouse ran zig-zag between the objects, hoping that the items would hinder the cat from catching up. With no sounds coming from the back, the mouse took a quick glance to see the cats position and noticed that the cat hasn't moved from its spot. The gray feline merely stared far away with its long fluffy tail swishing back and forth. 

Relief was apparent on the mouses face, never the less, the mouse continued to dash towards the exit with all its might. Only to crash into the wall.

Blinded by confusion and pain from the concussion the vermin tries to blink away the white bright stars inside his eyes. He was sure that he ran into the small hole but must have gone too far to the left when he glanced back towards the cat during the run.

The cat started to move now, slow but determined. Eyes unblinking. This time the cat moved with consideration for the utensils, avoiding every hinder with care.  

The brown mouse tried to shake away the pain while using its right hand to search for the hole but unable to find it. He took a look on the wall and noticed that there was no hole. Only a black colored spot, as dark as his hopes to escape. And a big shadow looms over the mouse.

No more.

Writing Exercise 1

Writing Exercise from Writing Excuse 10.2

Take two ideas and combine them into one story.

Writing Excuse is a podcast that gives perspective on storytelling and writing, I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago and found their talks both funny and informative so I would recommend it to people that are interested in writing a story but struggles with the process.

Here's a link for the one I used for my exercise.

So I need to combine two ideas into one story… I glanced towards my bookshelf for inspiration and the first two things that popped was “Batman Year One” and “Crisis on Infinite Earth” so my thoughts drifted to Batman and Superman.

What is the idea of Batman? Not so sure, honestly – my first thought was about a man set on revenge against crime. Since he didn’t have any superpowers he needed to rely on his brilliant analytical skills and mental discipline to be as efficient as possible. With money, brains and a drive that could rival the ego of Salvador Dali anything was possible. He may seem like an unstoppable force, but deep down he’s still a broken human crying for his dead parents.

So the first idea is in short “A strong man on the outside but a baby on the inside. Needs to grieve some way about his dead parents”.

 Let’s take a look at Superman.

So Superman, Superman…an almighty alien that wants to be accepted by Earths inhabitants. He tries to do so first by just living incognito and blend in, but all the crime and evil that happens makes him want to help society as best as he can. But in his own ways.

“Alien offers social service and wants to be accepted by humans. It’s good to know that the alien has a different view on morals and social ethics.”

So if we combine these two…

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“What do you think about this?” asked the green big tentacle monster pointing with one of his arms towards the streets.

“Honestly, I’m not so sure you know the definition of what clean means,” sighed James.

“But I double-checked it with Oxfords Dictionary!” wailed the monster and quickly produced said dictionary from one of his extremities. “Look, it says free from dirt, marks or stains!”

“Yes. But. That. Doesn’t. Mean. To. Paint. It. All. BLACK!” said James with increasing volume on each word.

The said street area was all painted in the color of darkness. Covering every nook and cranny from the walking pavement to the sewer drains, heck even the traffic lights looked like giant licorice candies.

“Look, even the crosswalks are black!” screamed James in a higher pitch than before. “What were you thinking Mixxie?”

“It’s Mxe,” said the green monster with its arms coiled around itself in a sour manner. “And of course I would paint it black, those white lines get dirty so easily.”

“They need to be white so the pedestrians know where to cross over,” said James, pronouncing each word like he had gravel in his mouth. “Same with the traffic lights, without the different color lights the cars don’t know when to stop or when to continue.”

Mxe gave James a look with his only eye and sighed.

“Look, I’m sorry. Again,” he said. “But all this…” and flailed with his tentacles “…is so hard!”

James went closer to Mxe and gave one of the tentacles a squeeze of comfort.

“I know,” he said. “I know you are trying your hardest. It’s just that everything is going so fast. My parents dies and I discover that they’ve been hiding you from the world. When I take you to the police to figure out the next step and all hell breaks loose…”

James interrupts himself and looks down on the black ground, face distorted in pinched eyebrows, tight lips and moist eyes.

Mxe gave James a confused look before understanding dawned upon the monster and it quickly gave James soothing hug.

“Haven’t had time to grieve yet, have you?” Mxe asked with a soft voice.

“Everything’s going so fast…” 

First post - huzzah!

Hi to anyone that reads this.

Welcome to a newbie's first blog!

My mission with this creation is simply to have a place where I can write and scribble all the ideas and writing exercises I do throughout the months (and years, I hope).

Each week will contain a few snippets of texts or maybe prompts depending on how much free time I have, at minimum one post per week.

Alright, enough with the introduction. I'll post a text this weekend!

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