Today I had a little window of complete down-time at work, about twenty minutes where--for complicated and boring reasons--I truly had nothing more to do than sit at a desk in a quiet room, waiting for one person to finish a test.
Of course I never ever do any writing at work. But this was a unique situation, and my brain was bored. So I grabbed a few pieces of scratch paper and a pencil, and the battered old dictionary that I knew was in the drawer. And I picked three words at random.
My three words? They were awesome words, so awesome I couldn't believe my luck: equinox, purgatory, and megaphone. Fifteen minutes later I had written a fun 450-word story using all three words. I polished it a bit this evening and sent it off.
I enjoyed writing that little story so much I think I'll try the prompt again tomorrow over lunch with three new words.
10 comments:
KC, what a great idea. Inspiration is everywhere and certainly no better place than with words. I only wish I could polish as quickly as you can. Oh, and I love the word purgatory. So many possibilities.
I can't imagine how you tied those together...and in only 450 words. Danielle is right: that's a really fast turn-around time.
Funny how "spark words" can get the mind moving. I like to do a similar exercise myself, but I've never tried three words.
Prompt words rule. You've given me an idea for later today. :D
Danielle--Oddly enough, the word purgatory was the hardest to work in. Megaphone was the easiest.
Alan--It's probably not as good a story as I think, but it certainly has an unusual plot. :)
Aaron--I don't know if it'll work for me again, but yesterday's words were perfect.
Cate--When I was starting the exercise, I kept thinking, "Cate would so go to town with these words." :)
Those ARE three awesome words. Can't wait for the opportunity to read that story.
Hopefully it will be coming to a magazine/website near you soon!
Fun stuff; I like the words you picked. How did you stop at 450 (especially with "purgatory" in there)?
cool exercise.
Anne--Really, it was the megaphone that suggested the entire story, with help from equinox. Poor purgatory only got a mention.
Jamie--anything that gets me to write is a good thing.
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