PROMPT: Write a short scene in which one character reduces another to uncontrollable sobs without touching him or speaking.
Jimmy paced restlessly, his hands behind his back. His head was bent forward, his posture and stride aggressive. He didn't look at Erica as he talked, but rattled off his arguments in a brief staccato addressed to the air in ( Read more... )

Arthur stared at the creature as he mechanically chewed his lunch. It picked intently through the carpet until it had recovered and swallowed every last piece of the radio, then sat back contentedly and picked its teeth. Arthur's mind raced furiously, arguing back and forth about the ridiculous idea that had occurred to him. After a few minutes ( Read more... )

I suddenly got the idea for this at the symphony tonight, and scrawled it out in the margins and in between the lines of my symphony program. This is almost a word-for-word transcription; there are a few minor edits, but basically it's exactly as it arrived. Which is to say, criticism and comments are welcomed.

WAKING DREAMIt was ( Read more... )

Lunchtime came both as a relief and a new terror, simultaneously. Arthur was torn between wanting that thing out of his sight as soon as possible, and fear of what it might do while he was gone. He'd considered taking it with him to lunch, but he didn't know how he would explain it to anyone who might see it. Besides, the thought of carrying the ( Read more... )

Arthur's initial plan was to lock the thing in his car while he went to work. However, he realized the problem with this plan when he pictured the hole ripped in the lid of his trashcan. There was plenty of damage it could do trying to scratch its way out -- and Arthur didn't even want to consider the possibility that it could dig through the ( Read more... )

By the time Arthur arrived back home, the creature had clawed its way halfway out of the bag. As he parked the car, he noticed that it had opened a single large blue eye and was gazing at him steadily. When the car stopped, the thing began struggling to free its lower limbs from the entangling plastic. "You're not real," Arthur hissed at it, but ( Read more... )

"Well," said the doctor, pulling the cotton swab out of Arthur's mouth, "we won't have the results on this swab for a few days, but I'd say you've got a mild case of strep throat ( Read more... )

This is the beginning of a random short story that occurred to me the other day while I was driving to my sister's recital. I know how the story progresses, but not how it ends; I have a few ideas in mind, so we'll see what turns up. It's completely unrelated to The Last Word, in case you were wondering.Arthur Grimley stared vacantly at the ( Read more... )

[I don't know if this story's ever going to go anywhere, but this is the new beginning to the story I started to write for NaNoWriMo in 2003. The old beginning, if I decide to use it, won't take place until quite a while in; there's a whole new section to the story. Also, "Kip Bankman" was a terrible name for the main character; I hope that "Eric ( Read more... )

ASW October 15thYou make all these great plans in life, and yet it's the oddest little moments that end up defining everything ( Read more... )