Other Writing Challenge

[Ninva]

Hi Waywardians,


Do you have the creative urge? Take on the Writing Challenge thread! This thread is similar to one that Miz made a long time ago; however, hopefully, this thread will stay afloat for much longer than the one that Miz made did. If you do not know what thread I'm referring to, don't worry. I'll walk you through the steps.


First, you go here or here or here. Copy the generated result and put it at the top of your story. Don't delete that generated sentence. Now, you write. Flesh out that generated text and make it become a story in as many or as little words as possible. Your fellow Waywardians will then critique your writing and praise you for doing a good job.


Once you begin, a profile of all your stories will appear at the bottom of this thread -- that I update manually. Keep writing and your profile will expand, allowing others to read your series of stories in whatever order they choose.


Also, feel free to try out the Random Challenge of the Month. Difficulty varies on the month.


Random Challenge of the Month: "A vice detective from Delaware must save the world with the help of a train conductor."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

I will participate in this.


Here are the lines I got.


The story starts when your protagonist swears to remain single.


Another character is someone from the future who needs money.


Expect my post soon.

 

[Monsterous]

The story starts when your protagonist gets lost.

​

Another character is a disc jockey who is determined to settle an old score.

​

​

The lines I received.


This will be hilarious.

 

[VonRidel]

A plastic surgeon from Utah travels back in time with a magical snowman


I... I don't know what to say...

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

The story starts when your protagonist goes to a party.


Another character is a fighter pilot who wants your protagonist to hide him/her.


I think I could actually work with this


Wait...!


- how long should the story be?


- where do I post it?

 

[Lord of Chaos]

The story is about an old construction worker whose culture has collapsed. It takes place in a convenience store. A temporal paradox plays a major role in the story.


A teenager stalks from the door of a QuikTrip, swearing under his breath. Thrusting his hands into his hoodie's pockets, he glances back at the convenience store. “Fucking bullshit. He said that would work.” An old man, dressed in a worn shirt and overalls, laughs softly at the sight. Annoyed, the teenager turns toward him and asks “What's your problem, geezer?”


“Funny seeing a young man like you all angry with the world over nothing.”


“Ain't nothing. My friend said that fake ID would work, but they caught me. Now I've got no beer and I'm out fifty bucks. So why don't you just shut up?”


The old man laughed again. “Tell you what, kid. I'm feeling a bit thirsty myself, and I think I'll go buy a few beers. If you want to join me around back, that's fine by me. Of course, I'm liable to talk your ear off given half the chance, but I figure it's small price to pay.”


“You serious?”


“One way to find out.” With that, the old man walked into the store, smiling to himself. The teenager was a bit suspicious, but decided to head around back just in case. Maybe the day's efforts wouldn't be a waste after all. After a few minutes, the old man appeared around the corner, carrying two cases of beer. He pulled out one and handed it to his young companion, before taking one himself and popping it open.


They sat in silence for a minute, drinking, before the old man began to speak. “You know, this place isn't so bad. Much better than where I come from.”


“Where's that?”


“Long ways off. That doesn't matter.”


“Whatever.” The boy took another drink. “Doesn't matter to me.”


“Back home, everything's gone wrong. It all started out innocent enough, some new wonderdrug that would cure everything: colds, flu, some people even said it cured HIV. The amazing thing is that it worked, at first. Then people started dying. Turned out that it didn't kill the viruses, just mutated them beyond the point where they could affect humans.”


“Bullshit. People'd know if that happened.”


“I said it was a long ways off. Don't you listen?”


“It's called the internet. Something that big'd be all over the place.”


The old man shrugged. “I'm not lying. Up to you if you believe me.”


“Whatever” the boy said again. “Give me another beer.”


The old man passed over another bottle and continued his story. “See, what's been done in a single change can be undone in another. After a few years of this, people had all sorts of benign viruses inside their bodies. They weren't a threat, so the immune system didn't target them, so they just sort of hung around. Then, they started changing back. Nobody's sure why; some say it was a bioweapon, others say just damned rotten luck. Either way, people started dying.”


“Fucked up.”


“Fucked up, indeed. It gets worse. All of this was preventable, would have been easy. See, they were trying to make the drug cure the viruses by both mutating them and keeping them vulnerable to the immune system. Cure the symptoms, then let the disease die out. Only problem was, they were running up against a deadline, backers threatening to pull support. Everyone was rushing things, and somewhere along the way, the critical lab results that showed how to make the drug properly rather than just acceptably got lost. Redoing the tests would take years. They had to release the drug in its imperfect form.”


“Corporate bullshit, always messing things up.”


The old man smiled wryly. “Not entirely their fault, kid. Nobody could have predicted this, but somebody could have stopped it. Not the backers, they had no way of knowing. Not even the scientists, they just made a simple mistake. It was me.”


“Shit, you're to blame? What're you doing here, then?”


“Trying to make up for it, little by little. See, one day I found an envelope filled with papers. I had no idea what they were, so I just threw them away. Turns out, they were the critical documents that could have stopped everything. If I had just taken more time to understand what I found, maybe get them back to the proper owners, my family would still be alive and the world wouldn't have ended.”


“The world didn't end. It's still here.”


“Not yet.”


“The fuck does that mean?”


“Nothing, I guess. Keep the beers, I've got to go.”


“Sure, whatever. Thanks, old man.”


The old man just waved over his shoulder and walked away. The teenager sat there for a while, silent, then shrugged and kept drinking. After that bottle, he was nice and buzzed, and he staggered into the convenience store bathroom, then began the trek home. As he was leaving, he saw a car drive away. An envelope fell off the hood, carelessly left there by the driver. Absentmindedly, the young man picked it up and glanced inside, hoping for some money. Suddenly, his veins went cold and he sobered up from raw shock.


Inside the envelope was a report, detailing a series of tests done on a drug in development. The old man's words came flooding back, and the teenager looked up at the rapidly-shrinking car. “No fucking way.”


It's a bit short and rough, but I figured I'd give it a shot. let me know what you think.

 

[seul]

This is a tale about how destructive ignorance can be. The story is about a tireless chemical engineer, a frustrated boatman, an astrologer, and an astrologer. It takes place in a government building. The story begins with a lie, climaxes with a revelation, and ends with a delusion.


3/24/4952 8:42 PM


"He reacted most interestingly to the stimulant so far. It indeed stretches boundaries of trust and belief! Does the drug really have the potential to be fine tuned, Monsieur LaFayette? And please sit down."


"Thank you very much, Monsieur President. And--I believe so, Monsieur President. At the moment my team is designing a new vector that will increase the penetration and therefore shorten the required exposure time from 6 weeks to a matter of hours."


"Very impressive! But please focus on how can the delusions be controlled! Control is the key to the new government and modern peace."


"Yes, Monsieur President. The drug has been adjusted to give the proper hallucination."


"When will it be ready to be administered."


"In a week for sure, Monsieur President."


"Then immediately it should be placed into the international wells."


"Yes, Monsieur President."


3/24/4952 8:15 PM


His eyes open wide.


"Could it..." he says to the paper which he swings into the light, and back and forth from his face. The Monsieur President is pleased with the results. I sip my coffee modestly.


"Tingle my boy! After a several weeks of study and research you have done what even Kimp has failed to do after all those years the old bastard," Monsieur President gives a jolly laugh. "I hope you are ready for a press conference soon--don't fret my child! Nonsense, everything has a first! Straighten your back now lad, you're a man now! My my you're sweating. Overturned all basis of science? Of course you have! It's absolutely revolutionary! Stunning! Imagine all the fame and power you will earn from this!"


The power of astrology is magnificent, not that this ignorant dictator could ever understand.


"Monsieur Tingle has located the future again?"


Kimp. Kimp has arrived in his balding glory. They are discussing the results. Is he squinting at it? But he knew I was on the verge. He was on the verge as well. Blast this magic. And the government that it put in place, who put us in on a grant in a building to rot away, doing useless work to keep the world in shadow. Yet the attention given to "treasonous" predictions; it is attention sharp enough to sever heads from their proper bodies. If only this world could be saved. Could I really save it if I tried? Too late I suppose. I can't take the report back now.


At least my family can live in peace away from this nonsense.


Time to go home. Home.


The Chairman's office, the lights are on still? A short stubby dwarf in a white BioChemica suit has an audience with the supreme ruler? How quaint. Funny how the Chairman can so easily adapt to contradicting ideas of astrology and chemistry just to maintain his power. Perhaps they are discussing that nasty new control-drug. But shush I should not know about that should I. Just turn around and go home, with the family, shush.


L/AS/TDAY 7:12 AM


"Honey the streets are flooded again. Where's the phone book I need to call up a gondola."


"Oh here it is!" On the edge of the bed I sit, gazing into nowhere. Nowhere, after gazing into everywhere through the symbols in the skies.


"Gondola services, taking you to any place, making good haste" What a disgruntled and heavily bearded man. I cannot go there today, the throbbing in my head says that I cannot. The window, the view out the window is so calm and beautiful this morning. Ah the stars. The prophecies of the heavens ring clearest in the light of day. I see Future under its blue cloak. Halfway across the ocean are the race of hornless Minotaurs who do not see a thing. In a sense they are blind and naturally they have no cents!


"...no sense? Honey are you feeling okay? My gosh your head is hot. I think we used to last of the ibuprofen on Jaimie's fever last week but I'll go check."


But soft, what shoots from the soil into the soda reservoir reserved for the tainted royalty? It is it is! The mice don their candy wrappers and dance the loneliness away!


"Oh, Sorry Monsieur Gondolier, we should be ready to leave in a minute. No, no, please wait. So sorry."


Ahaha what can they do in the presence of the Great Grey Narwhal before dropping into to a candied grave!


"Just in luck, there's---Oh my word what are you doing?"


Duckies sing a revolutionary song to an evolutionary beat of dubstep! Wub dub dub all sheep in a tub, now tell me how those pallid roses grow out of your shins! Blue blue skies will clear up to show the dark dark dark dark nightmare we all share!


"Dear get away! Get away from there!"


A round of rapturous applause for this gentlewoman-man for bringing the latest in telecommunications across the eons! Poor rookie pipeling, thought it could fly straight through the asteroid belt but landed in the left sleeve instead.


"Come over here! Honey, please--please!"


Tonight we shall feast on what the white crow has left on the plastic counter top! Thus, the world will cease its incandescent whining! Wahaha!


________________________________________________end_______________________________________________________


... o_o

 

[A. Nonymous1]

The story starts when your protagonist receives a strange email. Another character is a computer hacker who is interfering with your protagonist's job.


This will be interesting. Expect a story shortly!

 

[DreamingofRoses]

This has been dead a full year. Please don't resurrect old challenge threads.


Howver, since you are promising to post a story, I will leave the thread open.

 

[A. Nonymous1]

Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize this. Sorry.

 

[DreamingofRoses]

No, no. It's alright as long as you put up a story. And participate in this month's challenge when the themes are up.

 

[A. Nonymous1]

No, no. It's alright as long as you put up a story. And participate in this month's challenge when the themes are up.

Actually, I'm afraid I won't be able to post a story. Sorry about the inconvenience.