(Monthly) Short Story Writing Prompts Submission Thread

No title?

I'll add it to the ToC as untitled for now, if you think of a title, do poke me about it and I'll edit it!

As for how to improve, well, I haven't read it yet, so I can't say much, but... Keep trying? I think that's the best advice tbh, I'm still an amateur at writing, but I think I got a lot better if I compare it with my first AG reports.

 

Try giving the characters set personalities before you start, then write the dialogue on how you imagine they'd interact?
Done? Good, now pin that on the wall labelled as "draft 1".

Now rewrite the whole thing, while trying to make the personalities of the characters a result of the dialogue.

Reread your work, and see what personalities you've given to your characters.

 

hmm....... personalities...... this is gonna be hard, on determining each char personalities.......
but i'll try........
gonna need to look up, on each type of personalities, and the way they interact.......

title is at the top of the line, when you open the spoiler, i guess i forgot to edit the title positioning and bold it....
but for now its just a v1 of the story.......
hopefully i can improve it, and release a v2 of it........

 

Make the personalities yourself?

 

Updated, I recommend editting the post to make the title more visible though.

Good luck, I hope it goes well!

 

not sure, i will probably google "how to set a personality into a char that i wrote" and then followed by many other thing....
but right now i think i'm gonna head to bed, i was gonna sleep a lot earlier, but i remember that my mom told me to order her a ride at 5 am, and that's done, so i'm gonna head to sleep....
so sleepy........

btw that sany is based on a female i know from my junior high, and i wrote it loosely using her as the female char, last i heard she died, that's why i was gonna wrote it that way.... but i think that it will get too cliche.... not sure why i'm writing this, probably because i'm too sleepy.....

will do mam, and thank you, i too hope that is the case......

 

Good night then.

And setting a 30 y/o character on a 14 y/o? ...............................

 

I don't even need to look at both to say that this is true.

Wow. You really must be a newcomer. Anyways, this is your first step. If you show enough interest in writing, then you can definitely become a good writer!

 

Tried this to practice some stuff I don't usually do. Thanks to the people who organize these writing prompts, they're interesting~

For the Random Call:


The Last Man on Earth

Spoiler: 1,106 words

The sandstorm beyond the dunes had grown darker. Marcus gazed at the distant swirls while sipping his coffee. The dancing sand-laced wind was almost beautiful. The storm wouldn’t reach the house for another day at least; no excuses today. He finished his cup and rose from the rocking chair, his knee cracking in protest. A muttered ‘fuck,’ crossing his lips, he ambled back into the kitchen.

Marcus dropped the mug into the sink and pulled on his work boots, tucking his pants securely. He grabbed his leather gloves, a jacket, and a thick pair of goggles, then stepped outside. The rough sandy air blasted at him, scraping at his exposed lower face. Marcus quickly shut the door. He trod out to the towering windmills up the hill, checking them over for faults. No problems, other than the usual daily erosion. After two hours he made his way back to the house, enduring the buffeting winds, and clambered indoors as quickly as he could.

He breathed a sigh of relief and shed his gear. Sand fell off of him in piles. He hung everything up and shook his head like a wet dog, rough particles flying off like lice. This was the last time - thank god for that, he muttered to himself.

He walked from one end of the house to the other. The wall to the greenhouse was made of sturdier stuff than the rest of the house: metal rather than wood. Better protection in case the house fell down.

He turned the combination lock to 04/19/2017 and pulled the heavy metal door open. Today as usual the greenhouse thrived: the garden of lush plants and flowers unfurled with soft leaves, a calming and nostalgic scent rising in the air. Vines from the hanging potted plants cascaded down, mingling with the branches of growing trees. The shiny and glossy dark green leaves reflected the sunlight coming from beyond the thick glass walls.

Marcus slowly shut the door. He stepped to the workbench at the side. A radio and an old picture frame rested alongside gardening tools and empty bags of fertilizer. Marcus switched on the radio; it crackled to life, outputting sound as grainy and rough as the sand dunes outside.

He then started to work, pumping filtered water from the well to shower the plants. He listened with half an ear to the radio in the background.

“… and by God, we’ve made it… We’re… gathered here, survivors of the last… as we say goodbye… our great earth. This is the final… we… upon… soil. Launch in … and… count down with me… Ten!”

Marcus paused, straightening his back, and walked to the northern wall of the greenhouse. He peered out, eyes squinted, toward the horizon.

“… Four! Three!” A chorus counted down, each voice ecstatically happy.

Far in the distance, half-hidden by the particles of sand, he could just see the glint of sunlight on metal.

“… One! Zero!”

Smoke kicked up and billowed over the dunes. The shockwave of sound struck the greenhouse with an imploded noise, but the walls stayed steady. In the sky, a small ember rose and disappeared beyond the clouds.

Marcus watched. When the little light could no longer be seen, he turned back and headed to the well.

As he pumped, a trilling noise chimed from the workbench.

Marcus frowned. He wiped his forehead of sweat and walked toward the noise. The trilling came from underneath the fertilizer bags; he swept them off the bench and picked up the sturdy phone hidden beneath them.

He answered the phone. “Hello?”

A pause. The person on the other line held their breath, strained. They grit out, “Goddamn it.” A crashing noise; something shattered. “God fucking damn it!”

Marcus asked, “Tory?”

“Fuck you. I can’t believe-”

“Been a while,” he cut in. Counting mentally, he said, “Five years since the last call, hasn’t it?”

Marcus leaned against the bench. He looked out at the product of his work, the vibrant garden of green surviving in the empty desert landscape.

Tory said, “You didn’t get on the fucking rocket.”

“Yeah.”

“It was the last one.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t care?” Tory snapped. “You’re the last damn man on earth. No one is coming back for you.”

“I know.” Marcus looked out beyond the walls. The storm had gotten closer; the dunes were half demolished.

“I just - I don’t know why the fuck I even bothered. You weren’t coming five years ago. Of course you wouldn’t come now. Better to sink on that piece of shit than do the smart thing and survive, right? Fucking idiot.”

“Don’t let ma hear you say that.”

“Ma’s calling you a fucking idiot too. She’s crying. She’s…” Tory’s voice grew brittle, like small chips of glass. “You couldn’t even? Not even for her?”

Marcus looked back at the garden. The spray of water clung to the leaves like dewdrops, and a light rain fell from the ceiling. He closed his eyes.

Tory said, “You’re so goddamn selfish.”

Marcus said, “I know.”

They breathed together in silence.

“When is it…?”

“Tonight.”

“Ma wants to talk to you,” Tory said darkly.

“Put her on.”

The sounds of movement; Tory had gone to the other room. Faintly, Marcus heard his mother’s stifled sobs. Before passing on the phone, Tory muttered quietly into the receiver, “I love you.”

And then his mother was on the phone. “Marcus?”

Marcus smiled dimly. “Hi, ma.”

She sniffled. She had cleared her throat and tried to speak as if she hadn’t been crying at all. “How’ve… How’ve you been?”

“Good, ma. Garden’s coming along swell. Got the orchids to bloom, finally.”

“Good, honey. That’s good. And you’ve been healthy?”

“As a horse, ma.”

“Eating well?”

“As well as I could be.”

Ma’s voice became shaky. “Wish I could cook you up your favorite meal right about now.”

Marcus bent his head. He squeezed his watery eyes shut. “Sounds like it would’ve been real nice, ma,” he said quietly.

“Well, I won’t - I won’t keep you. You say goodbye to Harley and Amy for me, okay?”

“Okay, ma.”

“I love you so much.”

“Love you too, ma.”

He hung up to the sound of her sobbing.

Marcus looked out at the storm.

He stood straight and set down the phone. He walked through the garden, shoes clicking on the cobblestone path. He reached a small enclave framed by two bending trees upon which bloomed countless flowers. He knelt down to touch the small headstone which rose out of the earth, tracing the two names with deep care.

“Tory and ma say goodbye,” he said. “See you soon.”

 

That was.... For both the "last man on earth" prompt and "random call'"? nice mix

 

(sweating) I'd love to boost my ego by saying that was intentional but I actually had no idea there's another prompt about being the last man on earth

 

Teehee, glad you're liking it! I think it's pretty fun to experiment with different types of stories on this!

There was a suggestion for it IIRC, but it didn't become an actual theme.

 

Feb 2017, Last One Out or Blind

 

<.<
>.>

I definitely hadn't forgotten what we meant with "Last One Out"~

 

<.<
>.>
o.o

Title: Diary of Weird Calls
Count of words: 1.926
Theme(s): Random Call, Diary, Repeatance

Spoiler: Diary of Weird Calls

17 April 2017
It is Monday today and it is currently 16.49. No school because of holiday.
Whenever I think of the weather, I will certainly think that today is a weird day; it was sunny in the morning, hailed in the afternoon, became sunny again for a moment before hailing again! …and then it became sunny again. I have truly never experienced such fast alterations of weathers, which is why I love today. To be honest, when I moved to Holland, I would have never thought I would experience such bizarre occurrence.

I have played the Resistance again online. Today is the day we will vote on a certain number-based member’s proposal for the team. I rejected it seeing as there are many suspects and a wildcard in their team. I can’t trust many people in that game. T-T
Last time, –yesterday– I gave my team’s proposal and the team got denied. Apparently my team was also full of suspects.
Like usual, I was checking the votes, when a certain geometrical-based member noted that a certain hard-working moderator, who also plays the game as a newcomer, denied for his very first time, which surprised me a lot! …and then I got suspected by a certain McCloneface. Well, I won’t blame him for suspecting me. After all, I am becoming more active nowadays.

18 April 2017
Nothing special happened today on school. I woke up and went to school as usual. Well, it is school; it isn’t as if something special will happen, so I went home sooner today.
On days like these I will just skip my homework and go online again, when I got a call from an unknown person. I thought of how it actually may have been for the previous owner of my current number, but then the call got answered without me doing anything.

Thinking that it is not weird at all, I moved my hand next to my ear while holding the phone. “Hello? Who am I speaking to?” I asked in Dutch. Nobody answered. It’s not like these kind of calls are unusual; most of the time they were all for the previous owner of my phone’s number. After a few seconds, the other person on the line finally answered.

“Don’t… let go of… your imaginations. They are… more precious… than you… would think.” …is what they said with an low voice. The voice sounds male and quite familiar to be honest. I wonder when I have heard that voice before? Hm… rather, it is rather strange that this person speaks in English instead of Dutch.

“I uh… sir, do I know you?” Is what I said before he hung up on me. …well, that was simply weird in many ways. My imaginations? I know I have fantasized about many things before I slept, but what has that got to do with… anyways, I will just write that event on a notebook and forget about it.

Everyone on the Resistance pretty much denied the team again, just as I had expected it would. Although a certain self-proclaimed sociopath has made some progress, I guess the game hasn’t progressed much as we still haven’t caught a single spy… this is really bad for the good guys.

19 April 2017
While going to the toilet, I went online as well when I got called again. Another unknown person… This hasn’t happened before… Even for a prank call, this is… it is 04.32 -so early in the morning!? What kind of stalker is this!?

I was about to decline the call when the call got answered before I could do something again. Only now did I realize that the same thing happened yesterday. Normally I wouldn’t be afraid of such things, but because it is 04.32, it is still dark in my bathroom. Well then, if you got forcibly called in the dark, early in the morning, while you are still somewhat drowsy, how would you not be afraid of calls like these!? While I was thinking that, a voice came from the speaker.

“There! This should do it! Hello~? Is this Zone?” Immediately, I let go of my phone and it fell on the rug. T-thank goodness! Had it fallen into the toilet, then all my data would be… -wait, that is not the case now, is it!?

“Hey! Who is this!? Who would be calling on 4 AM!?” I yelled as quietly as possible. Thankfully, my family won’t wake up by some mere noise. We truly sleep like logs.

“Oh? Is it still morning over there? Sorry for that, but I really need to say something to you.” Only now did I realize that the person on the line was not the same as I had yesterday. The voice I am hearing now is a female’s voice –a high-pitched one at that–, but I certainly do not know who it is. And just now... she had called me Zone, didn’t she? How would she know… my username?

“Uh… is this a stalker?” Call me an airhead all you want, but calling the police was actually not what came in my mind at that time. The girl then laughed... while I was embarrassed, I flushed the toilet, washed my hands, lowered the sound, and slowly went downstairs to the living room.

Then, after about half a minute of laughing, the girl finally stopped laughing, and began to speak again. “Ahaha… sorry for that, but I really need to tell you that you should remember something.” Remember? Is this related to the call from yesterday? Nah, that seems weird. Yesterday’s call was about imagination or something.

“Remember what? Also, who am I speaking to?” While doing my best not to wake up my family, I asked the person on the line. Rather, I actually remember most things I did within the past weeks. So unless we are talking about something from years ago, that is.

Endless questions slowly began to pop up on my head, but all I get was: “Hey, who I am does not matter yet, but I want you to remember all the things you have fantasized up until now. Can you do it? If you do, then I will leave you alone until we meet in person.” Again; this is not helping me in the slightest. “Um… sure, I will try to. So uh… *yawns* can I sleep now?” I don’t want to sound like a stupid person or anything, but I am really sleepy right now. “Oh, sure! Good night Zone~!” …that was the weirdest thing that has happened to me in my life.

Vivid memories of my dreams are slowly starting to come back to me. Well… I did as that girl said, so I turned back to go upstairs to go to sleep. But when I was halfway on the stairs, everything went black. I couldn’t remember anything as for what had happened back then, but when I woke up, I was back on my bed.
Everything from this night seemed to be just a dream, but I still woke up with memories of my past dreams with me. Not that it is disturbing or anything, but it is rather kinda scary. Then again, this is not the first time I dreamt of weird dreams. I have felt this feeling before many times; they will fade before I am even at school.

At 10.45 I am having my lunch while playing some games on my phone, when I got another random call. This time, I was fast enough to deny the call and nothing special happened. I heard the bell, and went to class.
Lying in my bed back home after another boring day at school, I went downstairs to use the computer, when our main phone rang. I went to the telephone and picked it up, followed by a yelling man. The language sounded like Latin, but then again, I only had Latin class for one year, so I can’t confirm it. After the second sentence, I immediately hung up on the call and began to question why these calls are becoming more frequent than before.
I began to question weird things like “What is life?”, but in the end, I ended up forgetting about this event as well.

Night fell, and I began to get sleepy. I put my phone on my desk this night and assured I won’t see any more calls. Every time I got stressed, I usually go to sleep, and forget those things. Quite some time after I closed my eyes, when I was about to let loose of reality, forgetting everything about today, and go to dream world… I heard a voice in my head.

“Good heavens, even though we tried to warn you…” ...it seems that I won’t get a good sleep tonight.

20 April 2017
Today I went to school while being half-asleep, which is dangerous because I am cycling to school. Yesterday I got a telepathic call… is what I want to refuse, but that is what happened yesterday. Just when I was about to sleep, I heard a mature female voice saying that “I should call myself tomorrow”, which is today.

Heck if I know what that means. Rather, I find it weird that they all talked in English. I guess the telepath is a modern person. As for whether I will call myself... I’ll see it myself later in the future. Then, during lunch break, another I got random call. This time, not wanting to repeat the event from yesterday again, I answered the call.
Even though I have no doubt that I will be taught something weird again this time, the calls never stop surprising me. “…Zone, none of us want to be forgotten.” said a masculine voice. “*sighs*Yeah… I probably understand you either, so let’s just get straight to the point; what do you want to say?”

“…to tell you the truth, none of us –including me– know how we uh… got your number, but to put it bluntly, we are characters of your imaginations.”

Reacting with zero interest because of the exhausting day, I answered; “…so? What is today’s lesson then? That I have to call my past self to let you continue existing in the real world?” That day was really tiring me out, so I couldn’t help but replying in that way. After I finished my sentence, the call suddenly ended. …I was not sure whether it was because I was right, or because of something else, but at the time, my mind wasn’t working properly and I actually called my past self. Now that I think about it, I guess it explains why I heard a low voice back then.
Unsure of what to do then, I just went back to class. Nothing else happened that day. I was indeed tired, but I am sure that I didn’t get any calls anymore that day.

21 April 2017
Today is the last day before my two weeks’ worth of vacation! There were no calls today, but when I was cycling back to home after gym class, I was called by a stranger. “Hello! Could you please help me with something?” She was a blonde girl, and it took me a few seconds before I notice that she had a high-pitched voice, and that she spoke in English… she was the one who called me two days ago.
…haa. Some people say that truth is stranger than fiction, and it seems that I am starting to understand why…

 

I don't know how to properly convey this, it's probably because it's 7:40am and I'm half asleep, but your language seems inorganic and the flow is bad?
Maybe it's because of the basic vocabulary with some words forced inside, or the weird sentence structures?

I have no fucking idea. Nighty night.

 

I knew I forgot something; I forgot to give it to @SpearOfLies first!
The story is indeed inorganic, has a bad flow, and probably a bad plot.
And all that is because I wanted to see your reactions after reading the first letters of every paragraph... then again, even that doesn't make sense.

 

Gave up after 4 sentences

 

Oh well. At least I had tried. Better luck next month I guess.

 

I meant, the first letter of every sentence