Welcome to Week Three! Can you believe we’re at the halfway mark for the challenge?
You all did so well with your stories last week! There were so many interesting and unique ways you interpreted the prompt. It’s now the third week, so it’s time to do it again! Will your story have aliens? Zombies? Maybe it’ll have a dragon in it! Whatever you decide, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
So, without further ado, here’s your next prompt!
Week Three Prompt – The Starting Sentence Prompt
Write a story that starts with the
following sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
Wait…what’s a “Starting Sentence” prompt?
A sentence prompt is a prompt that uses a particular sentence. It doesn’t matter where your story takes place, who’s in it, or what’s said. The only thing that matters is that your story must start with this sentence: So this is what drowning feels like.
Before you start writing, we have some important rules for you to follow.
Writing Rules
1. Please keep the content of the stories you post to a PG rating. Please avoid real curse words. Violence/fighting should be limited and purposeful. Please do not include any spice.
2. Your story must be 1,000 words or less, and must contain the prompt to be counted for the challenge. You’re not required to post it in order to “win” the challenge, but if you want it to count for your team, your story must be posted by Sunday at 11:59 PM ET, and you must include your team name.
Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and post your story as an “answer” to this question, not a “comment”. 🙂 You’re all doing such a great job! I’m so proud of all the stories you’ve posted.
Happy Writing!
Will you notice if someone is like 1-25 words over the 1000 word limit (asking for a friend hahaha)
what if i accidently posted my story as a comment last week lol? does it still count?
Hey Izzy and Ava,
If you accidentally post your story as a comment instead of an answer, you should get an email to alert you! It will still count for points for your team, but no one will be able to vote for it.
And, to answer your question for your friend 😉 As far as word count, for your story to count for the challenge, it does need to be 1,000 words or under. Great questions!
Team Herbert (A)
So, this is what drowning feels like.
That was all I could think as I sunk into the water, legs and arms flailing to get control.
I felt myself slipping, losing myself to the water as I sunk lower into the ocean.
I don’t want to die. Come on, please, Lord, I don’t want to die yet…I have to stay with my sister…not yet…
I struggled, feeling my lungs lose oxygen and my eyes widen.
It wasn’t just what drowning felt like, it was more like what I’d imagined getting swallowed whole felt like.
I felt myself sink deeper.
Then everything went dark.
“Gwen? Gwen, wake up! Are you okay? GWEN!” My little sister, Jewel, shouted, shaking my shoulders.
My vision was fuzzy as she yanked me up, coughing water everywhere.
I saw my best friend, Nara, above me as well. “You can’t die on me, we have a competition to get to!”
“What happened?” I murmured.
“You almost drowned,” said the quizzically calm voice of Captain Leonard.
“I fell…” I muttered, trailing off as the fatigue took hold.
“You did,” he agreed, smirking a little, pushing his glasses up his nose.
He didn’t look like the captain of a passenger ship.
He looked more like an old college professor.
I looked around.
“Where are we? What happened to the boat?” I asked frantically.
Nara and Jewel both crossed their arms. “We’ve been trying to figure that out too. One second we were on the boat, the next we were in the water, now we’re…here. Wherever here is. It’s some kind of magical island.” They said, overlapping one another.
I stared around, palm trees and sandy beaches, but with a cap of water over the top somehow, I could see the sea creatures outside the dome.
I wondered what it would feel like to touch that water.
I turned my head as far as I could, spotting something that resembled a palace. “It’s beautiful,” I murmured, “are we dead? Is this what heaven looks like?”
“It looks,” Leonard said slowly, “like Atlantis, to me.”
“Atlantis? Are you sure?!” I yelped.
“Perfectly possible,” the captain said with a shrug. “But not sure, necessarily.”
“That’s terrifying,” I said.
“That’s impossible,” Nara said.
“Are there mermaids?” Asked Jewel cheerfully, holding her teddy and practically trotting along the beach. “MERMAIDS, WHERE ARE YOU?!”
“Mermaids? Doubtful,” Nara huffed.
“Unicorns, then?! UNICORNS, WHERE ARE YOU?!” Jewel shouted into the abyss.
“Next she’ll recommend phoenixes or dragons,” I huffed, pushing myself to my feet. This was bad. We had to get to that competition, we had to win that money, we had to get to Florida, to Uncle Jeremy’s.
To Mom and Dad, who had left us with our grandmother, who had died a few weeks ago. If we won the money, and then went down to Kentucky, where Uncle Jeremy lived, we could get our own house and not all have to live there together.
It was a perfect plan.
And now they were in Atlantis instead.
“This is bad,” I muttered, finally voicing my thoughts.
“Is it, though?” Leonard asked. He was supposed to get us to the music competition, and Nara was supposed to come with us and play the flute.
That was how it was supposed to work—all neat and in order.
Clearly, that wasn’t God’s plan this time.
“There has to be a logical explanation for this,” I grumbled.
“Does there, though? Is anything logical?” Leonard asked, a pondering expression crossing his wrinkled face.
Great, I thought, not only am I in Atlantis, the lost kingdom or whatever, I’m stuck with only a lunatic professor for the adult of the situation, a very small little sister who will want to stay in this land forever, and my all-business best friend.
“Be careful,” I called to Jewel as she ran over the sand, giggling wildly.
“NO!” She squealed, touching the water.
“NO!” I shouted, running to stop her.
Then suddenly, they were back on the boat.
And it wasn’t sunk.
But they were sure soaked.
“Never speak of this again, it was a hallucination,” Nara said immediately.
“Hallucination, or fascination?” Leonard muttered, walking towards the steering of the ship.
Jewel pouted, “I didn’t see a mermaid.”
“I hope we never do, that would mean we were doing it again,” Nara mumbled.
And on the way back, money secured and ready to go to Kentucky, it happened again.
And this time, they explored Atlantis.
I don’t know, it was kind of random but enjoyable. A little short, but I feel like maybe it could be a novel eventually. I might play with it in the future. Hope you enjoyed, and constructive criticism is 100% welcome!
I think the idea of Atlantis if fascinating, especially when the prompt so heavily alludes to water. Random or not, it was a fun read, great job!
Aw, thanks so much Lucas! Glad you enjoyed!
I was shocked once Atlantis was named as I was reading. I always found it a very intriguing topic — a city under the seas. Until I read about Tyre in the Book of Ezekiel. Though they were not fully submerged, parts or cities were submerged in water. I really think this could be a novel eventually. I just think there are many unanswered points here, so I hope you keep exploring this story!
Wait so if we like accidentally post our stories as a comment here, will it count or be ignored?