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 1
So this is what drowning feels like.
Falling, but slowly. An invisible hand squeezing and tightening around my lungs. The light from the surface faintly glimmering and fading, fading, fading. Darkness wrapping around me like cold, comforting hands. All hope trickling away faster than the bubbles escaping my lips.
I grasp weakly at the beams of light flickering, trying to grab hold of them, as though they are a lending hand. But no one is there. I am alone. The light simply teases me. Plays and dances in the same water that fills my lungs.
I can feel the darkness swallowing me, consuming me. Everything feels so cold. Like my limbs are slowly but surely being covered by ice, stiff and unforgiving. I release more air from my mouth, watching the bubbles swirl up to meet the light, disappearing into the false brightness.
Why even try, I think. Why try to reach the teasing, useless light, when the darkness welcomes me with open arms? It is cold and it is so, so dark. But who knows? Maybe there is light on the other side.
Or maybe I am simply a fool, drowning in the dark. My last thoughts more hopeless than my efforts.
Dimly I know I will not die. That here, in this world of night, I will simply keep falling. But out there where things are not quite so easy to understand… I do not know. Will I fall? Will I swim? Or will I simply die, slowly, never quite deciding what to do?
I decide to brave the dark. Maybe there is light behind it. Maybe there isn’t. But instead of dying without knowing, I will die trying to know.
I wake up, and it is only my tears that I drown in.
Love this vignette! Your imagery is very vivid, and I love the final sentence that almost fits the pieces together but still leaves us with so many questions. I do wonder what you’re trying to say through it–it feels like there’s something there that isn’t quite surfacing, no pun intended.
thank you! to feel both vague and yet sharply vivid is exactly what I was going for–that deep feeling of knowing something is there that isn’t obvious at all, that makes you feel as if you’re going mad and imagining things. glad you enjoyed it!
Wait so if we like accidentally post our stories as a comment here, will it count or be ignored?