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!
Men with Stories
By: Else Hjorten
Team A
“So this is what drowning feels like,” I lament from my cubicle’s swivel chair, directing my complaint towards my female colleague to the right of me.
We had been hosting this conversation for the past week, both of us feeling crushed under deadlines and corporate expectations. Except, she had been handling it much better than I had, insisting that we were more fortunate than society’s blue-collar proletariats. That observation was factual, considering neither of us were engineered for physical work. Regardless, I continued to strain myself by making obsessive to-do lists, picking up extra unpaid work, and desperately attempting to crawl my way up the office social ladder.
“Oh, come on Charlotte, the majority of what you’re stressing about is self-inflicted. You don’t have to scrounge recognition from other people’s assignments, but you do it anyway,” she chuckled, amusement emerging from her chest as she clicked her ballpoint pen, using it as a metronome for her loosely veiled judgement.
With a combative sigh, I recite a version of my weekly-shared opinions, “I know that, but, I feel like I should be part of something bigger! I have the qualifications, it’s not like I’m a new hire.”
Patty sets down her pen on her desk after its final push, face shifting into a serious nature following my comment. Seeming to gather her thoughts, she stayed silent whilst straightening her data research papers. Standing up from her chair to grab her personal trash can, she meandered to the edge of her cubicle to throw it out. Patty mumbled over her shoulder once more to me before she left.
“That’s just how the system works. Play the game, or be out of a job.”
Obscenely early the next morning, I was arriving at the office to start my day of monotonous tasks. In one hand I palmed a hot coffee with minimal sugar, and in the other arm, I nursed a clipboard overflowing with various sized papers. Whenever my job tossed me a difficult workload, these were my weapons of choice, ones that I could count on to keep me motivated and prepared.
“Torturous stairs, forcing me to enter the office feeling damp. If this is such an advanced company, they could spare a few dollars to buy an elevator!”
My voice echoed in the empty stairwell, adding to my contempt. If anyone in the facility had heard me, I would have been in trouble (due to insulting the organization), but I had no history of crossing paths with another employee this early in the morning. Once I reached my usual back door entrance, I carelessly flung the door open, not bothering to survey the access. This lapse of manners induced my occupied arms to crash right into those of another.
“Ah! I’m so-”
“Don’t mention it,” he interrupted ruefully, just barely catching my cascading coffee cup to prevent it from splashing across his tailored suit jacket.
The man was significantly loftier than I, his extended limbs granting the ability to hold the door open with his foot, hold me steady, and clutch my devilish beverage all in a manner of seconds. He had a face that blended into the crowd, but made itself known when one observed in close quarters. His eyebrows were in a well-practiced position of tension, though that might have been due to circumstance.
“I suppose you need this even more now,” the man of intrigue chuckled, his voice and the return of my espresso distracting me from my predicament.
I nod immediately, stumbling back a foot from his figure. Smoothing the front of my dress shirt, I mentally and physically reset. My motto has always been to compartmentalize and move on to the next thing, which is both a detriment and an aid. With every productive action, I have blurred the lines between man and machine, ignoring all signs of fatigue.
“…Uh, you’re Charlotte, right? I have overheard a few conversations between you and your colleague, and I must say, they invigorate a dull work day. How about we step inside the office, before our unlucky dispositions lead us to another accident?”
“Near accident. And we might as well, considering that was my Plan A before pitching myself into you,” I reply, slightly defensively, due to my embarrassment at his knowledge of my person.
He only grinned sheepishly, motioning for me to lead the way. As I sauntered inside the body of the work room, I could sense his curiosity trailing behind me, the only sign of life in this vacant place. It culminated in a surprisingly childish manner as I set my items down in my cubicle, turning to find him standing adjacent to it. Believing that I could dispel him easily, I put a hand on my hip.
“Don’t you have assignments to chip away on?”
“Not this early in the morning. Are you…aware that what you do at this hour is unpaid overtime?”
I glower at his flippant statement, waving a hand. Deciding to ignore this unproductive distraction, I pull out my rickety chair and take a seat laboriously. Rubbing a temple, I begin to power on my laptop, which I had left at the office to charge overnight. This is the only way I seem to resist the temptation to utilize my resources to do office labor, though my emails are constantly being opened while at home. With a simple action of verbal communication, he notifies me to the outside world once more.
“…Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Daniel, and I want to get to know you more intimately. Not just for a coffee date, or an interview, or the monthly work venting session. I want to get to know you because you are the type of person that I will never become. Ruinously driven, to the point where you do not even notice those standing pointedly in your way. You are my muse, and together, we shall make brilliant art.”
Wait so if we like accidentally post our stories as a comment here, will it count or be ignored?