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fishyfey
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#1
Old 04-28-2011, 08:27 PM

I was reading about drabbles today, and wanted to try a variation. Usually my drabbles are long twisting things go here and there, but I want to challenge myself (and anyone else) with a little more structure and invite everyone to join in.

Rules:
1) Everyone is welcome to participate.
2) Must be exactly 100 words long.
3) You can post as many times as you want, even continuing previous drabbles from you or other people.
*Edit: Removed the rule that drabbles must contain the word "city" to make it more open ended.

If you need additional inspiration here is a short list of optional things to add into your drabble.
1. Fairytale
2. Damaged
3. Boxed in
4. Longing
5. Secret passage
6. Song
7. Whisper
8. Patriot
9. Rebel
10. Dinosaur
11. Ocean
12. Shooting star
13. Winding staircase
14. Fire
15. Cherry blossoms

I know this forum usually moves pretty slowly so if you see that this thread hasn’t been posted in for a while don’t be shy about posting your stuff anyway. We can just move at our own pace.

Should be a fun challenge

Last edited by fishyfey; 02-28-2012 at 08:31 AM..

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#2
Old 04-29-2011, 01:35 AM

The light from city streets filtered through the window, bathing the bedroom in a surreal glow.

His tired red eyes strained in the dim light to see the sleeping child. He wondered what it was like to sleep so peacefully and trust that there was nothing bad in the world, nothing lurking in shadowed corners. Would the monsters come for him too?

Gently stroking long fingers through his child’s soft, messy hair, he smiled to himself. The boy stirred and opened innocent eyes, blinking and trying to focus on what was looming over his bed.

The monster showed his teeth.

Dexter Morgan
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#3
Old 04-29-2011, 08:35 PM

I usually refrain from posting in threads, but I do love a good challenge. I admit, it's not easy for me to keep it to a select number of words, but let me know what you think of this one.

The city’s lights were a smeared blur one hundred floors below. In the mist of the falling rain, his eyes could only focus on the dizzying drop before him. The wind was strong at that height, forcing his hair forward. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed; the storm was at its peak.

He didn’t want to move, but something was forcing him forward. Something other than the wind was moving him. It was a calling from the dark hole in his heart, a voice echoing. His knees gave way… He was falling, almost free, slipping from life’s painful grasp. Almost free…

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#4
Old 04-29-2011, 10:57 PM

I love it Pale Marionette!

Thanks for posting (especially since you don't usually do threads. :))

Yeah, I actually feel the same way about not restricting myself, but I realized that when I was working on mine the word limit really made me weigh the importance of every word. I think it made my writing cleaner. I’m going to have to do more of these just to spice things up when I get into a rut.

Last edited by fishyfey; 04-29-2011 at 11:17 PM..

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#5
Old 04-30-2011, 12:34 AM

Thank you. I should post more often, especially since I find writing a fine way to express oneself.

I admit, the first time I wrote the post (with over one hundred words), it was certainly not as good as the final finished product. I think I might write a bit more considering it really challenged me to open my eyes and actually focus on the writing. I've been struggling with my recent writing, so coming here speeds up my imaginative side. I may post a bit more here, as a matter of fact, if you have no objection.

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#6
Old 04-30-2011, 01:14 AM

I would love it if you did.

I don't think any of the rules are really set in stone, so if you don't want to use the suggested word 'city' that is fine too. I just chose something to try and give a starting point for people. Only rule that I really think is important is the 100 word limit.

I’m enjoying this exercise. Here is my next one:

**********

The city is overrun and I can’t go back. Death walks the streets wearing the masks of old friends and loved ones. I tried to stay and fight, but when the mindless killer with my brother’s body attacked me, trying to eat my brain, I couldn’t handle it.

I’m ashamed to say that I ran from them. The ghosts of my past had become twisted and grotesque zombies closing me in with relentless hunger. I knew only one way to escape.

“They’re coming for me.” I say.

“Please take your pills. There is no one there. ” Says the nurse.

Dexter Morgan
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#7
Old 04-30-2011, 01:21 AM

Well, most of my writings to take set in a city, so it's no problem to add that word and use it more than once. Ah, and I love the last post. Very good.

This is my new one. Sadly, it probably won't stand up to the other one I posted. By the way, I do write these out ahead of time to test myself, so they are usually ready to be thrown out there:

===========

It’s so strange how one can be in the heart of a city, yet feel so isolated. Like being trapped in a tiny room with no doors or windows, no air. No room to move. I simply sit by and watch people go by, watch as they laugh and talk and wander to their destinations. So clueless…

Humans. Thoughtless creatures! They are blissfully unaware of the horrible dangers that reside in their lovely little city, deaf to the truth and dumb to the signs that show themselves every day. Monsters walk with those humans. Things no one could imagine. Horrors…

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#8
Old 05-09-2011, 12:23 AM

Father Winter sits across the table from Summer. She smiles politely in his direction but stays silent.

Father Winter’s wrinkled, old, hands fidget with the tip of his beard. His side of the room is dark and resembles a chill cloud covered day.

"It has been a long time since we've seen each other." She says in a voice that sounds like deer in lush forests and birdsong on clear mornings.

Father Winter nods. “You used to love me.” His voice is the north wind whipping through forgotten mountaintop cities.

"That was long ago." She says, her green eyes sad.

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#9
Old 05-09-2011, 01:54 AM

Leaving the city behind, he follows the railroad tracks. The silence is broken only occasionally by the rustle of leaves in the trees or the hoot of owls far away. The moon rested on the soft curve of the horizon right in front of him, leading him on to wherever he wanted to go.

His friend’s voice still echoed in his head: “Let’s follow the train tracks far away, and not stop ‘till we find where we’re supposed to be.” Now he walks alone in company, with the spirit of his friend shadowing him every step of the way.

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#10
Old 05-09-2011, 11:22 PM

What a beautiful drabble Pale Marionette. Such a sense of loss.

***********

Hazy sunlight fights through smog covered skies and drifts into half open windows, warming her face. A chorus of people, car horns, and sirens sing from ten stories below.

She slowly wakes in her lover’s embrace. His warm arms hug her tightly and she snuggles deeper. Inhaling his scent, a whiff of cigarette smoke and spicy Italian food fills her nostrils making her smile. Only he smells like this. Here with her love, she finally belongs somewhere.

Her arm reaches out, but the bed beside her is cold and has been empty all night. The city was her only companion.

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#11
Old 05-10-2011, 01:28 AM

Thank you; those types are my specialty.

===========

“Why do we exist?”

“Why not?”

“All we do is wander through this world, aimless, thinking nonsense and hurting one another. Why are we even here if all we feel is pain? If all we want to do is harm others to make them feel worse than we do?”

“I don’t know. But I do know we should take advantage of the life we have.”

“I don’t consider this life. This is torture. We’re born, get older, and then die, then everyone forgets we ever existed. Some may be remembered, but the rest of us are merely their audience…”

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#12
Old 01-11-2012, 08:12 PM

Salt water entered her lungs and she breathed deep as she drowned. The salt scrubbed her clean from the inside, but it wasn’t enough so she slashed her wrists and it entered her veins. She knew peace as she drifted into the deep, cleansed by the waters.

The ocean took pity and forgave her sins. After fish ate the meat from her bones and nothing was left, she opened her eyes. Where legs and feet once were, now a tail and fins. Where there once was soft skin and fine hair, now scales and gills. The first mermaid was born.

Last edited by fishyfey; 01-11-2012 at 08:32 PM..

Repo
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#13
Old 01-16-2012, 04:13 AM

I could tell that my overalls and cowboy boots weren’t welcome, so I went back to a place called home and questioned why I ever left in the first place.

I knew I was home when the radio started singing to me like my daddy used to with his guitar and a voice so sad it made the strongest cowboy wanna cry.

When these memories came back, I thought to myself “Those city folk could have their smog and their noise and their light pollution. They don’t know what they’re missing. The clean air, the silence, and the twinkling stars.”

/drabble

I don't know why, but the word 'city' reminded me of a cowboy. x3

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#14
Old 01-16-2012, 09:17 PM

I love it Repo. Short and sweet, but conveys such a feeling of peacefulness and being out west, away from the hustle and bustle.

Ikuto Akihiko Hasegawa
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#15
Old 01-25-2012, 09:37 PM

Decided to give this a try~ :3

--
She slowly tread down the stoney path out of the park. Her head was heavy and swirling, but her thoughts seemed light and fleeting. She knew her way out of here, she just knew it!

A barrage of cherry blossom petals danced around her, teasing and confusing her. She fumbled around, hair flying, swinging her arms wildly, trying to rid herself of these velvety pink pests. Until at once, they all fell to the ground and she found herself out of park, out of the confusion. There she stood, faced with busy traffic and the sounds of the bustling city.

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#16
Old 01-26-2012, 06:50 AM

Ikuto~ I giggled imagining her flailing about until she realized she floundered her way out of the park. I wonder how many people were watching her antics. :lol:

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#17
Old 01-26-2012, 06:21 PM

Hopefully not many. :ninja:

But probably lots. :lol: -snort-

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#18
Old 01-31-2012, 09:13 AM

The city that he lived in was a dark and cold city and that affected him. Growing up without the sunlight, his skin was a whitish gray color and his eyes were such a light blue, they were almost translucent. There was very little for him to live for, except life itself. He was beginning to get bored with life and began to contemplate his eighteenth birthday, the time at which he was allowed to move away. Soon, this became his only thoughts all day long. He was obsessed. That is, until he met her. Now she is his obsession.

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#19
Old 02-01-2012, 05:43 PM

This is just a quick drabble. 100 words is hard for me to stay at. It's too short. :P

Mari yawned and stretched as she got out of bed. She made her way to the window over looking the city streets. She longed for the smells from home, especially the cherry blossoms that bloomed in the spring. It seemed like a long forgotten fairytale now that she was in the big city. She had hoped to return on the next train but had realized she missed it when she looked to her slightly damaged alarm cock. It seemed that the nights of watching shooting stars by the ocean at night had to wait yet another day to return home.

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#20
Old 02-22-2012, 08:53 AM

You guys are amazing! I love your stories. It is really tough to write a whole story in just 100 words. It always makes me really weigh what I want to say and how to cut out any extras that I don't need. This exercise has actually helped me learn how to edit better.

Wow, I just read some of the stuff I've been writing lately and it is really really dark. Sorry for the depressing works.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Stars fell from the sky and burned the ground dead. A long time ago this used to by a thriving city filled with life, love, and people. They were happy for a time, until jealousy, hate, and loneliness crept into their souls like fungus. People became distrustful. Squabbles and petty thievery began. Eventually their desires morphed into the wars they wanted. After a long time, when they no longer knew why they fought, they became afraid of what life would be like without chaos and pain. They launched the bombs. One after another. Until the stars fell from the sky.

Last edited by fishyfey; 02-22-2012 at 08:56 AM..

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#21
Old 02-28-2012, 08:30 AM

Creek... crick... clack. Turn the cogs.

Clock tower bells clang the hour. Mechanical precision at it's finest. No one looks up.

Underground, cogs turn endlessly; moving buses, food carts, and robot helpers along rusted tracks in a sick parody of life. They wait for someone to board the bus, buy food, or ask directions from a friendly robot helper, but no one comes.

The robots are lonely.

Massive buildings block out the soot-filled sky. Forgotten sentinels of a time long past.

A tiny sprout struggles to grow. The robots hold their breath, waiting for life to return to their world.

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#22
Old 02-28-2012, 09:52 AM

I hope you don't mind, I'll give it a try? I'm not that great at setting such narrowed limits, so it was a bit of a challenge keeping it vague, yet interesting:


She felt alone in her room, in the middle of a bustling city. As though she’d been transported to a distant rock in the sky billions of miles away, wrapped in the dark of space, her gaze falling on the light of stars far out of her reach. Even her cramped room seemed distant.

The picture grasped in her hand, of four smiling faces, seemed foreign to her, yet she’d held it countless times.

“Lavender?”

A voice behind her. Turning, she laid eyes on her young sibling.

“Yes, Lily Belle.”

She knew why she endured. She endured for her sister.

Last edited by Fluttershy; 02-29-2012 at 08:32 AM..

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#23
Old 02-29-2012, 05:33 AM

I love it flutter. Thanks for adding you 100 word drabble. Feel free to post any more if you want. :D I keep wandering back to this thread when I have writers block. Tossing out a quick story helps me get thinking and warms me up for more writing.

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#24
Old 02-29-2012, 08:32 AM

Thanks so much, I love writing, so this helps a bit when I'm in a bind with either too much on my mind or just not enough for a project that's not been updated in far too long. And if I can help someone else, that just sweetens the deal! I have another:

<><><><><>

Just when he thought it’d ended, the wind roared, rattling the windows. The rain pounded as hard as hailstones on the roof, the old air conditioning unit halfway out the window. The city seemed so quiet yet it wasn’t fifty yards away from him on all sides.

The little outdated television in front of her flashed. The picture, that of a news station, went blank.

His blood went cold, his heart dropping out of his chest to beat rapidly in his stomach. Behind him, something moved, not just the curtains blowing in the stray breeze from between the window’s gaps.

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#25
Old 09-19-2012, 05:35 AM

First time doing this! Wow, it was hard to write ONLY a hundred words. You guys are so cool making these! Anyway, I wanted to summarize the entire plot of one of my stories, with the prompt "fairytale" in mind. I started with the last sentence, the only thing left from the original work, and worked my way up.

----

Once, a girl fell for an imprisoned prince.
For the key, she lost herself, save for her heart.

But upon meeting, he asked,

“Where are the lips to kiss? Your tongue to offer solace?
Lungs to breathe life into me? Bones to support?
Muscles to help me? Guts to follow me?”

She couldn't speak, nor touch him. She wished to move but cannot,
to scream but no air came out; she lacked the courage to act.

She offered her heart, her last possession.

He refused it.


And her heart crumbled, having no protection against the faintest of winds nor words.

---------- Post added 09-19-2012 at 01:47 AM ----------

Does this count as a drabble? I was thinking of getting into one of my chara's thought processes. So I guess this is a hundred-word train of thought.

--

“Why does nobody notice the goddamn eyes of these kids. Maybe cuz they ain’t really gonna do what they’re thinkin’

I mean, they're just kids, right? Nuthin but daydreams and fantasy. Doesn't matter if they're wacky, not like they'd do it... but that's just cuz they're too young to know that they CAN. That they can hide their intentions and get sneaky. That they can ignore daddy's plea to be good little social peckers. That they can start their fun anytime they want.

So yes, I don't wanna be around them.

I'm tired of waiting
for those kids


to blink."

 


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