Day 19: 50-word challenge

Hi everyone!

I've been racking my brains a little bit to find challenges that focus on writing, and I've finally decided to take inspiration from others. This is not plagiarism, it's just...fruitful multiplication of ideas.

I'm borrowing this idea from "the 100 word challenge" for schools, which involves a series of prompts for creative writing. My version will be a 50-word challenge (I think it can actually be harder to write a proper story in fewer words). Write freely, but try to make it so that the reader can understand the situation or the action, that is, it shouldn't feel like a mere incomplete fragment of something else. Just do your best, as I know this can be hard.

The prompts are a part of a sentence and five words, all of which must appear in your text.

So, without further ado:

- Read the prompts.

 - Write a short story, as self-contained as possible, in 50 words. It must contain all the prompts.

 - Share it with us, including your comments on how you did!
UPDATE: You can try the slightly easier version of this challenge--same thing but in 80 words.


PROMPT 1:

 ...was this really the only...

 PROMPT 2:

 diamond        book         upset         lost         sprinting


Thank you very much to the 100 Word Challenge for the idea and the prompts! Hope you enjoy it!

Comments

  1. fdgcApril 4, 2020 at 7:15 AM

    Hi, Bea,

    If writing a story in 100 words is grueling, writing it in only 50 words has been a totally impossible mission to me. Persistently though I have tried to shorten it, I couldn´t manage to do it. So, this is my result, a 84-word story (I´m assuming the title doesn´t count):


    Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

    Having lost most of my clients, housebound and bitterly upset, now I was totally adrift. By a simple glance to the log book of my little company you could see that I was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the solution was near here, in the jeweler’s full of diamonds just opposite my dwelling. Yes, it was this really the only good denouement, just a swift night break-in and come back home sprinting. Then, my cell phone tinkled waking my up from my delusion.

    Thank you Bea for pushing us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shall I compare thee...April 4, 2020 at 8:22 AM

      Thank you so much, Daniel! I love your story!

      Was 50 words too hard, then? Oh my. Maybe I should update the entry. Your story seems condensed enough! But I'm glad I pushed you to express yourself in few words!

      Delete
    2. EvelitaApril 5, 2020 at 3:51 AM

      Amazing! I agree, Daniel. I'd expected this challenge to be easier that it's actually been!

      Here you are my story!

      It had all begun seven years ago, the night his first book was launched. When she left the event, he didn’t doubt about sprinting towards her. After that? Eighty-four months of poetry and frugality. But last night he lost his temper, and it was this really the only time she felt upset. And then, a note. “You keep the diamond ring”.

      Delete
    3. Shall I compare thee...April 7, 2020 at 8:25 AM

      Ooooh Evelia! Such a nice twist at the end! I feel bad to correct anything!

      The thing is, there's nothing really wrong, but you can make it a lot clearer and more readable is you don't use "it was this...". The sentence as you have composed it is kind of awkward. I'd say simply "and this was really the only time (that) she felt upset."

      You are good at very short stories! Would you like another 50-word challenge?

      Delete
    4. EvelitaApril 8, 2020 at 4:46 AM

      Thank you Bea!

      It took me quite a long time to go from the first 98 -words version to the actual one. I know it sounds weird and prefer yours, but then we wouldn't be respecting the first prompt, would we? The truth is I struggled to insert this first prompt...

      I loved this challenge, looking forward to a second 50-word challenge! :-)

      Delete

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