So as you may have read on Facebook, Stephanie and I have decided to start doing little writing exercises based on a suggestion from Writer's Digest. The rules are as follows:
1. I have 30 minutes to complete the exercise.
2. I must use all four of the story ingredients she provides, and I cannot see the four ingredients until the 30 minutes begins.
3. I can use the ingredients a little or a lot, though the more prominent they are, the better.
4. The resulting story must have a beginning, middle and end, or I will be chopped.
5. I may use my phone to look things up on Google and to use the dictionary/thesaurus.
So yesterday I tried for the first time, and the resulting story wasn't really a story, it was a scene. And not a particularly strong one either. So I'm not going to publish it.
BUT, today's story turned out quite a bit better, so here it is! The only editing I've done is correcting 2 spelling typos and 2 minor grammar errors.
Ingredients:
- One-eyed purple people eater
- Tokyo
- French bread
- Tornado
Dyeus, God of Storms had suffered the insolence of the people of
Tokyo long enough. For generations, the heathens had failed utterly
to pay tribute to him, or even to one of his many derivative
personalities.
Feeble humans, he thought. Could they not witness his power,
awake and alive in their land? Did he not send the Monsoon each
year, and the blistering winds of the hurricane when a particular
group had sunk to a truly base iniquity? And yet the Japanese
continued to burn false money at the tombs of their ancestors. He
had waited long enough for his vengeance.
This storm was like none he had ever concocted. It shook the
very earth of the island with its winds. He sent mile-wide tornadoes
on the face of the wicked country, and issued great bolts of
lightning upon them.
But this was not enough, Dyeus mused. This country had many
times weathered as much destruction as he alone could visit upon
them. To make the punishment truly fitting of the crime, he would
have to call upon the skills of his brother.
“You most humble servant welcomes you, great Yama, God of
Death, keeper of hell,” Dyeus addressed him as he entered the royal
chamber.
“I hear you have finally decided to punish the people of Tokyo
for their insolence,” Yama said. “What is it you wish of me?”
“A great beast, your excellency. Like the beasts of old that
you sent upon the Greeks when they befouled your mighty name.”
“Ah yes, I do love a good beast. But alas, the Greeks and
Romans have taken most of my stock. I have but one beast left great
enough for the task. The ravenous violet cyclops of Shagroth. A
mediocre incarnation at best, but he is the largest I have to offer.”
“Your excellency is too humble. The violet cyclops will do
nicely.”
The streets of Tokyo were in chaos. Cars and people flew threw
the air, smashing into buildings. Hiro was trying to find cover in a
small bakery when the wind literally tore the contents of the store
out into the street. He heard a sickening liquid sound next to him,
and turned to see the horror of his wife, impaled by a large loaf of
day-old French bread.
How was this possible? How could such disaster strike with no
warning?
Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next. Outside
the shattered remains of the store front, a titanic, scaly purple
foot crashed down into a pile of cars. Hiro almost laughed at how
ridiculously hopeless it was. All was lost.
In resignation, he crawled out into the street, needing to see
for himself the architect of their destruction. When he gazed into
the sky, what he saw made him burst out in mad, hopeless laughter.
It had one eye, one arm, one horn, and it was eating people.
It's body was a deep violet. It looked like something a child would
draw, and yet it was their doom.
All was lost.
“What foolishness is this?” cried Yaweh as he burst into
Dyeus' chamber. Dyeus and Yama were gloating over their wicked
machinations.
“My lord!” Both of them fell to their knees. “We knew not
that you watched us.”
“Petulant children, you are! Do you not know that I watch this
entire world? That is it under my protection, now and ever more? I
invoked the right of Filial Sacrifice to save these humans,
effectively banishing you and all your lot from this sphere.” Yaweh
grimaced at Dyeus. “Have you not enough chaos to manage on Venus?
And you, Yama, is there not suffering enough to satiate you in Hell?”
The two gods fell silent.
“Very well. Off this sphere, both of you, and remain gone for
eternity! I shall have to turn back time now, because of you.
Something I have not been forced to do in centuries.”
Hiro couldn't have understood it, even if he had been able to
perceive it. The destruction around him lurched to a stop, then
slowly began to reverse itself, getting faster and faster until there
was nothing but a blur around him. All Hiro knew was that he woke
with a splitting headache. His wife lay sleeping next to him. For
some reason, he felt like he had just dodged a bullet.
The TV was on at the foot of the bed, showing the movie Twister.
He got up, padded to the
kitchen, and cut himself a few slices from a loaf of French bread
that was growing stale on the counter.
Why it made him feel sick, he
didn't know. But After that day, Hiro never bought French bread
again.
#writing #writingexercises #creativewriting #gods #monster #tornado #bread #chopped #challenge
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