View Full Version : July Prompt: The Senses
EFCollins
07-01-2009, 07:30 PM
Hey there guys! The Mad Monkey, Luekman, chose to foist this month's prompt on me and my big mouth, so this is your punishment for his crimes. :D Feel free to kill Luekman at any time. We'll feed him to Haggis. ;)
This month's prompt is, you guessed it, all about the senses. In stories, we use these senses to connect with our reader, to make them connect with our character(s). We describe.
Not so easy this time.
You have 1500-3000 words.
Your main character(s) MUST try to escape from some preternatural evil. Your character(s) must be human. The evil may be anything; Demons, zombies, werewolves, vampires, monsters, the beast under your bed, in your closet, in your head. (Shout out to Metallica) You may use an animal if you wish, but it HAS to have a supernatural element.
You may only use ONE of the following major senses. Choose wisely, because your character(s) do not have the others. ONE sense to draw us in and make us friggin' believe.
Those senses are:
Sound
Touch
Taste
Smell
Notice that sight is not on that list. That is because you can't have it. No sight, no visuals. No images. The point of this is to make you think about the things we take for granted in our writing, our character's senses. Sight is far too easy, so you can't have that one. I think we'll all benefit from an in depth look at the human senses. You may use any method you wish to explain why the missing senses are missing, if you wish to. BUT, you don't have to explain a thing if you don't want to.
Your chatacter(s) are allowed their "spidey senses", or their intuition in other words, along with one of the four major senses listed.
You have 1500-3000 words. Go!
I'm thinking this should be interesting Effie, everyone working under the same degree of difficulty to produce something hopefully that terrifies. In this case the limitations are the thing that has set my mind racing. Thanks for that. Good luck everyone.
Kmcelhinny
07-01-2009, 07:49 PM
Wow Effie... do we get to use our keyboards with this or are you going to pass out ink and Quills soon too? :D
I think that this is great! Way to step up the stakes... great job! Great idea. I think I might have to think about this for a little while. Hmm...
EFCollins
07-01-2009, 07:53 PM
No keyboards... no quills either. Blood only, from your own finger please, and no paper! Write it on a wall, take a piccie... post it up. ;) Kidding of course (No-- I'm dead serious). I told you guys you were in trouble.
jgold
07-01-2009, 08:25 PM
Ouch. Hard topic, but this should be interesting.
I guess I'll just have to blind someone again... :e2teeth:
dgrintalis
07-01-2009, 09:45 PM
This is going to be fun. :)
EFCollins
07-01-2009, 09:59 PM
You think so? It's not going to be too hard, is it? *puzzles* I don't want to stump y'all... just challenge.
Kmcelhinny
07-02-2009, 02:12 AM
Nah... we're smart, stump first, ideas come right around the corner. I've got mine all planned out in my head already. Just took me a bit. :D
BIG whoots. A thousand words so far on this one, and it seems like I'll be doing good to finish in 3K. Whatever. I wouldn't let that stop me. It's a glorious day when one of mine tops 1,500. Anyhow, I'm trying for about the tenth time to redo my first horror story that was lost in a fire. So far, I'm liking this one. As for the prompt, verrrrry tricky. So once the lights go out I focus on hearing and narrow it down from there. I hope that's good enough. But if I love this story in the end it will be fine with me. LOL Oh, and I named my child Effie in thanks for shaking off my block.
EFCollins
07-03-2009, 02:27 AM
:) Good going, Kerr! I hope it keeps going well. (And we all know the word count is just for fun... it doesn't matter if it's not 1500-3000... write what the story needs) Keep writing hon... writing karma comin' at ya!
scottishpunk
07-03-2009, 11:46 PM
This is an extremely interesting prompt. I look forward to seeing what everybody comes up with.
There's always room for one more scottishpunk.
dgrintalis
07-04-2009, 09:32 AM
I'm having fun with this prompt. At first it seemed impossible, then wham. It hit. :)
dgrintalis
07-06-2009, 01:17 AM
This was tough and I'm not sure if I followed it 100% to the letter, but here it is:
Lilacs (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3772480#post3772480)
FOTSGreg
07-06-2009, 02:18 AM
I've already got an outline for a Quentin Dallas story.
What happens when a PI gets caught in an explosive spray that involves pepper spray (for the eyes, tongue, and nose), a flashbang (for the eyes), and a neural sedative (for the senses of taste and touch)? He must rely on his sense of hearing to solve the crime.
Hehehe... this is gonna' be challenge...
dgrintalis
07-06-2009, 02:19 AM
Sweet, Greg! I can't wait to read it.
EFCollins
07-08-2009, 04:21 AM
And here's my prompt story (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147638).
scottishpunk
07-09-2009, 04:49 PM
Are we allowed to use other senses in describing memories that lead up to the story?
EFCollins
07-09-2009, 06:54 PM
I don't know. I would think so, since it's not part of the here and now. As long as your main character has only one during the majority of the story, then I'd say it's fine.
scottishpunk
07-09-2009, 09:57 PM
What's the password so I can get in and read the posted stories? It won't let me in...
EFCollins
07-09-2009, 10:02 PM
The password is vista scottish.
Okay. I just read it. I will try to freefall this one sometime in the next day or so. It's a really interesting prompt. Excellent. This should be fun.
slcboston
07-16-2009, 06:33 AM
I;m not sure if this sucks, or if I get to fall back on my love of old time radio broadcasts which were *all* hearing.
Course, with everything else I have going on this month, it may be moot, but an excellent prompt.
Leukman
07-17-2009, 01:08 AM
GREAT prompt, Effer!
I've got a concept brewing, but have to find time to put fingertips in motion...soon...coming soon...
Again, great prompt.
Leukman
07-24-2009, 11:10 PM
Had a great time with this prompt! Finally done and posted (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149511).
:D
eta: sorry, I busted the word limit. not my fault, really. the story had a mind of its own.
Haggis
07-29-2009, 08:50 PM
Last call for the July prompt stories. You have until Friday night.
Then some other poor sucker will have to pick the prompt.
EFCollins
07-29-2009, 08:58 PM
That other poor sucker is thinking about it right now. ;) Damien should have something "Hellishly" good for next month. ;)
Guys, I had fun setting the prompt for you and writing the story for it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (though I did notice that a certain Puppy didn't post a prompt tale;)).
Haggis
07-29-2009, 09:05 PM
That other poor sucker is thinking about it right now. ;) Damien should have something "Hellishly" good for next month. ;)
Guys, I had fun setting the prompt for you and writing the story for it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (though I did notice that a certain Puppy didn't post a prompt tale;)).
*whines*
But, Effie, it was too haaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrd.
Truth is, I never came up with a story line that worked. I still think this might have been the best prompt yet. It certainly made for some interesting stories.
EFCollins
07-29-2009, 09:13 PM
*pats Puppy's head* It's okay. Good boy. Have a Monkey tail for chewing.
And they were interesting, huh? Damien's Lilacs was wild, wild, wild. Got to admit though, that this one was hard for me. I really had trouble not using other senses with the main character.
scottishpunk
07-31-2009, 06:44 PM
I had an idea for one but I couldn't make it work... perhaps next time.
Haggis
07-31-2009, 07:48 PM
I had an idea for one but I couldn't make it work... perhaps next time.
It was an extremely hard prompt. Kudos to those who were able to pull it off, and kudos to Effie for coming up with it.
EFCollins
08-01-2009, 02:13 AM
Thanks Puppadom. I enjoyed setting this one. It was great to be able to come up with something that would be challenging, helpful and fun.
Okay I made it in with at least the original prompt. I have to go out for awhile but who knows, I may make the other too.
Haggis
08-01-2009, 08:46 AM
Okay I made it in with at least the original prompt. I have to go out for awhile but who knows, I may make the other too.
:snoopy:
soapdish
08-01-2009, 08:57 AM
Well I have been totally stuck in the horror department in the last couple months. I have lots of ideas, some rough sketches, but nothing is coming together for any of the recent prompts.
Leukman’s one last month was good, but every time I started writing about my protag going crazy it forced me to tap into things that would drive me to the brink and I didn’t want to go there.
Effie’s prompt was AMAZING but on first read I didn’t really get all the details right--it started me going in one direction and then when I went back and re-read the instructions I realized I totally didn’t understand them the first time, thus my story didn’t fit the prompt at all. :tongue
However, it did inspire a good story that I think I am going to keep moving forward on. So thanks EF! It won’t fit the prompt, but I was inspired. If I ever finish it I’ll post it another time.:)
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