Writing Challenge: 50 Words -- With a Twist

disrupt
forlorn
globule

How to glamorize a word like ‘globule’? Forlorn, disrupted from productive work for hours now, Nathan continued to hash out a grant-worthy proposal—

“Enough!” Nathan scowled at the biotelemetry screen above. “Demeter, enter sleep mode.”
Blissful silence followed the darkened monitor and Nathan reached for the half-empty bottle of Glenlivet.

murder
soul
forgive

murder
soul
forgive

When Barnaby was preparing the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] of July barbecue he wondered, not for the first time, if killing an animal for its meat amounted to murder. But doesn’t murder require that the victim have a soul? He wasn’t sure an animal had one, so should he forgive himself, or what?

debate
minuscule
fandango

debate
minuscule
fandango

She had legs up to her chin; the kind a tango makes love to and a foxtrot marries, but fandango for guys like me to debate. The beefy goon with the minuscule brain next to her would pummel me before I could smell her perfume. Approaching this bird required stealth.

bombastic
eon
humanity

bombastic
eon
humanity

Again, Senator Spudders was making one of his pretentious, bombastic dinner speeches to a crowd of mindless sycophants who had donated to his campaign. “If humanity is to achieve its wondrous potential…” he droned on. But Rodney couldn’t take much more. It would be at least an eon before dessert.

pitch
shambolic
rudder

pitch
shambolic
rudder


Rudy stood up from his chair and forced a smile as everyone in the conference room craned their heads toward him. Now began his big pitch for his company's new GPS tracking sensors. Beads of perspiration rolled down his back. Don't let them see you sweat, he told himself. He looked down at his laptop. The presentation notes on the screen, which just this morning had appeared so organized and clear, were now a shambolic hodgepodge of useless factoids. The silence in the room was threatening to suffocate him. He had to say something. Anything....

"Thank you all for your attention this morning. I know it's early; I hope you've all had your worms."

Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ. If this company was a ship, the rudder just fell off.


lectisternium
rainstorm
heavenly

Good work above, but please note that in this thread, you are supposed to write your story in exactly 50 words. In the related thread, Write the Start of a Novel, you can write as much as you want.


lectisternium
rainstorm
heavenly

Rudy arranged for a lectisternium to be staged in the town square that afternoon, exactly as the Romans did 2,000 years ago. It would be an amazing and heavenly sight, with plaster gods and goddesses reclining on ornate couches. But at noon, a rainstorm hit, and the divine ones melted.

elemental
candelabra
spray

Oops! I got the threads mixed up. My bad!

elemental
candelabra
spray

The candelabra atop the stone dais flared to life, with flames as high as a funeral pyre. An elemental of fire sprang from the maelstrom, howling curses. Tizok recoiled at the blast of hot wind. "Now!" his Master shouted, and Tizok cast a spray of freezing ice at the demon.

biarchy
fix
winter

biarchy
fix
winter

Since the King was out of his mind, our nation was effectively a biarchy, with the King’s daughter making most of the important decisions. Sages warned that we were approaching the winter of our discontent, but with His Nibs being ga-ga, there didn’t seem to be a better fix available.

beseech
retrofit
arugula

beseech
retrofit
arugula

"I beseech you," the pompous actor thundered, pointing his finger at the caterer, "either you retrofit this cooking system for gas, or the arugula will be overcooked. You've burned the stems!" With a wave of his hand, he stormed off the set and slammed the door to his dressing room.

formed
bereft
willful

formed
bereft
willful

“Daniela is such a willful child,” Mrs. Smock said. “She’s too young to have formed a distinct personality, but she’s determined to do whatever crazy thing pops into her head.”

“Ha!” Mrs. Fizzleby said. “If you force her to be something she isn’t, she’ll be bereft of her real self.”

spam
antithesis
purvey

spam
antithesis
purvey

The instructor surveyed the class. "Spam is the antithesis of good behavior on the internet. If you're going to have a presence on the web, you want to purvey good will, not anger and distrust. No one likes to have unwanted ads shoved in their face. Think carefully. Act accordingly.”

difficult
soft
contoured

difficult
soft
contoured

Sculpting in marble had always been so difficult for Jana. Once you had cut something away, there was no way to put it back. But working with clay was much, much easier. It was soft, and you could keep reworking it till it was contoured exactly the way you wanted.

drill
skillet
maximize

drill
skillet
maximize

He placed the head in the skillet before grabbing the drill. This would minimize spillage and maximize yield from the skull's contents. He bored three holes. Two would allow air to enter, replacing the brains--emulsified by the long bit--as he poured from the third. Nature abhorred a vacuum.

catheter
leopard
practice

catheter
leopard
practice

"This is stupid," Fred complained. "I can't believe that we practice inserting a catheter into a leopard. Who's gonna work on leopards anyway? My God! I enrolled because I want to care for dogs and cats."

Sally agreed. "I want to work on farm animals. This jungle crap is ridiculous."

puff
make
summer

puff
make
summer

Marianne remembered the days when her grandmother would make four-layer chocolate cake while humming old songs in the kitchen, and her grandfather would puff on his pipe as he sat in his old rocker on the porch dispensing old-fashioned wisdom. What had become of that kind of summer?

What, indeed?

doubt
intense
magnet

Doubt
Intense
Magnet

It was broken. The old-fashioned "Grandfather Clock" had no circuitry in it, so he doubted it being caused by yesterday's intense lightning storm. Mark opened the tall contraption's case and noticed a small block attached to one of its hands like a magnet.

"Now, where did you come from? Curious."

Interlocutor
Modest
Jolt

Interlocutor
Modest
Jolt

Jasmine felt intimidated by her black-clad interlocutor.She had been invited here by an email signed “Reconfigure Our World.” But what was this group? Being a modest person, she was hesitant to speak up. She felt a jolt as he asked, “Are you prepared to sacrifice yourself for the reconfiguration?”

peddle
facsimile
hurl

peddle
facsimile
hurl

The instructor pointed at the map. "Peddle this path, follow the directions on this facsimile of the Tour de France, then return here for the finish."

The pistol fired. They were off, cycling furiously as they jockeyed for position. Halfway through the course, Brian said, "I'm gonna hurl," and crashed.

shrift
gaggle
boggle

shrift
gaggle
boggle

The moment the takeover was announced, employees formed a gaggle around the water cooler. “We’ll sue!” Joe cried. “They’re giving us short shrift! We’ll all be out on the street!”

Julia, from H.R., merely smiled. “It’s fair and square, I promise you. Don’t let it boggle your pretty little minds.”

deft
scurrilous
mint

deft
scurrilous
mint

Antwone's deft fingers flew over the illuminated keyboard. Uma watched the keypad. Fourteen seconds later, the green light appeared, and a click was heard. Uma smiled. "Gettin' kinda slow ‘A’?" Antwone didn't respond to her scurrilous jab. "Take it easy," she said. "We'll be making a mint on this job."


wax
agreeable
prose

wax
agreeable
prose

“Egbert approached the eerie grotto, with its spring issuing from a dismal cavern like a rivulet of death from the River Styx.”

Damn! Freddie knew his prose stank, but he refused to wax sentimental. All he wanted was an agreeable style!

Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a writer.

tankard
mutilate
comprehend

tankard
mutilate
comprehend

Half-empty tankards lifted down the bar—a synchronized line of men seeking to comprehend the barmaid’s comment through their haze of ale. Perhaps the wisdom would show itself at pint’s bottom.


greed
chink
rife

greed
chink
rife

As citizens of the Unified States realized they were entering a dystopian age, crimes proliferated. Thieves were everywhere. Greed infected hospitals, even schools were rife with hypocrisy.

Ellen feared all was lost. But if there was a chink of sunlight coming from a door somewhere, she wanted to see it.

brazen
trident
carpet

brazen
trident
carpet

Over six times the size of a blue whale, the Ohio class submarine slipped out of Kings Bay, Georgia, into the Atlantic. She carried in her belly twenty-four Trident missiles and their accompaning warheads, destined for a brazen mission under what was once a vast, frozen carpet of arctic ice.

palindrome
fuchsia
tank

palindrome
fuchsia
tank

“Why is there a fuchsia tank in this game?” Frank growled. “This is ridiculous. War games are supposed to be manly, not girly.”

“Shut up and play,” Julie said. “You’re losing because you’re no good, not because the tank is pink.”

“Watch. I’ll win top spot!”

“A palindrome, Frank? Seriously?”

ratchet
magnum
allude