Writing Challenge - Week 25

The next two weeks are going to have similar challenges but they are going to be completely different and should be a lot of fun. Today we are going to look back at a historical event that really captivates you. One that you just wish you could have been at. You won't actually be there so it will not affect your life whatsoever, you also can't change anything about the event. Think of it kind of like travelling with the Ghost of Christmas Past, but instead of your life it is any historical time you want. Feel free to do as much or as little research as you would like, you can choose to be as historically correct as possible or you can simply bend things to fit your story. (NOTE: If you decide to share this with people or publish it in some way, expect a backlash if it is not historically accurate, make sure to add a disclaimer to save yourself a lot of headaches!)

 

Writing Challenge - Week 24

 This week we are sticking with the time-travelling theme but this time we are going forward in time. You can pick any year that is beyond your lifetime (let's say 150+) and write about the world. You can create a whole new character or explain why/how you travelled there from your current time. This should be an exercise in world-building. What is different? What is the same? Do we see this coming in our lifetime? Things of this nature would be a wonderful start to a whole new world!

Writing Challenge - Week 23

 This month we are focusing on a more sci-fi take. I don't write sci-fi myself but I have often been asked certain philosophical questions that are really interesting to think about. One of the most popular questions is if you could go back and change certain things in history would you? This question is often about bad men who did something to alter the course of history.

So today's challenge is to pick a historical event that you would go back and change if you could. Make sure to add how you could change things, what the outcome would be of your changes, and how it would affect life as we know it. A great example of this, should you need one is Stephen King's 11/22/63. In his book, he looks at the Kennedy assassination and how life changes depending on the things the main character does. It is very important to think of the political repercussions this would have had, etc.

Writing Challenge - Month Long Special - Writing Prompt (Week 22)

 Well, it is the end of the month, and that means this is our last post for the Writing Prompt Boot Camp. Today we are focusing on Day Fourteen. And that theme is Matchup! And basically, the prompt gives three things your story has to feature. I won't list them here you can find them in the PDF file of course. But while you read through the story see if you notice odd things that seem to stand out!

Sebastien Lecroix knew that he was playing a dangerous game. But ever since his experience last summer, he had vowed to help out the world any way he could. And though buying up Ouija Boards on eBay didn’t seem like one of the ways to do that, he knew it played a bigger role than most thought. As he loaded the large Tupperware of holy water into the trunk of his car. Next, the holy oil was put beside it and he threw a pack of matches on top. This ride was one of the longest he had ever taken but it was a beautiful Sunday and two and a half hours really wasn’t that far.

As he got into the car, Sebastien checked to make sure he had everything. Wallet, Keys, cellphone, St. Michael’s Medal of Protection, Crucifix, a stray bottle of Holy Water, some Sage Sticks, Ghost Hunting for Dummies book, and a Fire Extinguisher. As he pulled up the ad on eBay again, he made sure he had the address copied right as he put it into Google Maps. As he pulled out of his driveway, the water in the back swished.

Two hours later he was turning down Thornhill Lane, three cities over. As he slowly drove down the street he tried to find the correct address. As he drove he was careful to figure out what side of the road it would be on and about how much further it should be. When Sebastien pulled up to an empty field, he was confused. He checked the map app again and it was correct. He checked the eBay message he had received to make sure he had put the address in correctly and he had.

As he got out, Sebastien had every intention of trying to find out what had happened. Maybe the person just didn't want all kinds of weird people from the internet showing up at their home. He hoped that was the case. As he walked, he noticed a huge area of the property was a concrete slab. It was obvious there had been a house there once, and when the upper part had been destroyed they filled in the basement.

Sebastien looked around hopeful. He half expected the Ouija Board to be sitting on the slab waiting for him but it wasn’t. As he looked around, it didn’t seem like anyone had been there in a long time. It was odd, he thought as he stood in the middle of the place.

“Can I help you?” The voice pulled him out of his daydream. The older man seemed to be a little pissed that he had been pulled away from whatever it was he was doing to come and check on some city prick. Sebastien didn’t blame him. They probably got a lot of trouble makers out this way looking for a large space to party where they could do all kinds of things away from the eyes of the city.

“I am not sure,” Sebastien admitted as he closed the gap between him and the man. “I paid for an Ouija Board on eBay and was told to come here and pick it up.”

The man eyed Sebastien and tried to size him up. He must have decided that Sebastien looked to have good intentions. “The house that was here burned in a fire about 8 months back. Before that it had been abandoned for about five years.”

Sebastien sighed and nodded. Now he wondered if it wasn’t all just a rouse to get money. He had only paid ten dollars for the board but if ten other suckers just like him did the same thing at all added up to a hundred dollars. Maybe the fact that the person only that the Ouija board listed on his profile was a sign.

“Maybe it is someone from the neighbourhood,” Sebastien asked as he tried to cling to what little hope he had left. “Does the name Michael Smith ring a bell?” He knew it was a long shot, probably a made-up name for the sake of eBay, but it was worth a shot.

The way the man’s face turned pale, made Sebastien slightly nervous. “The Smiths used to own this property.” Suddenly Sebastien was feeling ill at ease. That couldn’t be a coincidence. “Their son Michael was the one that set the place on fire. He claimed there were spirits haunting it.”

All of this made Sebastien want to vomit. He had heard similar stories before, hell his own story had parallels to it. But it didn’t make sense. “What happened to him?”

The man shrugged, “Last I heard he was in a psych ward up in Boulderville.”

Copyright: A.L Keegan (2020)

Writing Challenge - Month Long Special! Writing Prompt (Week 21)

 This week we are sharing day thirteen of the Reader's Digest Writing Prompt Boot Camp challenge. You will notice that I skipped day twelve. This one was just a letter to break up with something, not a person but something you just have gotten sick of. If you want to find that writing prompt you can find it in the PDF from Reader's Digest. And also if you want more information about today's prompt, there is more information here.

So the description of Day Thirteen of the Writing Prompts is Breaking Down. The description talks about blowing a tire and then having to help someone on the verge of his or her own breakdown. The prompt ends by saying, Stuck in a small town, you're about to do something you haven't done in years. Again as always, I don't write in the first person. I write in the third person, so that is how I wrote mine. You can write however you like.

Adrien Poe and his wife Samantha had been fighting for three days. They were on a month-long road trip in the southern United States and just as they had left Alabama the fighting had started. A simple off handed comment that he couldn’t even remember anymore had started the mother of all fights. Now they were fighting about every indiscretion since they had gotten married two years ago. Now they sat in silence as they drove through Mississippi. Not for the first time, Adrien wondered if his wife would ever speak to him again.

Samantha Poe wasn’t sure herself if she would ever find anything to say to the man whom seemed barely more than a stranger. How had they been married for almost two years and still be so blind as to who each other truly was. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. As she thought of Divorce again, she started to hyperventilate. She loved Adrien, she really did but their marriage had hit a point where the true struggles of day to day marriage were starting to set in and become the norm.

The loud unexpected bang made Amanda scream as Adrien tried to remain in control and steer the car to the shoulder of the road. When the car had come to a full stop, Adrien shut the engine off. “Geez Mandy you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as tears ran down her face. He hadn’t noticed but she was bawling like a baby and shaking like a leaf.

“Hey, no no,” Adrien turned as best he could to look at her. “Oh Honey, I’m sorry. It’s okay, it’s just a blown tire.”

Amanda nodded as she tried but she couldn’t stop. Everything had been piling up and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As she sobbed Adrien realized that he had been a dick. Even though neither of them could remember what had started their fight. Adrien knew he was the asshole for not stepping up and being a man. He got out of the car and made his way over to the passenger’s side. He opened her door and helped get the seat belt undone and offered Amanda his hand so she could get out of the car. For a long while, he held her there on the side of the road as she cried. He rubbed her back and tried to comfort her as she cried.

Once she had calmed slightly, Adrien kissed her forehead and stared at her. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. This was the woman he had fallen in love with. They had started as friends and had grown so close, they had just fallen. “I’m just going to change that tire and then we can stop for lunch in the next small town for lunch.” Amanda nodded as she watched him.

Adrien didn’t want to let on, but he hadn’t changed a tire in years. He wasn’t sure if he remembered just exactly how to do it. In high school they had been taught how to do all kinds of things on a car, but once he had graduated all of that had gone out the window.

Copyright: A.L Keegan (2020)