Given a container to write a story. Rules of engagement are below. If you are from Grenada you may be familiar with the impetus for this story.
An inconceivably sad story.
She walked through the brush, her husband behind. Sun wildly darting
through dancing palms. A scream caught between his elbow, her throat.
“Give me the bag.”
“What the fuck!”
“Let her go! Let her go!” piercing through mangrove.
Rock in hand threatening a lash to his wife’s head
“The bag. The bag.”
Help! A mad dash back to the hotel, with help a shout, a scream piercing through and behind the mad dash.
Wildly darting through throat, “Wife’s. Rock. head”
Bag in hand.
A piercing scream darting through brush. A lash to head.
Husband. Hotel with bag still in hand
She piercing still. Mad dash to what the fuck!
Shout between fuck. Scream. Still.
Husband wildly threatening sun, palms, mangrove. Wildly threatening hotel.
Dancing darting through the shout. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Husband, bag in hand?
Bag in hand, husband?
Wife’s head, throat, back, piercing still.
‘Give me the bag.’ Still wildly piercing through his head, dashing back to hotel.
Bag in hand?
“Husband darting mad!”, she shouts to his wife’s still head, back, throat.
She walked through the brush, husband behind. Mad dash to hotel. Bag still in his hand.
Dancing palms wildly shout, “What the fuck? What the fuck?”
Set a timer for 45 minutes
Write a 200 word story. But (and here’s the trick), it has to be exactly 200 words long (not 199, not 200) and you can only use 50 words in the process
You will figure out how to keep track of your word count. One way is to just keep a running list on another page. So, if you write, “the rain in Spain….” Your list will look like this:
- The
- Rain
- In
- Spain
And then you’ll have those words to use as you move forward__ and will only have 46 words “left”. When you hit 50 words, that’s it-you have to start reusing words. And for the purpose of this exercise, every word is anew word (dog and dogs are two separate words). And yes, articles like “a” “the” ect. Count as words.
Good luck! (from George Saunder’s Story Club.)