Weekly Writing Assignment #1: Honorable Mentions
As I mentioned earlier this week, the first Weekly Writing Assignment inspired some amazing short stories. So amazing that a few deserve honorable mentions.
The first that deserves your attention is “Untitled” by Gavin St. Ours. Gavin’s entry depicted a terse dialogue between a drunken, hard-boiled detective/spy and his femme fatale. I have to be honest, I have a bit of a film noir fettish. Gavin really hit the mark, capturing every thing you would want to see in such a setting: an empty bottle of scotch, a pervading sense of desperation and hopelessness, and a healthy dose of sharp lines. Here’s an excerpt:
“I’m worried about you.”
She appeared at my office instead of worrying over the phone. I knew something was different when I buzzed her up.
“Are you trying to cajole me into a date? Or are you here in case I need to dictate a letter?”
The second honorable mention goes to “The List” by Jacob Batchelor. In this story, the character has been receiving mysterious lists with seemingly random commands like “Go to California,” and “Look up.” The character is really conflicted by whether or not he should play along with the game.
Now here he was, sitting at the kitchen table, the cacophony of New York’s streets overpowered by the buzz of confusion in his mind. For an hour he sat, staring into space, cajoling himself into this option or that. Its bullshit he thought; a game. But what wasn’t? He affected a look of destined bravado and took one more look at the coordinates on the list. With that, he grabbed his keys and walked outside.
I loved the idea of this story, and think it has real potential to expand into a larger narrative. Who is sending the list? Why do they want him to go to California? Why not something closer? Is the character being watched? These are all questions that Jacob skillfully left me with…making me want MORE!
Of course, the assignment was short, which was part of the challenge. Indeed, all of the assignments found on this site will be short.
And speaking of assignments, have you checked out this week’s? It involves a mirror.
Tags: creative writing, writing contest
