With no real "victims" around to use as a prompt, I picked a sentence out of a novel I was carrying: "it was already time." When I select a prompt this way, I open a book and whatever sentence or phrase that triggers a reaction, I use.
Each of us mentioned that we had no idea of where we were heading. After we finished, Julia described what flowed from her mind to her page as "weird." Creativity had taken control.
Rick likewise thought he was going one way with his piece but it ended up differently.
For me it was the same. I was surprised about half way through what I had originally wanted was my character going into a job interview. I saw that I needed to "seed" the ending. When copying my free write, I annotated where my mind was as I was doing it.
D-L's Free Write annotated
How could it be already time? (note: I changed the prompt slightly).
Greta smoothed her hair and hoped her lipstick wasn't smudged. (I thought Greta Thunberg for an instant but my characted looked more like a businesswoman waiting for a job interview).
She hadn't worn mascara. If she cried, which she certainly would, it would turn her into a raccoon. (note: this was where I changed direction.You don't cry at a job interview)
When she had pulled into the parking lot, it had been empty. Now people were dribbling in through the door.
The smell of lillies hung heavy. (note: the reason that I used lillies was because I'd glanced at Julia and remembered she hated the smell of that particular flower which could also foreshadow where I was heading).
A woman in her sixties came up to me. "You must be Greta. Your father bragged about you."
The door opened and the smell of the lillies grew stronger. I guess it's already time to go see my dead father. (note: becausse of the ten-minute time limit on our writing, I ended the piece there. Yet, yet, yet so much could be added such as a phrase "for the first time in five years" or something like that).
Rick's Free Write
It was already time.
Jack looked at his wrist where his watch used to be. Even so, he sensed the hour was near. You could tell by the abnormal quietude in the building, the whispers of the others where normally they would be loud, boisterous, unconstrained. He could tell by the quickening pace of his pulse. And he knew for sure when Curly, the Bald, unlocked his door.
Maybe it wouldn’t be the time after all. Maybe the governor would grant him a stay. Or even a pardon. Were they still so barbaric in this country as to execute fellow human beings?
It’s not as if he meant to kill the homeless bum pushing a shopping cart across the street. Yes, he was over the legal limit. Yes, he was distracted about the divorce. No, he had not seen the guy until his headlights hit his face and his arms raised in fright. How was he to know it was his brother-in-law?
(note: Both Julia and I were startled by the ending. Rick claimed it popped into his head when he had to wrap it up timewise. The brother-in-law was a surprise. He says on any free write it is necessary to ask do you go positive or negative and have to make that decision first. His free write was made hardedr dealing with the dog)
Julia's Free Write
It was already time…
But where was he going to go?
He had done a lot of countries; seen more cities in a year than his friends in a lifetime; been to the distant mountains and the far shores; explored the world.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t have the funds – he had inherited a bundle, as we used to say – had never been married, nor had children (at least to his knowledge), both of which would have used some of his immense wealth.
And time was another commodity that he enjoyed in abundance: when one doesn’t have to worry and don’t have a family, time, or the lack thereof, is a non-entity.
So it was already time… to turn on the TV and watch another travelogue. Being a paraplegic since his birth, it was his only way of living.
(note: fun how different we treat some subjects - and I truly had no idea whatsoever this morning when you read that line what my pen was going to write.Even as I wrote the line, I had no clue. What an experience)
Julia has written and taken photos all her life and loves syncing up with friends. Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/
Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices. com
D-L has had 17 fiction and non fiction books published. Check out her website at:. www.dlnelsonwriter.com
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