Archive for the ‘Weekly Exercises’ Category

Weekly Exercise #6 (9/22/13)

Posted: September 22, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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It’s time again for my Weekly Exercises. These flash fiction pieces are part opportunity to practice my craft, part sounding board to hear from readers what they think works and doesn’t work, and part shameless plug to get people interested in my published work. Remember, the Weekly Exercises rely on reader feedback, so whatever your thoughts, please let me know. I like feedback, positive or negative.

This week’s exercise is brought to you by Water. “Water: You need it, so why not take a dip?” It’s also brought to you by Fear. “Fear: the makers of ‘What was that?'”

Enjoy.

~~~

She’d been kidnapped on the way home from her last class. He’d taken her to his home, tied her up, done things to her. He said there’d been news reports about a missing co-ed from the local college, a pretty redhead whom nobody could think of why someone would want to hurt her. He’d laughed all the while he was hurting her.

Now he’d tied her up, put a gag in her mouth, and thrown her into the pit behind his house, naked as the day she was born. He said he was done and had had his fun. She screamed up to him through the gag, begging for mercy. He said he’d installed a drain in the pit that could only be opened from above. Then he closed it and snaked a hose in.

Cold water fell from above. She cried, begging for her life. She’d do anything for him. But all he did was laugh and watch and film it with his camera, like he’d filmed everything else he’d done to her. The water was up to her ankles. She tried to break her bonds, but they were too strong. The water was up to her waist now. There wasn’t room to move, and she couldn’t swim. Up to her neck now, very little moonlight left. She cried a tear, but it was lost in all the water.

Weekly Exercise #5 (9/17/13)

Posted: September 17, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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In addition to being the second-month anniversary of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones (post to come later) this is also the day I do my weekly exercises. These flash fiction pieces are chances to practice my craft, chances to hear reader views, and shameless plugs to get you interested in my published fiction. And today’s the fifth one, meaning I can stick with this.

Remember, the exercises depend on reader feedback, so whatever you think, please let me know. I love hearing from you.

~~~

He had killed them all. A year ago, he and his wife had left a restaurant and they had jumped him, beaten him and given him a Glasgow smile, so now he always looked like he was smiling. He’d lived, but his wife hadn’t been so lucky. She had been raped and killed by the punks who’d cut his face open. The autopsy had revealed she was three weeks pregnant with their first child.

The police couldn’t find them. Didn’t have the time, with all the gang crimes in this city. But he hadn’t stopped looking for them. And he’d found them. And now they lay all around him, with eternal smiles full of blood on their faces. He looked at their pitiful faces, and then he left. He was going to put flowers on his wife’s grave.

Weekly Exercises #4 (9/11/13)

Posted: September 11, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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It’s time for my weekly exercises. These pieces of flash fiction are part chance to practice my craft, part oppurtunity to get reader feedback on what’s scary and what’s not, and part shameless marketing ploy to get people interested in my published work. Remember, these exercises depend on reader feedback, so please give me your thoughts, good or bad, on the piece below.

The sky turned black as midnight. Everyone stared towards the heavens and the inky blackness. A moment ago the sky had been bright and blue, the sun still high above at four in the afternoon. But then it had turned pitch-black, like looking into an inkpot. No moon, no stars. Not a single source of light burned in the sky, and not even street lamps sensitive to changes in light could dispel away the darkness.

Family huddled together in fear. Lovers held each other, comforting each other in order to forget their disorientation and confusion. People left their offices, homes, and stores just to stare at the impossibly-black sky. For maybe five minutes, nothing changed and nobody moved, just looking at the sky in terrified wonderment.

And then a giant, skeletal hand appeared from the inky blackness and reached down as if to grab them all and take them away. Maybe that was its purpose. And the people who saw the hand and the long arm attached to it screamed.

Weekly Exercise #3 (9/1/2013)

Posted: September 1, 2013 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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Time for my weekly exercises again. These short little pieces of flash fiction are part practice of my craft, part chance to get some feedback on my work, and part shameless marketing ploy to get you to take an interest in my work. Remember, feedback is important, positive or negative, so whatever you think, please let me know if you like what you read.

Today’s exercise features a favorite of mine: the evil doll. Hope it chills you to the bone.

~~~

Danny had never been allowed in Grandmother’s room in his eight short years, but he supposed nobody would care since Grandmother was now dead. He walked around the room, staring at all the old photos and the ancient furniture. The room had a strange smell, the smell of forgotten things and things that had seen their day years ago. At the foot of Grandmother’s bed was a large wooden crate with big, metal clasps and a sign that said NEVER OPEN. Curious, Danny undid the clasps, opened up the crate, and looked inside.

Lying on the floor of the crate was a doll in a blue sailor’s dress. It was the same size as Danny, with long red hair and pale skin that looked so real Danny at first thought it was a real girl. He reached down to pick the doll up, but then it suddenly stood up on its own and threw its arms around Danny in a big bear hug. The doll whispered in his ear, “Play with me forever or I’ll kill you.”

Weekly Exercise #2 (8/27/2013)

Posted: August 27, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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It’s time for my weekly exercise, partly to practice my craft, partly to see what works and what doesn’t, and partly as a shameless marketing ploy to get readers interested in my published or to-be published work. I rely on your feedback, so whatever you think, please let me know.

Also, this week’s exercise might be a little sexual, so if you’re under the age of 15 or have a really innocent outlook on life, I suggest you stop reading and instead go knit yourself a sweater or watch an episode of your favorite cartoons from when you’re a kid. If not, please read on.

He started and woke up as he felt a dainty, thin-fingered hand on his cock. He grinned, feeling his excitement from earlier coming back. He had thought that, being a church girl and the preacher’s daughter, she wouldn’t want anything to do with him after he had taken her special flower. Looks like all it took was a little wine and some sweet talk and he could make this girl crazy for him.

He turned over, ready for round two, but was surprised to see no one there. Then he heard a flush and saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing a pink robe. He stared at her, his eyes wide, before looking under the covers to see whose hand was still around his cock.

Weekly Exercise #1 (8/22/13)

Posted: August 22, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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Spooooky!!!

Last night I had an idea during my evening meditation for something I could do to help improve my writing. I would’ve done it earlier in the day, but I’ve been busy since today was the second day of classes. But now I have some time since I finished my homework and I thought I’d share my idea and its fruits before I start cooking dinner.

My idea was to write a short little piece of writing–maybe 1-3 paragraphs–whose sole purpose was to tell a scary story in as few words as possible. Basically, it’s an exercise in scaring people in as few words as possible. BOO!

Why am I doing this? Several reasons: one is that if I can write these vignettes and see how people react, I can get a better grasp on how to polish up my craft in terms of writing and scaring. The second reason is that any one of these little vignettes could lead to a full-length story, should I find them helpful enough in the story writing, if I particularly enjoyed the story depicted within, and if reader response is positive enough. And finally, it’s also a marketing ploy. Yes, a shameful marketing ploy. I’m hoping that if people react positively to these exercises, I can get them interested in my longer works, like The Quiet Game or Reborn City (out November 1st).

I hope to get these out once a week, giving me time to come up with new ones and so that people don’t get sick of them. I also plan to list all the Weekly Exercises on its own separate page, with every exercise listed with the most recent first. I hope at least I’ll benefit from these exercises, and so will my readers in the long run.

So without further ado, here’s Weekly Exercise #1:

She was awoken by the baby screaming and immediately closed her eyes, hoping it would quiet on its own. When it didn’t, she threw the covers off and got her robe on. Was there a night that it would just leave her be? She’d never wanted this stupid thing that couldn’t take care of itself, and it was reminding her of that every night with its ceaseless screaming. Well no more. Either it shut up tonight or she would shut it up for it!

She reached the baby’s room, her fingers clenching and unclenching, ready to strangle it or snap its neck for some decent sleep. But then she saw the baby floating in the air, fast asleep. And then she realized that the screaming she’d heard wasn’t coming from the baby’s room anymore. It was coming from behind her.

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