Daily Challenge #1
Daily Challenge #1
Today, I challenge you to write a paragraph using "I anxiously waited by the phone, impatiently waiting for ..." as the opening statement. You can change it into third person or second person (yuck!) if you wish, but that must be the first statement of your paragraph. The paragraph must contain a full thought or idea, and reveal something about your main character.
That's it! A pretty simple exercise, but it may cause a few people to stretch a little out of their usual genre. This activity is good for practicing description and quick character development (very important for short stories). Have some fun with this. I don't expect any two posts to be alike, so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes up. I'll post a paragraph of my own after a couple people have submitted.
I anxiously waited by the phone, impatiently waiting for the call from my commanding officer. See, I had been in the naval reserve for quite some time and at the time I had just finished going through some rather tedious training. They kept hinting that I would be on the next ship to defend our country. Most people in my spot would have been kissing their loved ones goodbye or something of the sort, however, I didn't know where any of my family is. It had been years since I had last seen my father, he just walked out when I was 10. I remember it clearly, he stood up at the diner table and left. He gave us no reason for leaving and no message as to when he planned to come back. My mom died the following year and I am an only child. All I have ever had are a few poessions, I guess that's why it was so easy to accept that by this time next year, I'd probably be dead. I continued to drift away in my memories of growing up, trying to find someone to call, someone who'd care, but I found no one. I remember telling myself, some people are meant to be alone, but I wasn't fooling anyone, I knew that I wanted someone to depend on me. In fact, that was why I signed up in the first place, sure I won't win the war, but the navy is a team. When a team succeeds everyones a winner, again I wasn't fooling anyone, and I still can't believe the stuff coming out of my head. That was a few years ago, I thought I was gonna die, but I'm still fighting strong, for the most part that is. I got people who depend on me now, I thank God everyday that I got that call ...
Sogo anxiously waited by the phone, impatiently hoping for a clear ring, but phones no longer worked. She exuded hopelessness, one of the few people still alive in the city, her flesh filthy with street scrub. Her fingertips slid along the cold wetted steel of an oxygen tank; her gaze enveloped the pressure gauge. Time ticked away with a slowly waning red line, a few hours from suffocation. The thought occurred, the ending of her time neared and nothing benefited, nothing remained from her life and she could see no testament able to endure her death. The years she managed to survive after Earth’s atmosphere dissipated truly left no mark. Slowly, a trembling hand grabbed the pressure knob on her oxygen tank and closed the valve. She pulled off the plastic mask, gasping for noxious breath and left her mark. The remaining breathable air lay as a testament to cowards, a scene for future historians, showing a human in control of her own destiny no matter the circumstance.
William Alamano anxiously waited by the phone, impatiently waiting for the call. He was the president of the local bank. Several days ago Alamano had received a strange note taped on his door, which had given him very specific instructions. It had told him to transfer 10,000 American dollars to the account of one Dell Smith if he wished to see another day. Of course, Alamano did so; he wanted to live. What this Dell Smith wanted from him was unknown. Did it have something to do with his connections to the mob? It was a possibility. After the money transfer, Alamano had been given another note which said to wait for a phone call sometime between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Currently it was 3:45, and Alamano was beginning to sweat. What did the writer of the notes want with him? Who was he? As he smoothed down his hair, the phone rang. Immediately, Alamano picked it. up. "Go to the window to your right. Now," came the voice of the caller. Alamano quickly did so. "Now, hang up the phone and stand there." He followed these instructions. As he stared out into the distance, the glass in front of him shattered and a bullet pierced his forehead and ebedded itself in his brain. Blood trickled down from the wound quite quickly, and the bank president swayed a bit before dropping to the floor, dead.
Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. irmeleeman5995
Well, mine was meant to introduce a mercenary into a story I've been working on, which had five. The mercenary was the man who killed the bank president.
Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. irmeleeman5995
what the heck, mine was nothing like yours! mine wasn't EVEN close.
[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. -The-G-Man-
Well, mine was meant to introduce a mercenary into a story I've been working on, which had five. The mercenary was the man who killed the bank president.
Will you be posting it here when it's done?[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. atomsmasher1313
what the heck, mine was nothing like yours! mine wasn't EVEN close.
I didn't say it was a complete knock off. I'm saying it was just too similar. It would have been better to make it different. Sparks did a guy getting called to the navy, I did someone getting contacted by a serial killer, you did a random guy running from who the heck knows and getting contacted by who the heck knows, and G-man did a banker getting blown away. Don't you think the last two aren't different enough? I'm not saying they were bad, so far they've all been good. I just want some variety...
[QUOTE="atomsmasher1313"][QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. irmeleeman5995
what the heck, mine was nothing like yours! mine wasn't EVEN close.
I didn't say it was a complete knock off. I'm saying it was just too similar. It would have been better to make it different. Sparks did a guy getting called to the navy, I did someone getting contacted by a serial killer, you did a random guy running from who the heck knows and getting contacted by who the heck knows, and G-man did a banker getting blown away. Don't you think the last two aren't different enough? I'm not saying they were bad, so far they've all been good. I just want some variety...
Everyone has their own way to write, I hope people didn't read before posting their own. Anyways, they all are different in their own little way. They may seem similar, but each one has its own characteristics ... calm down Brent :P
[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"][QUOTE="atomsmasher1313"][QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]Atom and G-man's are good but a little more similar to mine than I would have wanted. These were supposed to be all different, that's all. Eberkain's was good though. Sparky-05
what the heck, mine was nothing like yours! mine wasn't EVEN close.
I didn't say it was a complete knock off. I'm saying it was just too similar. It would have been better to make it different. Sparks did a guy getting called to the navy, I did someone getting contacted by a serial killer, you did a random guy running from who the heck knows and getting contacted by who the heck knows, and G-man did a banker getting blown away. Don't you think the last two aren't different enough? I'm not saying they were bad, so far they've all been good. I just want some variety...
Everyone has their own way to write, I hope people didn't read before posting their own. Anyways, they all are different in their own little way. They may seem similar, but each one has its own characteristics ... calm down Brent :P
Ben's the one who overreacted...
Just forget I said anything.
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