Might as well start this section with a bad pun. This section- and all other Impromptu sections- is composed of writing based on prompts. For each of the tidbits in this section, I'll include a brief description of the prompt. This entry's works were written at writing camp last summer. It's not my best work- it's simply a random selection of the early works from camp.
Prompt: Write an autobiography in six words. This was the first exercise of the camp, and after quite a bit of dithering I ultimately picked the following.
--SIX WORD AUTOBIOGRAPHY--
Different doesn't mean better, only harder.
Prompt: Describe three natural features in detail. The three features here all came up on a short nature walk prior to the first writing exercise.
--THREE DESCRIPTIONS--
-Dome-shaped island with multiple trees sharing the summit, ringed by a verdant burst of natural symmetry.
-Stump-studded tree alongside the path, wounds dripping with sap, empty wood scabbed with amber sheen.
-The sound of walking, silence and separated footprints, inching out of rhythm as each falls into its own.
Prompt: Write a five-line play including a number of surprising characteristics. [Full list of prompts is too long to include here.] I had a short time frame for this, and chose to rely on an old joke that would provide the play with a dead person, a shocking moment of suspense, and a large gasp (three of the prompt requirements).
--THE BEST PLAY YOU'VE EVER SEEN--
Autumn is lying dead on the table, open-casket funeral. Rhea is over her, standing uncomfortably close.
Amari enters, panting.
AMARI: I came as soon as I could.
RHEA: That's funny, I didn't think you'd even show.
Amari pats Autumn's hand.
AMARI: I don't remember her skin being this cold.
Rhea starts tapping Autumn's shoulder.
Rhea: Yeah, well, that's funny, because, last time I tried to touch her like this, she slapped me. Can't do that anymore!
Rhea leans over Autumn's corpse, taking selfies of herself with the body.
AMARI: Why can't you just respect the dead?
Autumn sits up abruptly. The three freeze for several seconds. Autumn slaps Rhea on the arm, and Rhea and Amari run away in different directions.
Prompt: Write a poem about the meaning of your name. For clarification, Autumn is not my real name. Thankfully, the following sonnet- while expressive of many of my values- does not identify me either.
--NAME POEM--
My name refers to everything we've lost,
The darkness and the truth of ages past.
The long-gone times of chaos locked in frost,
A near-eternity that didn't last.
My name demands to make the world anew,
Together all its denizens will stand.
When all the living take their given cue,
Our only split is in the very land.
My name requests an overturn of thought,
A changing that destroys, but yet creates.
Our simple actions seem to be for naught,
But thoughts and deeds and small and large relate.
My name creates an offer versed in rhyme:
The recollection of a distant time.
YOU ARE READING
Timepieces
Cerita PendekOn a distant planet, an archaeologist studying alien ruins digs up a few more secrets than she bargained for. The unintentional discovery of an inconspicuous undergraduate sparks a bizarre and convoluted path towards self-acceptance. A young boy exp...
