Here are three more shorts written in under 15 minutes each at meetings with a Writer’s Group I belong to.
1. Write about your favorite character in literature
The bell tinkled as he entered and the door closed behind him. Boot heels made an ominous slow thunder on the wood floor. His eyes wandered around the room, scanning shelf after shelf of used books on shelves of lumber hastily assembled and set against the walls. Youth as a farm hand and breaker of ponies didn’t leave him much time for reading except in his bunk after supper by the lim light of the paraffin lamp in his room. But he recognized the dignity and wealth of years, the worldly wisdom of those foxed and frayed volumes. He nodded in respect. Taking a cloth-bound book by one author he recognized, Jack London, he lingered and limply balanced the book, sliding its pages and noting significant words. White Fang was snarling when the doorbell tinkled again, more violently this time, and in she stepped, tracing hairs out of her mouth with a fingernail and lolling a pistol in her hand too heavy to wield but still menacing. “Hello Belle,” he muttered.
2. Write a concrete description of something you fear.
Of all the creatures on God’s green Earth, I have always had the greatest fear of spiders. The eyes of a spider are black, lidless orbs that conceal a timeless primordial evil. There are eight of them, giving the spider a form of sinister omniscience, seeing all things in monstrous soul-knowledge. A spider’s teeth are syringes of deadly poison, curved bi-cuspid scimitars of torture, paralysis, impalement, torment, and horror. Besides the demonic excess of eyes and the vague analog of teeth, the spider’s face is an unrecognizable conglomeration of small surfaces covered in vicious, dirty hair like beard stubble that runs up and down the octopodium of multi-jointed legs. The spider is the most hideous of all God’s creatures. A snake at least has personality. Flies can easily be killed and have no offensive weaponry. Lions, bears, every sort of mammal has eyelids that give a kind of soulishness with which we can find a kinship. But spiders come soulless from hell and brood until the moment of desecration, moral profanation and defilement.
3. Unreliable narrator
It is a core value of my life to always use correct grammar. My uncle once used the phrase “I could care less” and I was very gracious, but I felt it was my duty to correct him. “Uncle Doofus,” I said, “I believe the correct expression is ‘I couldn’t care less.’ He thanked me for setting him straight after corrupting the phrase all these years. People appreciate being corrected, I’ve found. It started with matters of grammar and speech, but I found that my wife also appreciates my suggestions about her careless driving habits, and how much easier it would be to do the dishes if she would rinse them off immediately after eating rather than just throwing them in the sink for later. I think it has strengthened our relationship. But my greatest victory was when I offered to edit my boss’s interoffice memos and to suggest better food pairings for the annual Christmas party. He was so thankful that he gave the entire planning of all office parties into my charge. I was honored by his trust in my abilities, although I was initially concerned that I might have trouble completing the preparations between the hours of 8 and 5. But he patted my back and told me I had the office to myself as long as I needed it. Yes, people love to be corrected.
