Ok folks! The day has come! Today is the first weekly writing prompt!
It's a lovely day for it. The flags are flying, the crowd is cheering, and the writers are ready.
An executive decision has been made to post two different kinds of prompts. You may use one or both as your heart desires.
The rules are as follows.
1. You are to pick which prompt you shall use. (You may use both as stated above)
2. You are to write for 20 minutes using said prompt(s).
3. You are to post the unedited product of this 20 minutes in the comments.
4. You are also to provide honest critique on other's pieces.
5. Said critique should have two things you liked, and one thing that could be improved upon.
Please be kind but honest. This exercise is for the main purpose of improving your skill in the craft of writing by practice and learning to accept criticism and also not to get a big head with what praise you may receive.
Here are the prompts;
•It's tournament day in Camelot. Are you a lady spectator? Or a knight? Describe the event.
•The lance broke, shattering into a thousand pieces.
Without any further ado...set your timers...pick up your pens...aaaand BEGIN!
Here's my piece!
ReplyDeleteIt was a beautiful sunny day. Not too hot and not to cold either. Lady Rachel took her seat eagerly in the stands. Searching with her eyes, she finally located him. She smiled widely when she did. He sat atop his horse, armor glittering in the morning sun. She could tell he was anxious. Even his horse was shifting nervously. For good reason too. Today's tournament was of great importance. The winner could choose any prize in the entire kingdom. Aside from King Arthur's throne of course. But no one would dare try to unseat him.
"Lady Rachel, how good to see you on this fine morning!"
Rachel turned to the speaker and groaned inwardly. Outwardly, she put on a smile.
"Hello Mildred." She said. "It is indeed a fine morning. I don't believe I've ever seen the sky as blue as it is today."
"It is quite blue." Reply Mildred stiffly. She took a seat next to Rachel.
Rachel sighed to herself. She might as well resign herself to it, Mildred followed her everywhere. For what reason, Rachel could not fathom. She did not particularly enjoy the company.
As Rachel was thinking these things, the trumpet sounded.
"All hail King Arthur!" Shouted a crier.
"Hail!" Replied the crowd.
Arthur took his seat and the rules were read. The audience grew more and more tense. Soon it would start. Soon.
Rachel looked again at the tall knight on the dapple grey stallion. Her heart gave a little flutter. He was looking at her. She waved shyly. He nodded almost imperceptivly.
A wide grin spread across her face.
Soon, the rules were finished. The knights went to their places in the lists. Her knight would be the first to joust along with one of the toughest looking knights.
The flag was dropped and both horses thundered along the track. Lances came up. Rachel held her breath. Her knight set himself. The impact. Oh! The big knight flew backward off his saddle. Her knight had won!
Rachel let out her breath and laughed. It was a moment fitting for a laugh.
Many other matches followed. None quite so unevenly matched, but all boring. It was not quite as interesting to watch matches that have no personal attachment with them.
Mildred had remained stiff and cold the entire time. She neither moved, nor cheered, nor smiled. She was a horrible bore. Rachel would have preferred someone to talk to but Mildred would have to do.
Finally, it was her knight, Finn's turn again.
This time, the opponent was about his size, tall but lean. He had already won three matches. Even Rachel had to admit it would be hard for Finn to beat this one.
The flag was dropped. The audience grew quiet. Watching. Waiting. A deafening noise. The lances had shattered!
I need to take time to think of what to do, so I will post that later:) I just wanted to ask you if you've sen the show Merlin? I think you'd love it!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLayla.
I have actually seen it! I am in love with it! Haha! But I haven't seen all the seasons. It started to get a little too dark and creepy for me. I watched it with my little sisters too so yeah. And they don't have all the seasons on netflix either so even if I wanted to, I couldn't. :(
DeleteI'm SOOOOOOO excited to do this (and I SWEAR I will!!!) but I'm super busy at the moment! I will do that the next time I have 20 spare minutes. ;)
ReplyDeleteArg, it won't let me publish my story! XD ;P I did write something, though! Maybe I'll e-mail it to you.
ReplyDeleteOh that's so sad! :( E-mail would work if you can't figure it out. Maybe if I like it enough I'll publish it as a guest post! ;)
DeleteHa ha! ;) I just e-mailed it! :D
Delete? I haven't got it...?
DeleteWhoops! I think I sent it to the wrong e-mail address. XD ;P Just re-sent it! :D (Sorry for the weird formatting . . .). ;P :/
DeleteI loved your description and the excitement of the match! :D King Arthur must be a very powerful king if no one would dare try to unseat him. One thing I would change, though, would be to show a little bit more than just tell things like: "She was a horrible bore," but I think you did a good job of showing how much Lady Rachel liked Finn. I wonder, are they married? Does he like her back? Is she just dreaming a hopeless dream? Great job! :D
ReplyDeleteOh thank you! :) Describing is my favorite part of writing. Haha. I loved writing about Rachel liking Finn. I haven't decided yet if this will be a short story or something, but I never thought if he liked her back...And I know I do need to work on showing, not telling. Thank you for pointing it out. :/ Was there any other parts where I did that too much? I can't ever see it for myself when I'm actually looking for it. :P I really appreciate the feedback. :) I can't wait to read yours either!
DeleteHere a little bit: "She did not particularly enjoy the company." It's harder to do when you're using the third person. I'm still experimenting with it myself. XD ;P
DeleteOh good call! I kinda remember writing that and thinking, "That could be better." But I didn't change it. I was worried that I wouldn't get to get to the exciting parts before time ran out. I guess I rushed too much. :)
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