I’m taking a writing class by @sgredling and I love this exercise! She’s given us writing prompts, but in a twist we have to use ONE prompt, and flesh it for different genres. So… here’s my first attempt:
Prompt: After a head injury, a young man can hear the color blue speaking. Everything blue speaks to him – the sky, blue jays, gumballs. Everything blue has something to say.
Romantic Comedy: Twenty-something protagonist, goes on a first date with a woman and is distracted by the heckling blue vase which insist she’s not into him and offers really bad romantic advice. This starts him on a quest to find a way to stop the voices. His family assume the head injury has made him crazy, and try to help by working to get him committed to a psychiatric hospital. He knows this because the blue things in the room have told him. He has to prove he’s sane by repeating what the blue things tell him, except he learns the blue things sometimes lie. The woman he went on a date with bumps into him in an elevator. MIDPOINT There’s no blue, and he admits his problem. Intrigued, she wants to help him. She’s a photographer, and suggests her wear blue-blocker (orange filter) glasses. Now that blue is no longer a problem, his family calms down. However, now he uses the blue things to help him learn more about the woman he’s dating. The two fall deeply in love, partly because he’s getting “inside information” about her favorite things. But then he misunderstands a blue thong and it leads to a very awkward moment. BLACK MOMENT She catches him “abusing” his powers and the two break up. Everywhere she goes she sees blue, and it reminds her of him. She misses him. He begs her to forgive him, even offering to blind himself if necessary. She makes him promise to ASK HER instead of her things. They go back to her place and she’s redecorated – it’s a blue-free environment.
Suspense: The protagonist, and eleven-year old girl, is on an elevator and the young man next to him is wearing bright blue sneakers. The sneakers say, “He is going to kill his girlfriend.” She follows the sneakers trying to figure out who the man is, who is girlfriend is, and to save her. Using her blue super-power she learns the man is a criminal, drug dealer, and his girlfriend is a young woman who wants to leave him. Quick-paced story – taking place in a couple of hours real time – where she rescues the woman and they narrowly escape.
Tragedy: Sixty-something, divorced, protagonist. The blue things point out every error he’s ever made in his life. In a deep depression, he considers suicide, and instead blinds himself, only to discover the voices are still there.
What do you think? Any of those stories interest you? Which one would you like to read?
English
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