I found Jenny Matlock's blog from another blogger who commented on a teacher's blog I'm following and Jenny is doing a weekly writing prompt - called Saturday Centus - the object is to write 100 words, excluding the prompt, of a story, poem, or whatever inspires you. Link back to Jenny's blog and post your story on her Mr. Linky area so that visitors can read all the stories, and then post your story.
I wasn't going to participate because I was having so much fun reading the other people's postings but this just came to me and something said this was the one, so I am sharing this and this may turn into a longer story - something about past lives so maybe in a year or two, you may see this story published or heading for publication. I'm not too big on the title right now as it is really just a thought of a story that may develop later. If you all have any ideas for a title, please feel free to post them here. - see you in the postings - E :)
Unanswered Questions
Geri loved auctions. She never knew what the find of the day was going to be. She enjoyed delving into the past lives of people she could only imagine who had long since passed this way. She had many questions about her past and kept hoping that one day she would find the answers. Today's auction brought many treasures including the chest that seemed older than anything she had ever seen before. She lifted the stack of letters from the ancient chest and started reading. The words came so easily putting her in another world with many more unanswered questions. (total word count, including the prompt 100 words)
27 comments:
I really like where you took this prompt, Elysabeth. That the chest would be auctioned off - what a novel concept. It is interesting to see the various directions we went with this one.
xoRobyn
I see you couldn't ignore the siren call of Saturday Centus! I'm glad you joined us, this was a really nice use of the prompt. Looking for answers to her past in the mementos from other people's lives - nice concept for a story! Kat
Kat, I don't guarantee I'll be writing every week on these prompts as I have a ton of other stuff to do - lol. Robyn, I think everyone is doing a great job by taking it in a different direction - and just reading what I've read, I see at least a dozen new stories on this one prompt alone - I hope everyone continues their stories and share them with all of us - lol - E :)
Yeah, well you can't just stop now! See how much fun this is??
I'm glad you joined in! I appreciated your comment on my blog this morning and hoped you would feel the pull :-D
Welcome!
I love the twist of the chest up for auction - great job!!
Judie, I think your story was a bit of an inspiration. you had a past lives kind of feel to yours. I have past lives on my mind for some odd reason (must be my friend who is workinng hard on her past lives website) - I'll probably find the time to write more of this soon but I really do need to work on my state stories before starting something new - E :)
Cherie, I found your blog through a teacher's blog and the ball just rolled. I do feel a pull towards this, although I do have some other pokers in the fire so to speak - lol. I need to concentrate on my state stories though before I can pick up a different story. Although I'm involved in a writing challenge for the year - 7000 words a month - hummmm - I just wrote 100 on a new stoy to count toward my 7000 this month - maybe I'll work on it this weekend and see if I can get 3000 words in over the course of the weekend before jumping back to the states - lol. But I also need to develop Geri and the storyline a little bit more too - Thanks for the encouragement. E :)
I knew you couldn't resist!
Welcome aboard. NIce take on the prompt...
=)
This was wonderful. I watch a TV show sometimes where people buy things from storage bins and could I can actually see this happening. Wouldn't that be so fun to come across letters. Good job.
Sue - ya'll win - lol I had to give in.
Viki - I saw a show the other day - my son kind of told me to watch it - it was about a pawn shop - this guy brought in this weird looking trunk - locked. They had no idea how to get it opened. The pawn shop owners had a friend who was into historical things like that trunk. So he came in and showed them all about the little intricacies of the trunk. The guy who owned it was hoping there would be a treasure in it. After they were shown how to open the trunk, well before they actually opened it - the expert guy said it was worth street value of between $3000 and $14,000. They opened the trunk and there was nothing in it but for the time period it was made and the locking mechanism being so intricate there was more to it than met the eye. The owner sold it to the pawn shop for about $4000 and was happy with that. They flashed an actual worth of the trunk on the screen and it was worth something like $60,000 - and it was more ancient than they thought at first - they were thinking civil war but it turned out to be from a very early time period - long before America was ever a country. That kind of popped into my head when I wrote that little snippit. I'll probably continue it as more but Geri isn't developed yet. I'm sure she will gain a stronger presence in my head when I get back on track with my state stories - E :)
This does sound like the makings of a good story. Good luck with that! ~Ames
Delightful take on the prompt...I would love to find a chest like that at an auction or antique store!
Bookie - wouldn't it be fun to find something full of letters or some info about a past life? It's possible so you never know. I'll explore the story more when my mind really is on Geri and her findings.
Ames, thanks - I totally agree that almost all the stories I've read today really would make some great longer stories - they have let us with desire to hear more. I hope several folks will keep their stories going and make them bigger than the 100 words - lol.
Thanks for stopping by everyone. I'll keep you all posted when something new develops with "Unanswered Questions." If you all will email subscribe to my blog, you will get the postings delivered to your email and then you'll know - E :)
I think it's great you're doing this. I tried posting writing prompts weekly for my readers and just couldn't keep up with it and writing. So good for you on trying to do this. Wishing you luck.
Virginia, I kind of fell into today's prompt accidentally. Sometimes the right prompt works. I know that after a little bit of time mulling it over that I will have a story somewhere in there. It's hard to juggle the blog, the writing your own stories and trying to be there for tons of other people. My hats off to you for all you do. Thanks for stopping by - E :)
Nice to meet you, Elysabeth! Glad you joined us at Sat Cent. It's a blast, as you saw! I sure hope you take this story further. I'm completely intrigued! I'm a garage sale/thrift store/antique market kinda girl myself. You never know what treasure you'll find! And thanks so much for commenting and following at Life is Good!
Tina
Welcome to the party! This is one of my favorites! The challenge is keeping the words to 100! So much to say, too little words...
Nice job. Good luck on your story!
Thanks,Tina and noexcuses. Actually my whole start was 100 words. I thought about adding 10 more words but felt that where I ended was enough to get the thoughts going on something bigger.
I write short stories as a general rule, but this is the first time I've done 100 words. I've done several at 1000 or less words and that was difficult at best. I like my 5000 to 10,000 word stories best - lol.
I'll definitely mull Geri and her ancient box over and see what comes of it, but after I work on my 50-state stories; only 44 more to write - lol - well at least three in the next few weeks and then I can take a breather and work on something else - I'll keep ya'll posted over at my http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com for my state stories progress and on this blog for my Geri story - E :)
Welcome to the Centus Elysabeth ... i hope you stay with us, I much enjoyed your take on this prompt!
Nice post, glad you entered too. I am new too, this is my 2nd post...I just love reading all the posts as well...love the various takes on them all, and Jenny's blog is just so darn interesting!
Elysabeth, thanks for your comment, and your suggestion on my post. I am continuing the story on sort of a dare from a couple of other bloggers, one of whom is a published author like yourself.
I posted another segment yesterday afternoon, and have been working on the next one today. Any comments or suggestions you make will be greatly appreciated!
So glad you decided to join in the fun! Unanswered questions. Don't we all have them - many of them? I enjoyed the way you put these words together.
Thanks..........cj
Thanks all for the great comments. Geri is in the back of my mind right now as I need to put my efforts into my state stories. I definitely feel she will surface soon when she tells me where the story is going. I'm thinking something to do with being transported to the time of the letters (not sure when that is yet) and the ancient chest. She's kind of niggling right now - guess she's finding where it is she came from so I can write her story - lol. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on what comes of the beginning of the story - E :)
It makes me want to go deeper.
Welcome!
This is wonderful! I'm very interested to check out your blog. It sounds liek what you do is fascinating.
I would very much like to know more about this story.
Thank you for linking.
gaelikaa - thanks - I'm hoping that the deeper story will come about soon but unfortunately with everything going on the last few days I've not had a chance to even do the editing on a state story that really needs to be done like yesterday and so I've not had a chance to really give Geri and her chest a second thought.
Jenny, Thanks for stopping by. I'm all about just stuff in general on this blog. My other blog - http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com is where I do updates on my state stories - you can find more detailed info about them on my website - http://jgdsseries.weebly.com - like upcoming events and how the stories came about and what they are all about. Thank you too for doing these Saturday Centus writing things as I really need to get myself back in the seat and get more writing done and sometims a little snippit will lead to something bigger or at least completing the projects that need completing if nothing else. Thanks for stopping by and reading. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress of Geri unless another prompt gives me another piece of the puzzle to put into place - lol - E :)
Very good take on the prompt !
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