Appearances

Deceiving or no. Enjoy.

Articles

Okay, here's a technique I've been thinking on for a while. You rewrite a fairy/folk tale using no articles. 'Articles' as in "a", "an", "the" or "some". find a way to do without them. (another form of this "exclusive writing" is to write a page containing no words consisting of a specified number of letters. These are awesome exercises for finding synonyms, and ways to rephrase)

More tomorrow!!!

CLIFFHANGERS

SATURDAY THRU MONDAYS PROMPT.

Yup, you heard me. Cliffhangers. We've all come across them, probably far oftener than we'd like to. But now... now it's our turn to torture our readers pitilessly, till they're ready to become that cliffhanger. Or maybe it's jumper. Don't worry though, suicide--however much it is considered--is never an option. "Must know what happens next!!!" Remember? Just be careful not to enjoy yourself too much, or you might very well arouse murderous thoughts within your readers. Happy writing!!!

We Are Liars

So, you know how we claimed that we'd be back here on December first?

Either we misled you with filthy, evil lies intended to break your heart and crush your soul, or we plain forgot.

But don't worry, because Sarah is nicer than all the rest of us and decided to provide you with a writing prompt, even if it is a Saturday and two days late. Behold ... The Lonely.

Now, some you may have seen this video already on my own blog, where I told you all about the heartbreaking, eerie, but mostly boring story I wrote this week and invited you to partake of the genius of Christina Perri, which is much more worthwhile. But today, I dare YOU to write a piece on The Lonely.

Come on. I dare you. If five other people post something, I shall put up my own story, even though it took longer than thirty minutes and what I really want is to bury it deep in the earth and never let mortal eyes view it. You can't pass up such a shametastic bribe, can you?

That's what I thought.

EDIT: Just realized I forgot to put an expiration date on my bribe. So let's try this again. If five people respond BEFORE Tuesday, I shall post The Lonely. Because I really, really don't want to put that story up. Like, I really don't.

Hi-ATE-Us!

Good mornin' y'all!

And it IS a good morning. Far better than yesterday, at any rate. The sky is clouded a pearly white, my house smells like oatmeal, and there are no invisible assassins in it.

Also, it is November. And I'm sure you know what that means.

IT IS NANOWRIMO TIME, PEOPLE!!! AND WE ARE BEHIND!!! SO BEHIND!!!

That is why we have very calmly and rationally decided to take a one month hiatus from 30 Min Mad. And I have helpfully prepared a list of suggestions to occupy you until December 1st, when we shall be up and running again!

If you feel BORED: Come and visit! I swear, this will banish all your boredom. We are very exciting people, even when we are all sitting in a row typing furiously and shushing each other. If you live too far away, follow me on Twitter! Or check out my personal blog. (I promise not to completely abandon it this month.) And if I'm not enough, well, here's Kiersten White, who is guaranteed to be far more entertaining and enlightening. And here is the lovely Lisa's blog, which has enough pictures of cute babies to make your head asplode. And here, completely unrelated, we have a happy kitten.

Do you still feel bored? If so, go clean your room.

If you feel DEMOTIVATED: Join us! NaNo is fun, I swear. It's not too late! There's also 750 Words, which is just like this blog but with no writing prompt and no social element and no strict time limit. But it's awesome anyway. It has become like my competitive journal.

If you still feel demotivated after doing NaNoWriMo and writing your 750 words, then you probably need serious help and this blog cannot give it to you. Go clean your room.

If you feel SAD: Hello? Halloween was just a few days ago! Bring on the chocolate!

Then you can also clean your room.

And if you feel OVERJOYED: What the heck are you doing reading this post? If you don't like the blog, you can go somewhere else. You don't have to wait for us to go on hiatus. Clean your room, lowlife.

Erm ... yeah. This post turned out rather longer than expected. And ... I think I sense an underlying theme. Perhaps a message from another plane. I'm going to go clean my room now. See y'all in a month!

Sarah's Bid For Authority

Now, I know I haven't been writing anything for these prompts lately. I've been hanging out at 750 Words and NaNoWriMo instead. *hangs head in shame* But I am here now, because I MUST present a writing prompt.

Today, dear friends/slaves, we will be continuing our terror theme. Only this terror? It involves darkness. And assassins. And possibly an urgent need for a bathroom. Write away. I will post my response below.

* * *

I cower in the darkness, breathing in the stale air trapped beneath my covers. It smells bad. And I'm talking really bad. Like, mountain-lion-who-hasn't-bathed-in-months bad. I swear I brushed my teeth.

Or did I? Perhaps all this, all the life I have been living for years, is just a dream. And the dream, the one that haunts me? It is reality.

I really don't want that to be true.

A floorboard creaks in the next room, and every muscle in my body is instantly tense. I close my eyes, trying to pray, but unable to wrench my focus from the violent death that probably awaits me. Do I get a last request? Because I would really like a trip to the bathroom right about now. Not that it really matters that I wet my bed, but I'd really prefer that the cops investigating my murder not have to deal with that mess. There will probably be blood and gore enough.

So I wait. And I wait and I wait and I wait, until, finally, I have to believe that nothing is going to happen. I am alive, and I am going to stay that way. And so, with a sigh of relief, I let the covers fall away from my face ... and stare straight into another one, right above my bed.

I scream. Loudly.

My little brother cracks up.

I sit straight up, clutching my pillow to my chest. "I ... You ..." I splutter.

"Got you!" he chortles. "You were scared, admit it."

That's it. This time, I am actually going to kill him. Or, you know, let Mom finish the job. I don't want my fingerprints on the body.

* * *

Oh drat. That just freaked me out even more. Well, it can't be too long until sunrise, can it? Can it?

*checks how long until sunrise*

For the record, I did not just swear.

Terror

Happy November, world! For those of you doing NaNoWriMo, like Mom is, today is a very big day! We wish you all the best in this adventure.

The writing prompt today is terror. As in, chased by fire. And dinosaurs. And brutal tyrants. And... well, you can come up with this one.