WRITING:

He sat outside of her open window, staring at her beautiful face, her long silky hair. Unknown to her was the danger that awaited her, breathing her name on his lips. Alyssa... it called.

WRITING:

She walked along the desolate street, her heart torn in pieces. Owls called to her in the otherwise quiet of night, breathing her name, tormenting her with their shadows.

SHORT STORY: "Alone"

     The night was cold and grey. Through the walls, Sienna Warfield could hear the rythmic swaying of the trees and could see the wind wrestling with their branches. She pulled the afghan up to her neck and resumed reading the Stephen King novel she had randomly chosen off of the bookcase. The fire crackled in it's home beneath the mantle and sent a rush of warm air toward Sienna's comfy recliner. As she got a couple of sentences into the chapter a shrill ringing sounded throughout the house, bringing her attention to the telephone. She jumped up and sprang into the kitchen, where she picked up the receiver.
     "Hello?" she asked, wondering who would be calling at this time of night.
     Nothing. A person's raspy breathing was all she could hear.
     "Hello?" she said again, a note of panic entering her voice.
     Normally Sienna wouldn't get worked up over a phone call, but it was too dark and she was home alone.
     She threw down the receiver and ran back to her comfy spot, picking up the book. Not able to actually read the words, her eyes focused on a small spot in the middle of the page. That's when she heard the sound. A sound that made a chill run up and down her spine and her hair stand on end. It was a slight clicking... scratching, even. It continued for a minute and then stopped, only to start again seconds later.
     Sienna stood up. She began walking slowly toward the window feeling as if she was in a home movie and the audience was screaming, "No, stop! Don't go in there!" But curiosity kept her legs moving, step after fatal step. She unlocked the window and felt herself pulling it up inch by inch. It was too late by the time she noticed the screen was missing. A gloved hand reached up and grabbed her head, pulling it down until it was outside all the way. A glint of metal shown in the moonlight as the killer drew back his hand. She tried to scream but it was cut off by the slash of a knife across her throat.
     Sienna woke up screaming, having fallen asleep in her chair. As she looked across the room at the window, a scratching started....



This was written for my sophomore creative writing class back in 1995.

WRITING: start of a story

I was floating through an open field. The breeze gently wrestled with the tips of my shoulder length hair and a pleasant smell drifted up to me as I made my way across the rainbow of wild flowers. Suddenly, the sky turned black with anger and a flash of lightning was followed by a crack of thunder in the distance.

I sat up in bed as I awoke from my dream, a bird's singsong voice wafted up to me through my open second-story window as I stepped onto the plush burgundy carpet. My feet made little thuds as I galloped down the steep stairway with the expectation of breakfast growling in my stomach. But the familiar smell of eggs and bacon frying weren't noticeable as usual and the house was incredibly quiet. As I stepped into the kitchen, a feeling of fear fell through me, pooling in the center of my abdomen. Where were my parents? I looked at the refrigerator hoping to find a note explaining my their absence. None was there. I turned back the way I'd come and entered my parents bedroom. I'll never forget what I saw. My father, at first glance, looked to be sleeping, but as I approached his unmoving body I realized he wasn't breathing. I almost tripped trying to back away. That's when I noticed their bathroom door. It was open and spotted with blood. I didn't want to look inside, hoping with all hope that my mother was somehow still alive, but as I passed through the door, her lifeless eyes stared up at me.


This is the beginning of a story I never finished...

PROMPT:

• The call comes at 3:20 AM. I know it’s not good. Nothing good comes to you at 3:20 in the morning.

• My head wasn't pounding, it was on the verge of collapsing on itself

• That was it, no fanfare, no lights, just the welcoming embrace of a warm, soft bed.

[credit:] all 3 courtesy of cam campbell @ NaNoWriMo

PROMPT:

"Did you just hit me in the head?"
"Maybe."
"With a... a BIBLE?"
"Maaaaaaybe."
"Oh, you are so going to Hell!"

[credit:] belle of the brawl @ NaNoWriMo

PROMPT:

The air was filled with the smell of hot food and cool jazz.

[credit:] BakaNeko @ NaNoWriMo

PLOT: dream walker

MC is a popular girl at school. She's head cheerleader, dating the captain of the basketball team, in charge of prom committee, etc. Mysterious new guy moves to town, she starts seeing him in her dreams at night. Come to find out he's a "dream walker". He's getting into her dream to get her to know him without knowing it's really him. Still pretends like he doesn't know her at school. Couldn't come up with much past that....

PLOT: sinister funeral home director

On the verge of bankruptcy, a crazy funeral home director goes on a killing spree and starts killing of residents of his sleepy little town to increase the need for his services.

What I like about this idea is that it could go many different ways... he could just randomly kill people he happens to come across or he could only kill people in town who had deep dark secrets themselves.... OR, muah ha ha ha!!!... he could turn around and sell the bodies that are supposed to be cremated to research labs for reanimation. [that just gave me an even better idea...]

[ADAPTED] This is not totally original. I remember seeing a similar idea somewhere on my search for creativity. Though I cannot tell you where or even when I saw it, I can tell you that either way it was up for adoption by someone at some point. However, there are no exact details and is just a broad idea that can be done a million and one different ways.

PLOT: romantic thriller

MC's life changes drastically when she finds out her mother/father/sibling was murdered. She moves back to her hometown to sort through it all when she's attacked, also, after finding (?) in her relative's belongings. Thinks it may have something to do with their murder. She contacts local police, who happens to be MC's high school crush. Now she needs protection until they can find out who the killer is and what they were after.

PLOT BABY: hitman

Hitman/woman hired to kill MC, but falls in love with the target and can't bring themselve's to do it.

PLOT: killer party

A group of people all receive formal invitations to a party. (Could be a costume party, a masquerade, etc...) Once all the people are there, they become trapped. Start getting killed off one by one. Don't know who's doing it or why. Could be one of them or it could be an outside person watching everything they do.

ABILITY: "psychometry"

"Psychometry" - the ability to learn things about the past, present or future from touching an object.

OBJECT: talisman

Object -  A relic or talisman that allows the wearer to read minds

PLOT TWIST: character

main character ends up actually being a "stand-in" and the real person has been in hiding/or in a disguise the entire time.

PLOT: time travel murder mystery

MC finds the journal of a girl from the 1920's. (She can maybe work at an antique shop... or find it in the attic of the house her family just moved into... or could be staying with a relative in a creepy old mansion, etc). She becomes obsessed with the girl in the journal and does some research. Finds out that the girl & her family were murdered way back when. She falls asleep one night in the midst of her research and when she wakes up she's in a totally different era. She's been somehow transported back in time and desperately tries to save the family before they're murdered.

PLOT: supernatural female

MC was left at a church when she was a baby. I picture her having some sort of tattoo/birthmark/symbol on her neck that eventually means something. She's adopted & grows up with a normal family. One day she has an accident and she's just about to die when an apparition shows up and heals her. It tells her that it's not her time yet. She must first fulfill her destiny which begins where she was abandoned. She goes back to the church and as she's stepping over the threshold something weird happens and she can't go in.

My original thoughts were along the lines of a witch or something, but vampire fits more (since they can't enter churches), or it could be something totally different. Any ideas on this one would be greatly appreciated as I'd really like to use this.

PLOT: small town high school Reunion

Boy and girl grew up together as best friends in a small town. Boy claimed love for girl but she turned him down and his parents moved away shortly after. She ended up staying & becoming the town vet(?). Now he's back in town for their ten year reunion, along with the rest of her class.

After that it could go in any direction. Solid romance where they rekindle their love, mystery where someone at the reunion gets murdered, supernatural where there's a witch who is trying to get revenge.... the world is yours!

PLOT: young adult thriller

Our MC, a popular high school girl, starts to receive text/emails that she's being watched. At first, she just thinks its a joke but then the messages start to get worse until finally something happens to her friend/boyfriend before she starts taking them seriously.

Ryan, an average joe kind of guy, has had a crush on MC since middle school but she hardly knows he's alive. He notices something is wrong and after finding out someone is out to get her, he uses his tech knowledge to hack into her system without her knowing to try & help her.

PLOT: supernatural love story

Girl finds out she is dying and confides in her best friend. OR she could get into an accident when her best friend is with her and has to make a split decision. She has always loved him and he feels the same but they had never told each other. He says he can save her. [the HOW is up for debate. Could be magic, immortality (vampire, werewolf, etc...)] She is torn between dying naturally or choosing life, whatever the cost.

PLOT BABY: serial killer with a conscience

Killer while on his deathbed tells his son/daughter everything about what he did. Wants MC to tell the families of the victims where the bodies are buried so they can lay them to rest.

PLOT: identity theft gone awry

MC gets attacked one night and almost dies. When she awakes from coma, she's faced with amnesia. She has no family and keeps mostly to herself, so when her best friend keeps visiting her and helps her when she's released she has no one to tell her otherwise. Come to find out, her "best friend" was really the one who attacked her. Her plan was to kill her & take over her identity. But when MC went into a coma instead of dying, the killer has to stay by her side and try to kill her again before her memories come back.

PLOT BABY: zombie epidemic

In order to invent the perfect weight loss pill, a scientist struggles to find a way to accelerate the metabolic system, thus creating.... zombies?

PLOT: witness to a murder

A group of high schoolers in a big city pass the time by playing a sort of game. They sit outside and "people watch", making up background stories about who they see. Whomever's story is the closest to the real thing wins. So a lot of times, they follow the people to see where their real-life takes them. One time, they follow the wrong person and end up witnessing a murder. Now, the bad guy's are trying to kill them before they go to the police.