This is topic Word Loop - an exercise like non-random but less random than the non-random thread in forum Grist for the Mill at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.
Yes, the intent of this thread is to be less random than the non-random thread.
I'm one of the staff readers at Flash Fiction Online (shameless plug - check out our July issue, recently posted. The Call is my favorite story, though Love Bound is one of those really haunting stories that many people are talking about/thinking about long after reading it.) We have a regular column from Bruce Holland Rogers.
A few months ago while preparing a topic for the middle-school Writer's Workshop I led, I found BHR's post on Word Loops. And the concept just fascinated me, the idea of using structure as a way to free your mind.
So a word loop is the perfect kind of pass-around party game. Each sentence needs to start with the last word of the previous sentence. Let's say no more than about 5 sentences per poster (or just one, which will make it interesting but you might not get the sense of how challenging it is.)
Everybody ready?
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
If it hadn't been for the cat, Janie would have been on time.
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
Time. Something I wish I had more of. Just spent the last few hours finishing a crit and now it is time for bed. No time for my story. Better make it a priority tomorrow.
Posted by mythique890 (Member # 8586) on :
Tomorrow I'll feel better. Chaela just went to bed, so she won't be up early, and it's my turn to wake up with her again. I won't sound like I have cotton stuffed in my sinuses and feel like I have it stuffed in my head. Tomorrow will be better, because I'll get some sleep tonight and get rid of this stupid cold.
Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :
Cold is at a premium right now. It's supposed to be 115 all this week and if the wind blows it feels like someone's blasting you with a blow dryer. At night it drops to a nice 105 and sweat starts up after being outside for ten minutes.
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Minutes seemed like hours on seas awash in fire.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"Fire, aim, ready!" he said...I thought he had it backwards.
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
<AHEM>
Writers...please follow the rules of a word loop. Each SENTENCE - each and every one, must start with the last word of the previous sentence. If you chose to write more than one sentence, follow the rule! It's what makes this exercise interesting.
==
Backwards driving always threw Janie. Janie and her cat were inseparable when she was six. Six hours til she arrived. Arrived in the despicable hole, hovel where Gus lived. Lived-in look, he liked to say. "Say whatever you want, it looks like you live in a pile of crap," was Janie's reply.
Get it?
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
You mean:
Reply violently, and before anyone's reaction causes a stir. Stir them up and never let them regain balance. Balance is the key, without it, there is nothing.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited July 08, 2009).]
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
Question: Does it need to develop into a coherent story? That would make it even harder...
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
Answer: Yes, the idea is that you write a coherent story with it.
Read BHR's article about word loops, he includes a really cool short story where you almost forget about the structure while you're reading it.
== Nothing ever came between Janie and Gus, except that mess. Mess was how Gus preferred to live. "Live in this crap hole, impossible!"
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Impossible. Impossible was the way he liked to describe things. Things of every kind, at every step. "Step on my toes will ya?" Ya might think he was joking?
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Joking came easy to Gus, whose messy apartment was inundated with clouds of marijuana.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Marijuana wanna Walla Walla Washington.
Posted by Jeff M (Member # 7828) on :
Washington always stirred up those painful images hidden in Janie’s memory. Memory was a curse that haunted her for the past thirty years. Years of trying to quiet her guilt over her mother’s death had driven her to Gus. Gus was a free spirit, a comforting lightness in her dark life.
Posted by shimiqua (Member # 7760) on :
Life sucks. Sucks hard. Hard ly the way Janiey had though it would be like when she grew up. Up on stage surrounded by lights and constant admiration. Admiration now was impossible.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Impossible to keep on talking about Janie and her miserable pad. Pad the plot line a bit more, will you? You know we could talk about any one of a million things. Things just aren't like they used to be.
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
"Be a little neater, could you? Could you maybe? Maybe, just possibly, someday?" Someday she'd just go. Go without saying a word. Word was he wouldn't care so much anyway.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"Anyway you want me, well that's how I will be..."
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Be a cold day in hell--like sinking the Titanic cold--when Janie could actually bring herself to leave Gus forever. Forver was a commitment beyond what Janie was capable of.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited July 09, 2009).]
Posted by shimiqua (Member # 7760) on :
Of course, that's because she was a goldfish.
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
Goldfish, of course, tend to be somewhat messy, so Gus would point a fin Janie's way and say "You are the weirdo, you know! Know what? What I may do is just give you what you want. Want me to go? Go I will, then, because there are plenty of other fish in the, um...fishbowl!"
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
Fishbowl...bowl...smoke...drugs...suddenly Janie realized she had inhaled too much of Gus's permanent cloud.
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
"Cloud Nine," the flight attendant called out, "All those wishing to exit for Cloud Nine, please step forward."
Forward they came--Janie noticed--like lemmings at a cliff's edge, and stepped out of the emergency exit into nothingness with barely a sound.
Sound rattled through the 747's speaker system, bringing it to life, as the Gus, the captain, played the Future Vision Cult's nirvana symphony.
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited July 10, 2009).]
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"Symphony for the Devil"...that's almost a title by the Rolling Stones.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Stones at the bottom of the bowl are getting coated with fish goop. Goop is a good word for their owner, too; not even feeding them let alone cleaning the bowl out!
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"Out goes the bad air, in goes the good!"
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
"Good," he said, rubbing his hands together, "Good."
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
"Good news everyone," Mark said. "The CEO called and said our project is "all good."
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"Good"...you guys seem to be stuck on a loop with "good," and that is not good...
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
"Good?" Harry shouted, "What do you mean, not good?"
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited July 13, 2009).]
Posted by Unwritten (Member # 7960) on :
"Good grief, Gus," shouted Janey. Janey was exhausted from worrying about all the pollution in the water. "Water is not for wasting. Wasting water will kill us all!"
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
All I ever wanted was a folding chair and one of those drinks with the little umbrella in it. It would also be nice to have all that by a massive swimming pool and hot tub too. Too much to also add that it's in the backyard of a 15,000 sq/ft mansion?
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Mansion name can take a few more days, as that'll be on the back cover, which is still quite in the making...I found this sentence with Google.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Go ogle the petunias in the back yard. Yard and flowers both are very beautiful this time of year.
(Never said the word couldn't be broken up, did you? Blast maybe not.)
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
(Well, you could've referenced, say, "Google, Barney," a once-famous cartoon strip character.)
Year new happy a you of all wishing.
Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :
Wishing is all well and good. Good for nothing that is.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
