DreamThreads

Stories in 10 Minutes

Sharing short stories for a book I’m writing.

I started this writing class about three years ago and in some lessons the instructor gives the students an introductory sentence to create a short story from and tells us to write something in 10 minutes. The goal of the lesson is to teach us to write a little every day without thinking too much about it just write whatever comes to mind. I also have this book that I bought which gives the writer a scenario plus 10 words to add to the story, so with all these prompts and ideas I’ve been writing whatever comes to mind for 10 minutes a day and turning them into scenarios for an idea for a book I want to write. Anyway I’ll be sharing a few of these fun writing with you.

The beginning sentence the instructor gave was this: She approached the unfamiliar door and nervously took the key from her pocket. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, then opened it. To her horror she saw . . .

The scenario and words were: A Strange Request at a Piano Bar

Carnival, Sprained, mask, oxidation, awkward, apple, juvenile, controversy, twirl, sassafras

This is what I came up with:

She approached the unfamiliar door and nervously took the key from her pocket. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, then opened it. To her horror she saw a bloody looking mask hanging on the wall above a man playing the piano also wearing an ornate, but scary mask.

Behind him was a huge stage with dancers is a twirl together with a progression of exotic animals which added to the carnival vibe of the scene all wearing elaborate masks and steampunk clothing. The whole place had the essence of steampunk.

She saw a bar off to the side and in her awkward way moved through the crowd to the ask the bartender what was going on and where she was. She saw a girl nearly thirteen manning the bar and serving drinks. “Aren’t you a little young to be working at a bar?” She asked. The girl behind the bar smirked, “You must be new here. What’ll ya have?” “I’ll have a hot apple cider please.” She said, “Okay? With a splash of rum, whiskey, Vodka?” The girl inquired. “No alcohol, I’m under age.” “Look sweetheart, I don’t know what parallel universe you came from, but as you can see this is a bar. Now if I’m the owner of the bar it’s obviously not a crime for juveniles to drink here. Therefore I ask you once again, what’ll ya have?”

She stared at the girl in shock for a moment and then said, “Surprise me.”, “Okay! I’m kitty.” The girl shrugged, smiled, and extended her hand, “I’m Arie.” She said as she shook kitties hand. “What is this place? I was given this key and told to open that door.” “You are in Carnaville, where everyday is a party. No one sleeps, and you can do pretty much whatever you want to.” Arie looked at a man limping on a sprained ankle trip and fall over motionless across the other drinkers carousing about the floor. “Great! I entered a portal to hell.” Arie said as she lifted the drink she was given to her lips then began to spit and sputter. “Yep, sweet dreams my man!” Kitty said raising a glass. “So, what did you do to get banished here?” “Banished?” “Yea? Typically when someone starts a controversy or ruffling the feathers of the big boys in charge they get banned to Carnaville. They banished me three years ago for being a genius child and being one of the most off the grid people on earth along with my family. When I first came everyone I saw here was just moping around so opened a bar and found a banned piano player, it’s been workin out okay for me. It’s not ideal, but then what is?” Kitty explained.

“Oh Sassafras! I don’t remember . . .” “That’s okay, most people don’t since they’re memories are wiped before they come through the door plus the high amounts of oxidation in the portal here almost make a person black out. Hence the reason I made the Circus Piano Bar the first thing everyone sees when they pass through, kind of lessons the shock with it’s ‘tranquil’ vibe.” Kitty said as she poured another poor soul a drink.

“What kind of sad childhood did you have to think this tranquility?” Arie scoffed.

Okay there ya have my story in 10 minutes. I hope you enjoy reading!