What to Write... What to Write?

“This stuff is harder to do than you might think!”

“Oh, it's not that bad, once you get started on it, it practically writes itself!”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“If that's so, then why did I have to restart 5 times?”

“Because... you didn't have the right start, maybe?”

“Didn't you just say that once I get started, it practically writes itself?”

“Yes, I did, and to tell you the truth, it's not that hard!”

“You keep saying that. OK you write a story beginning for the challenge!”

“It was a dark and stormy night...”

“You do know that beginning is so cliché that it has become known as the worst way to start a story?”

“OK. It was a bright and sunny day...”

“Just as bad.”

“So, what do you suggest?”

“Ugh! That's what I'm trying to get from you, a few good suggestions!”

“OH. We can start the story with the hero looking at themselves in the mirror.”

“Done to death.”

“Peeking through a peephole?”

“Really? That's how you're going to start your story? So and so stood at the door peering through the peephole, blah, blah, blah?”

“Putting it that way it does sound sort of silly.”

“It does, doesn't it?”

“Oh...here's a good way to do your story.”

“What now?”

“A story using only dialog.”

“Yeah, we can just transcribe our conversation we've been having for the last five minutes.”

“Maybe we don't want to do that!”

“It's just a boring conversation over what I should write about. Big deal!”

“I'm sure somebody out there will like it.”

“Not a chance in 'ell!”

“OK. Let me ask you this WHAT IS the challenge?”

“Nothing but voices.”

“Oh. Weren't we just talking about that? Like, I said earlier just put down what we've been talking about!”

“We're going to need a little bit more than 340 words to successfully submit it.”

“What's the minimum limit?”

“500 words. The maximum is 3,000.”

“Just going for the bare minimum, all we have to come up with is maybe 125 more words, we can do that.”

“Hey, don't you have to put up a picture related to the story?”

“Yeah, I can just Google a picture that fits the narrative and resize it to fit their specifications, although sometimes I'll find the picture first and incorporate something about the picture into the story. But I do have something in mind for this.”

“That's OK, I guess. What happens when you submit the story?”

“That's up to the readers and editors I guess, by then it's all out of my control.”

“I see.”

“I am allowed to go back and edit what I've written, but mainly to fix spelling errors or the like.”

“Well, I guess we can put our conversation up and see how it all goes.”