Winner of Prompt 8 – FaceFlash72
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1363421828089572
Can you think up a story without using said fifth symbol of our ABCs? Actually, Gadsby is a 50,000+ word book which pulls it off! Our prompt was to post a story a la Gadsby. It took a lot of thought, but it wasn’t as hard as you might think. Look, this paragraph pulls it off too!
Warmth
Ana’s prom night was not off to an auspicious start. Timothy’s mom’s minivan had itchy fabric that got Ana to scratch until blood ran. Upon arriving to McDonald’s, his mom had to call out to him to wait for Ana to crouch out from a back chair. Ana’s brilliant hot pink gown took a scathing rip from a mislaid footfall. But Timothy caught Ana’s hand and it was warm.
Okay, so my husband read the story, didn’t think much of it, and announced that I write better with the letter E. Yep, that’s probably 100% true. When you think about this challenge, you can’t use “the,” “he,” “she,” or “her.” In the past tense, you can’t use “ed.” In the present tense, you also have to avoid “es.” It is a limiting way to write.
In my story, I selected some pretty weak verbs (was, got, had to) out of necessity, but I also found I couldn’t use the word “restaurant” and opted for the more concrete “McDonald’s,” and that was a better word choice by far. McDonald’s communicates so much more than a generic restaurant. Wouldn’t you think “restaurant” would be a more relatable word to the reader? Not necessarily. Details are actually more relatable. They invoke a concrete image instead of leaving the reader wondering, and hey, most readers can relate to having been to a McDonald’s–not to mention, it’s another layer of tackiness for poor Timothy!
What do you think? Is Timothy all bad?
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