Ideas vs. Time: 10 Minute Writing Challenge

Lately I've been having the worst case of writer's block. I've been itching to write but nothing ever happens, instead there's me, sitting in front of the Microsoft Word document with nothing written at all. So I came up with a writing challenge to fix this little problem of mine:

10 Minute Writing Challenge

(even if you don't have writer's block and just want to write a short story, try this challenge!)

1. First your need a setting. To find your location search on any social media site (preferably Tumblr because of the tons of beautiful pictures you can find) and search a hash tag like #Europe or #ocean, etc. Pick a random picture and this is your setting.

I randomly chose this one and it looks like the Pacific Northwest so I went with a Seattle setting.

2. Next you need characters. I used this random name generator for my characters (one of them happened to be the name of one my friends!) That made my two main characters Jamie and Jay.

3. After that you need a plot, I used this plot generator and it looks like Jamie and Jay "do not fit into their surroundings and wish to escape".

4. After that set your timer to 10 minutes and start writing- don't stop and think about, and don't even THINK about going back to edit during these 10 minutes. I really got into it and I wrote more but couldn't fit it all into this post.

"Jay and I had been friends since we were five years old, when I picked a fight with him in the kindergarten sandbox at recess. There was no reason I decided to randomly start throwing sand into his little green eyes but that was me, Jamie Meyers, the tomboy who ruled the playground because nobody would stand up against her. The sand was wet too, I mean who puts a sandbox uncovered in Seattle where it rains 105% of the time. Every day. Rain. But I grew up with it so it wasn’t anything unusual.

     Jay was too scared to tattle on me that one kindergarten afternoon on the Redwood Elementary playground, but he didn’t complain either (like the others did). He really never spoke now that I think about it; he wasn’t called the shy kid for nothing. For some remarkable reason I took Jay under my wing and shielded him from everything from the toy stealing first grade girls to the sixth grade bullies who shoved Jay into the locker- the typical stuff every targeted kid went through. I remember the day I found Jay being shoved into the locked by three sixth grade boys.

     “Jay, you’re girlfriend is here to save you,” one taunted and dramatically emphasized every word to make every word sting Jay’s confidence.

     “Is she gunna save you, you little baby.”

     “It must be hard knowing that your girlfriend could beat anyone up,” the potbellied boy said, “And you can’t?”

     By now a congregation of sixth graders had gathered around the lockers to join in on the teasing. All I had to do was signal the crowd to move and they shriveled in fear at the sight of me. After third grade I sort of left the whole playground queen status to Rose Memorse and shrunk into the distance, but nobody forgot the damage I could do when I was angry.

     The potbellied kid was on the floor in about two seconds with a bloody nose. Another three seconds and the group had scattered leaving Jay and I standing next to the lockers watching the mob of kids disappear into the multiple classrooms and bathrooms surrounding the lockers.

     “James you gotta stop that; you know it would be nice if you stopped beating everyone up to protect me. I mean we’re in sixth grade…” Jay rolled his eyes and pulled his backpack off the floor.

     Jay had called me James for as long as I could remember, I never liked the name Jamie- too girly, so Jay changed it to James and it stuck like that.

     “I just saved your sorry butt and that’s how you thank me,” I whisked my hand into the air, “If it weren’t for me you’d still be stuck in that locker. I’ll video tape it next time and make sure it gets around to the whole school. Is that a good idea?” I waved my new flip phone into the air that I had just gotten in September before school had started.

     “Thanks James. It’s not that I don’t appreciate your help…”

     “I get it, I get it. But come on I heard it’s chicken finger day and you know the honey mustard always goes fast. I do not want to be stuck dipping my glorious, warm, golden, fried tenders of goodness in some watered down tomato concoction,” I pulled Jay along by his Save the Sea Creatures keychain and we disappeared down the hallway."

If you want to get more in depth with this writing challenge, I found this blog post really helped with generating wild and crazy adventures for your character to go on.

Enjoy!

Love,

Natalie