Next Meeting Saturday September 8th at 10:30 a.m.

Bring what you're working on, and writing materials for another exciting exercise.

Session: August 25, 2012

"Describe an elegant hotel room from the point of view of a character who is on the verge (about a day or so away) of a psychotic breakdown."

By AD

I finally arrived at my hotel after the most stressful business trip. On my plane flight to London the plane crashed in the middle of nowhere in Wales. After hiking for 3 days I found a boat heading to London. About five miles off the coast the boat hit a rock and sunk, so I had to swim in the middle of winter in shark infested waters. After my relaxing swim in below freezing water I arrived at my meeting. It turns out my meeting was for next month. They called my phone which was found by some guy named McDunken. I hope he enjoys the unlimited text and internet and that it solar charges. I arrived at my hotel room elegantly decorated with an artfully made chandelier and purple wallpaper and furniture. There was a piano in the corner that I sat by feeling like I was going to lose my mind. Life is stressful when you are an armchair.

"I knew it was important, but I forgot anyway."

 By G.S.

Halfway across the beach the chair came to a halt so I tried to understand what was really happening. The magic mushroom I had eaten earlier must have been responsible. With no visible means of propulsion, the chair had carried me through thick sand faster than I could walk. What am I going to tell people? I had to remember what had happened earlier, before I met the chair. I knew it was important, but I forgot anyway!

"Write a brief scene that incorporates the following: a girl named Florinetta; a dog with three legs; a swing; a porch; boiled celery; the air smelling of autumn."

By PV

There really should be a mirror, or I guess the pond would give me an idea what I have got into this time. Auntie would say this was the catastrophe I should have expected with all my adventurous wool gathering.  There I was, tugging a piece of boiled celery caught in my teeth when I fell out of my porch swing, hollering at Eustace as he lifted his leg to spray mama's daisies. And so I knocked my self out to find myself looking down at my hooves, hoping there was still some green grass amidst the autumn debris. Oh, Florinetta, you have really done it this time. I wonder if my eyes are brown?

"Not Again!"

 By CC

Blast, cried Marnie. Not again! Weezus and Boofhead were crammed willy-nilly into the goldfish bowl, waiting with pitiful patience for John to come home with the sausage roll he always pretended was a control unit for Cat Transformation. Every time he pretended to dial up Angora or Siamese, they sat quietly, trusting it would happen: Suddenly the long fur, the exotic eyes. Of course it never did, but the stupid cats never got it. Marnie stomped over to the bowl and said, You're never going to change! Get over it! Weezus looked up at her with inscrutable poise.
                                                                                                                               

Next Meeting Saturday, August 25th, at 10:30 a.m.

We'll be meeting at the Campo-Morena Village Library on Saturday, August 25th, at 10:30 a.m.  Bring something you are working on to share with the group, and writing materials for a short prompted exercise during session.

Session: August 11th, 2012

Call us nuts....or call these Cinema Seeds (as one of our members, a screenwriter, has suggested)...just another phantasmagoria of our overstimulated imaginations....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2773502308_aabd5a5dab.jpg

"Could it even be possible, he wondered? 
They looked at each other nervously."

by BG

It was an average Sunday morning. The Johnsons were puttering around the house, engrossed in completing as many chores as possible.  Hal had all his tools out on the garage floor and had just unscrewed the oil filter on his car to begin its bi-monthly oil change. Wilma had taken the screens out of the dining room windows and had just sprayed a section of glass with vinegar to begin wiping the streaks away.  Out of the blue, the phone rang.

"Yes, yes, uh huh, okay, we'll be right there." She called out to Hal and let him know about the call. "We've got to get right over there!"

Wilma closed the windows back up. Hal pulled down the garage door. They took Wilma's car.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the school dorm, parked, ran up the stairs and down the hall. The door to the room was ajar. They pushed it open and gasped. Could it even be possible, he wondered? They looked at each other nervously.

Wilma exclaimed, "Caroline, you tell your physics professor that this class project is unacceptable!"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trywhistlingthis/28234112911/

"The ancient door creaked open, and from the darkness she caught a whiff of something like old apples. She pulled the string to the lightbulb; the stairwell remained dark. "Bulb's dead," he said."

by CC

The ancient door creaked open, and from the darkness she caught a whiff of something like old apples. She pulled the string to the lightbulb; the stairwell remained dark. "Bulb's dead," he said.

"Yes, drats," said Lee. They both heard a strange tapping sound emanate from the lower reaches of the cellar. Clip clop, clip clop. "Are those footsteps?" she asked nervously. 

"I've got a torch," Mark said, grabbing the small mag light on his key chain. Shining it ahead of them, they moved gingerly down the stairs, until she could cross to the fluorescent bulb hanging over the washer. When she yanked on its chain, the room flooded with light. 

At the end of the room, Whiskers sat astride a pony. She had put on her best jacket. They trotted smartly back and forth from corner to corner.  Mark and Lee both exhaled with the sudden release of tension. He laughed and said, "I should have known. That silly cat!"

But Lee fell suddenly silent. Whiskers looked at her with an innocent expression, as the little pony trotted rapidly past the dryer. "Where did you get the horse," she asked the cat.

Whiskers eyes widened even further as she turned the horse quickly and galloped up the stairs. Mark was close after her, bounding two steps at a time. But the little horse ran quickly across the front room and out the door. Gasping, Lee caught up with Mark at the top of the stairs and watched Whiskers ride into the meadow, the little red jacket flapping behind her. 

 

 

"He couldn't do anything right so he just stopped trying."

By GS

Bernie had spent every day in graduate school learning how to reconstruct skeletons of long-extinct animals. His doctoral topic was maladaptation in mammalian biology, and his advisor was the world famous Dr. Simon Ratburner whose primary work was in reconstructing animal adaptations in pre-historical times. Bernie felt himself fortunate to have such an important and respected advisor, and was determined to do original work in the field. His latest reconstruction was a precursor of the antelope with some canid overtones. His reconstructed skeleton provoked intense hilarity since a dog with long horns was considered biologically impossible. Since he couldn't do anything right, Bernie just stopped trying! He left graduate school and found employment as a cab driver.   

"Fred turns on the hot water to fill his bathtub. 

Joan calls; she tells him something so shocking, 

he forgets that he left the tap running. 

                        What did Joan tell Fred? What happens?"
 

By TT        "The Bathtub Tsunami"

Fred left the bath to hear what Joan said. "It couldn't be true?" 

While they speak, the bath water runs over the top of the tub and fills the bathroom and seeps through the floor into the dining room. Fred is so aghast at Joan's news that he doesn't notice the leaking chandeliers and the dripping ceiling. He is sitting at the table. The house fills and still he sits - now he is in a puddle - then a lake. 

Finally he looks out the window at a man holding the wall of his apartment building. People have gathered. Fred is now watching the people below with apprehension. Don't they know the tsunami of his bathtub is approaching? His neighbors murmur and it is only one man who holds back the flood. He looks casual about it.  

 "She peeked through the curtains 
 and drew back in shock at what she had seen."

By PV

She peeked through the curtains and drew back in shock at what she had seen. She couldn't resist looking again. This time a tinkly music vibrated in the air, reminiscent of the beating of a dragonfly's wings. But this was an exquisite symphony. A symphony that the young woman beyond the curtains was listening to intently.

The thought in Felice's head sprouted full blown as if conveyed through the intricacies of her ears and thence etherially in her mind: And how did you figure we talked - solely through miniature voice boxes - inadequate to describe the miracles of creation? 

Trembling, Felice parted the curtains to this strange new world.

"That's not my real name."

By A.D.

In the little town where I grew up there was an infamous hobo named Billy B. Joe, who was perhaps one of the greatest thieves in the world. I remember one day going into Walmart near Christmas to buy a game, when I saw him coming out of the store with his cart, humming Jingle bells. In his cart he had a few game systems, furniture sets,  and somehow, he got a flat screen TV! How he gets away with it, I don't think anyone will ever  know.

       

A few months later, I was riding my bike and I saw Billy.  He must of set two new world records. One for stealing soapy objects, and another for having it balanced and tied in a mountain up top of his motor cycle.

I followed him around town staying out of sight. I followed him into the woods that he called home. Leaving my bike near a tree, I followed him to his camp. There was a house made of twigs as leaves. I climbed  into a tree for a better view and watched as he did some repairs to his home. He then made a fire and opened a can of tuna. "You should come down form there, I know you follows me" he said. I climbed down from the tree, and set on the log near the fire. He offered me the pan of tuna and a spoon. "This tuna is good" I said.

 

"oh that's not tuna, it's cat food" Billy replied with a smile. Setting down my spoon, I started to talk, and Billy cut in."Billy's not my real name you know. Years ago I was an olympic runner, I could have set a new record and won a gold medal that first year. But when the crowd started chanting my name, I lost all hope. By the way my name is Yuu Suk.