Writing Exercise - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

Prompt courtesy @creativepromptsforwriting with characters from an as-yet-unpublished original project (okay to RB) the waiter was supposed to bring a dessert with an engagement ring to the table next to them, but brings it to them and now the awkwardness has reached new heights

Corey had been slightly horrified when Dee had first suggested that they observe the first anniversary of their near-breakup by revisiting the same fancy restaurant where they'd run into Dee's ex - an encounter that had ended with Corey storming off shortly before Dee started screaming at their ex in the parking lot.

"If we can't laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at?" Dee had pointed out. "Plus, I was too stressed out to enjoy the food last time. It'd be nice to go back and properly taste the food this time."

So Corey had (somewhat against his better judgment) allowed himself to be convinced. He even relaxed enough to enjoy himself, despite his anxiety, when they made it through the appetizer course without any relationship-threatening arguments or misunderstandings.

And then dessert happened.

He should have known better, he realized as he stared with horror at the slice of cheesecake that had just been placed in front of them by a nervous-looking server. Amid hand-piped chocolate and caramel hearts sat a delicate, horrifyingly feminine diamond engagement ring that Corey had never seen before.

Corey felt the blood drain from his face as he looked up at Dee. "I'm not... I-I didn't...I would never get you something like that," he stammered, regretting his choice of words as soon as they had left his mouth. "I mean, because of your gender," he added hurriedly. "Because it's not... and you're..." he made a helpless gesture meant to encompass the whole of Dee's transmasculine dandy sense of fashion.

Dee, who was still staring at the ring with a completely unreadable expression, turned a brilliant scarlet.

Shit. Fuck. Shit. Had Dee gotten the ring for him? "N-not that I don't... uh... that is, if you were..."

The woman at the next table was staring at them, her eyebrows practically on the ceiling while her companion beckoned their server over to have an urgently whispered conversation.

"What?" Dee yelped, shrinking back in their seat. "I wouldn't-- I mean, I would, but I didn't... but. Oh god. Don't tell me I should have?"

"I'm so sorry," their server interjected, looking mortified as he removed the offending dish and delivered it to the next table. "My mistake, your dessert will be right out," he said before scurrying off to the kitchen.

Now everyone was staring at them.

The prospect of having to sit through the nice straight couple's public proposal made Corey want to peel his skin off. "I need air," he choked out before fleeing to the washroom.

He slunk back to the table a few minutes later to find Dee staring blankly at an appropriately jewelry-free piece of cheesecake. "Sorry," he mumbled as he slouched into his seat. "I just. I couldn't."

"I know," Dee said quickly, reaching across the table to lay a hand on his arm.

"It's just." Corey took a deep breath and attempted to wrestle his panic down enough to form a coherent sentence. "It wouldn't have been unwelcome, but we've never... we haven't talked about it."

Dee opened their mouth. Closed it. Then visibly blanched at something over his shoulder. "Oh god," they muttered, sinking even further down in their seat.

Sure enough, a manager appeared at Corey's elbow, so full of apologetic obsequiousness that Corey had to put his face in his hands and mildly dissociate while she had a short conversation with Dee.

"We're getting our meal comped," Dee said once the manager had left.

Corey took a deep breath. Put his hands in his lap. Sat up. "Good."

Dee looked every bit as embarrassed as he felt. "We don't need to talk about it, just... Tell me if it's bad that I hadn't thought of talking about it before now?"

"No," Corey said firmly. "I hadn't thought about it either."

Dee looked profoundly relieved. "Then how about this: we agree to keep not thinking about it for another six months."

"Deal."

The cheesecake was, at least, delicious.

"This was a bad idea, and I apologize," Dee muttered as they were leaving the restaurant. "We should never come here again."

"It's not your fault," Corey corrected before giving his partner a sheepish grin. "But no, I'm definitely never coming here again."

Date Mishaps

a misunderstanding about where they would be meeting, so both are waiting at a different location

a last minute emergency means they have to bring someone else with them on the date (e.g. child, little sibling, pet)

they were absolutely not dressed for the weather and end up getting completely wet in the rain

one of their phones is dead and they can't reach each other

even though they had reservations, the restaurant is closed

one of them gets hurt on the date, which makes them end up in the ER

they met online without a proper picture of each other and they keep missing each other at the bar, not able to find out who their actual date is

the waiter was supposed to bring a dessert with an engagement ring to the table next to them but brings it to them and now the awkwardness has reached new heights

they are doing speed dating, but unfortunately they already know each person of the other sex that is there

a date on a boat is nice until a swan attacks and someone falls into the water

they are both not local and they keep getting lost

their boss/parents/friends are also on a date in the same restaurant

one of them gets called back into work for an emergency and their date insists to walk them there

they thought they would have a date with someone else and are confused by who actually shows up

More: Date Gone Wrong

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Prompt courtesy @creativepromptsforwriting with characters from Community Witch, my as-yet-unpublished queer poly romance novel (okay to RB)

Rav had left his partners looking at potential wedding dates when he ducked out to the kitchen for more coffee. When he returned, both Aspen and Nat were scowling at each other.

"What do you mean it wasn't a date?" Nat asked indignantly. "Of course it was a date!"

"It wasn't a date," Aspen insisted bullishly. "Because it happened completely by accident, and you'd never shown any interest in dating me in high school."

Nat rolled her eyes. "For fuck's sake. You're as bad as Rav sometimes."

"Not that I'm disagreeing, but in what way?" Rav asked mildly, grinning when Nat jumped and cringed guiltily.

"Not being able to pick up on blindingly obvious social cues" Nat replied.

"Insisting that words have meaning," Aspen said simultaneously.

"Whoa." Rav held up his hand and perched on the edge of the couch. "Okay. Aspen, how did this start?"

"Nat suggested seeing if one of our many anniversaries is on a Saturday, which is how we discovered that we apparently different definitions of what 'date' means."

"Aspen thinks that spending four hours walking around town, including a romantic sunset walk on the beach, doesn't constitute a date."

Rav cleared his throat, but was roundly ignored by both of his partners.

"I didn't even know you were living in Parksville!" Aspen protested. "And you said we should 'catch up', not 'do you want to go on a date'."

"Earth to Aspen, 'catching up' is code for 'date', and I was hanging off your arm and making calf eyes at you the entire night! Plus, by your own logic, getting coffee shouldn't count as a date either, even though I kissed you at the end of the night."

Aspen crossed their arms. "I asked if it was a date and you said yes, which makes it a date."

"I think--" Rav began, only to be cut off once more.

"Aha!" Nat stabbed a triumphant finger in Aspen's direction. "If retroactive date-labeling makes coffee a date, then the first one is also definitely a date."

"Please. It was, like, a half-date."

"There's no such thing as half a date!"

Aspen shrugged. "You never dated William."

"No fair." Nat pouted. "You can't play the shitty ex card."

"Maybe," Rav said loudly enough to finally get their attention. "You could accept that different people have different definitions for social constructs like dates, and that different definitions aren't automatically incorrect."

"Right." Aspen said slowly, their eyes twinkling with mischief. "Just like different chili recipes are equally valid."

When Nat's eyes blazed, Rav cut their partners off with a firm, "No. Arguments later. Date-picking now, which means picking a date that includes all three of us."

"Fine," Nat sighed.

"Thank you. Now..." Rav gestured for Aspen to lift their legs so that he could sit between Aspen and Nat, with Aspen stretching out across his lap once he'd settled. "What about our first date with the three of us?"

"Oh, sweetie," Aspen laughed. "Now you're just opening a very similar but entirely new can of worms."

Rav blinked, puzzled. "Am I?"

Nat exchanged an amused look with Aspen. "What would you say our first date was, then?"

Rav took a sip of coffee in a futile attempt to cover his ears going bright pink. "When I was over for dinner and we finally, uh... you know." Aspen and Nat exchanged another, more smug look. "Well what would you say it was, then?"

Aspen cocked their head and thought for a moment. "The first time we did dinner and a movie?" they asked Nat.

"Mm. I was thinking the play. The movie had too much friend-hangout plausible deniability."

"Oh, yeah. You're right, I can totally see that."

Rav fidgeted uncomfortably as he turned an even brighter shade of pink. "That was a date? I thought..."

Aspen and Nat were both staring at him with shit-eating grins.

"I see that I was wrong to intervene," he grumbled. "I liked you more when you were arguing with each other instead of ganging up on me."

When Rav made as if to get up, Aspen octopused themself around him, nearly spilling his coffee. "Don't be like that," they whined. "Staaaaaay. We'll be good."

Rav gave Aspen a sour look. "I highly doubt that."

"Our feelings-and-fucking-versary is actually on a Saturday, if we're still looking at next year," Nat said, looking at her phone.

"Great!" Aspen exclaimed.

"We are not calling it that." Rav realized his mistake as soon as the words had left his mouth, sighed, and course corrected. "Or rather, we're not telling wedding guests about the fucking part."

"Deal," Nat and Aspen chorused.

"Remind me why I'm marrying you again?"

Prompt #1106: IYO (19)

Imagine your OTP where both of them cannot agree on what their first date was.

Kenum was always familiar with the light. It always appeared whenever he cast a spell, used it to help his neighbors find their way home, and had a night light for his youngest. He was no stranger to it, even welcomed it in many cases. But even though he was friends with light, he was in love with dark.

During his worst times, of stumbling out of bars, high and/or drunk off of whatever he could get, the darkness always lead him home. His clothes of travel were always black and brown, or even shades of dark green. And most importantly, he always found comfort in the darkest of places.

Oh yes, my fellow reader, he was in love with the dark. His signature spell demanded it, in fact. Creating what someone's worst flaws were with a simple flick of his hand and the simplest of words that could be uttered by anyone, he needed that dark to guide him away from what could be his downfall. The only way to continue the spell would be to use more darkness.

But with any good thing, there must be a balance. So Kenum chased the light, fell for its charms again and again, playing by the rules that so many others have played. But when it called for it, when there needed to be darkness, he used it, commanded it, to hurt those who would dare hurt his loved ones.

You would think this makes him a villain. Only a man tainted by the darkness would do those things! If you listen to his stories, told by the millions he had saved all by using this darkness, they will tell you the truth. No villain uses the darkness. Only anti-heroes do.

SFWC Blast from the Past!

As with the regular challenge, post your story and submit the link to SFWC; we’ll reblog it to our followers. The main prompt, posted Friday, still includes two featured previous prompts. 

Happy writing!

This week’s Blast from the Past prompt:

Forever Will It Dominate Your Destiny - Darkness is the figurative and literal opposite and complement to light. Whether it's the physical state, the Dark Side, or some kind of ignorance, we may find darkness concealing what we need, dirtying what it touches, or hiding on the unexpected flip side of something. Write about your character's interaction with darkness.   

Have a suggestion for a prompt? Submit it here!

More prompts, you say? Visit the Prompt Archive!SFWC FAQ

James & Heather

Soo these are two of the charecters in my newest creative endevor? I lowkey hyperfixated on this, and made them both pinterest oards and spotifly playlists for both of them. soo enjoy ig?

James: old money, lawyer, expensive watches and suits. Goes to the most prestigious law school in the country, and lives pretty lavishly. He has his whole life planned out, and there is no wiggle room. He’s very intense and charismatic, and will almost always get his way. He does not usually laugh, but he will smirk. He’s always worried he’s not doing enough, and is always aiming to go higher, do more. He has OCD, and is on the edge of burnout, even if he cant see it. Likes listening to french music

Childhood: Parents are really rich, and he always went to the best schools. When he was a little kid, his sister got sick, and their family crumbled. James was essentially left alone, while his parents took care of hid dieter, he tried everything to get their attention, but nothing worked. When he was visiting his sister once, he met a girl that he immediately wanted to become friends with. They became good friends, but one day when he went to visit her she was fead, because her parents could not afford the medicine.  After seeing how his sister was alive only because their parents could afford the treatments, he decided that he was going to make enough money that he would be able to provide for the people he loved, incase something happened. He really misses his sister, but she wont return his calls, and it hurts that they dont talk any more.

Heather: wild and free, lives in a van, currently unemployed. James sister, though they are not on talking terms. She is very good with the flow, and rejects anything with a set schedule because of her childhood. She takes medication for a lot of health issues, and was really sick as a kid. She is constantly scared that she will get sick again, and is slightly afraid of hospitals. She will freak out whenever she gets sick, and always thinks it is serious, even if it just a common cold. She believes crystals have the power to heal you.

Childhood: Heathers parents are extremely rich, and she went to the best schools, and lived in huge mantion. However, when she is 8 or 9, she developed a series health condition, and spent the next 8 years in and out of hospitals and surgery. Thankfully, due to the treatments her parents could afford, she recovered, but she now fears hospitals. After spending so much time inside hospitals, and almost dying, she lives in a van, and rejects any normality. She does not talk with her parents or brother after they had a huge falling out because her family wanted her to stay close to home, in case something happened to her, and she needed to be hospitalized again.however, of she does get sick again, she wants to spend the little time she has left being free, and far away from the hospitals.