Openers

This is a story about Leonard

Leonard walked towards the box in the middle of nowhere. He was on the sidewalk in his peaceful quiet town late at night when he found it. It was nothing fancy, just a boring old cardboard box which has a “this side up” and an arrow pointing up printed at a side. It was only big enough to fit a mug.

“Litterbugs,” Leonard thought. “Don’t they ever clean up after themselves?”

Just as Leonard bent down to pick up the box, it jerked suddenly and moved half a metre from where he stood.

“Wha…?”

He then took a step forward to retrieve the peculiar box, but as his fingers were just about to touch the edge, it moved away again. Confused, Leonard look around but did not see any physical figures around, indicating that this couldn’t be a prank. He then turned his attention back to the box and took minuscule steps towards, and with every step he took the box would move inches and inches further. Leonard then increased his pace, but the speed of which by the box was moving was gradually increasing too. Impatient, Leonard gave chase, but the box did not hint of any sign of slowing down, instead moving faster than and average man could run.

With one great huff Leonard took a great leap onto the box, just nicely grabbing it with his hands. His heart was palpitating, but alas, he has gotten hold of it! What was inside? Leonard let out a victorious smirk and reached for the cover when suddenly he was being dragged on the sidewalk by the box. Letting out screams of terror the box took Leonard left, right, left, left again, and before he knew it Leonard was being flung into the park’s lake. The only thing he remembered seeing was the box transforming into a mist of glitter and smoke and an pink Easter bunny waving at him before falling into the lake’s murky green water.

As if subdued by craziness, Leonard didn’t see any dead koi or tangible lake plants but instead was being pulled into a black and white vortex, with plenty of cuckoo clocks and jester hats swirling around him and there was even a laughing plastic skeleton that went past him. Leonard then felt himself being vacuumed into a door that appeared below him.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” he cried, as he was being sucked through the door.

The next that happened was that everything became black.

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Opening phrases (Week 1)

1. Kenny was whistling while walking when he suddenly fell into…
2. Lisa was scribbling on a piece of paper and let out a yelp…
3. Jerine was gasping for air but her head was lifted up soon after…
4. Angry, Mo clenched his fist and took a swing at…
5. While scanning worksheets Katrina hummed a tune to…
6. Geraldine was skipping on the sidewalk when she heard something snap…
7. Pacing around the living room, the phone suddenly rang and he was…
8. Clicking the remote control buttons incessantly, the screen suddenly went blank and her doorbell rang…
9. Jill was nodding her head along to a musical beat when she smelled something burning…
10. The stereo made a click sound and the tape started rewinding, puzzling the detective and he wondered…
11. The TV let out sparks before the screen went blank which made the repairman…
12. A bunny hoped across the lily field and sniffed a stalk…

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REFLECTION (WEEK 1)

I didn’t expect storytelling class to be more of an essay writing class! Here’s to another semester of Writcom! But honestly, storytelling isn’t anything much like Writcom. We did mostly argumentative essays debating for gay rights or why children are a hindrance but storytelling is a whole other aspect altogether. I figured we need to be constantly creatively inspired to crop up ideas for a base storyline, or else it will be difficult coming up with gripping effective ideas such as Openers. So now I’ve been trying to listen to more music and read more novels to get my brain cracking and dream more so coming up with more story lines won’t be as tough as having writer’s block!

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REVIEW EXERCISE 1B (WEEK 2)

 

Opener excerpt from Rachel.

Evan clutches his chest and collapses onto the concrete pavement, desperately gasping for air. Passer-bys are immediately intrigued – a few have fallen next to Evan, persuading him to calm down and breathe, others screaming for an ambulance, some just enjoying standing around being in the spectacle of it all. Evan, with one hand on his chest and the other furiously trying to grab hold of the city’s dull sidewalk, tried desperately to take in gasps of air, but his air passage was tightening with each minuscule effort he tried to make to stay live. Every spasmodic motion he made only made it tighter, and tighter. There were hands, trying to hold him down, but Evan struggled to sit up. He couldn’t give in to death, he couldn’t come all the way here just to lose. Growing tired and helpless, the desperate commotion around him started to fade, and within a short release of air, he stopped moving. With his eyes opened and face pale as a ghost, Evan remained lifeless.

After a minute, and by a strange stroke of fate, there was sound again, fading into his ears. Evan suddenly took a large gasp of air and blinked. He was alive.