Writing Prompt Stories, Mini Stories That My Mind Cooked Up

"I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified."

He grimaced as he said the words, his hands on my arms holding me close, but looking down, avoiding my eyes. 

"You're not in love with me," I reassured him, "you're fine." I brought my hands up to clutch at the sleeves of his jumper, a little voice in the back of my head whispering 'but what if?' I ignored it, there was no way he could be in love with me.

"But... I'm still scared, Piper," he whispered. A drop of liquid fell onto my hand and I realised he was crying.

"Hey, I'll prove it to you. Look at me," I said, my voice soft as I reached up to gently hold his chin, raising his head as he sniffed, his eyes tightly closed as he let me lift his head. "Open your eyes," I whispered, "trust me."

His eyebrows creased in apprehension as he slowly cracked open his eyes. The beautiful blue orbs that I had fallen in love with filled me with joy to my heart, two oceans filled with life and the glint of tears. I loved him, but I couldn't let him love me.

It wasn't barely a second later, when I had assured myself that it was fine, that I felt a sharp pain behind my eyes and his eyes went wide as I screamed 'no'.

He fell like a deadweight, crumpling to the floor, and my hands flew to my mouth, my vision blurring with tears. His eyes, his beautiful eyes, had gone dull, the spark gone. An ocean polluted, the dried up bed of an area once bursting with life, now devoid of oxygen.

My door flew open, my father hovering in the doorway.

"I heard a thump," he said, walking over to me and holding his arms out, letting me fall into them as I sobbed. "Don't worry, Piper, you couldn't have stopped him falling in love with you."

"I loved him," my nose was running and my voice damp with emotion as I pulled away from my father's embrace, crouching down next to him, brushing his hair out of his eyes, his beautiful eyes. I let my hand slide down his face, closing them. No one else would see the contrast of the beautiful blue eyes dulled out, no one but me. The image would haunt me, but I deserved it for letting him love me.

"I know it's not what you want to hear, Piper, but this curse is getting out of hand," my father said as I leaned down to kiss his forehead before it started going cold, pretending, my eyes shut tight to hold the tears in, that he was just sleeping. With a sigh, my father continued, "I'll put him with the others."

I don't think I'm the only one, but Pinterest is my best friend and a big thing on my Pinterest is writing prompts. Whenever I see them, I always have mini little scenes that play themselves out in my head, but my scenes are never long enough to be made into an actual story.

So you get to read my little stories!

I must admit, that is not where I expected that story to go. While there is potential, I am firmly in the belief that my little stories should remain just that, not be stretched out into novels, or actual short stories. I really enjoyed writing this, though, and would love to do more posts like this.

I've also been looking for a new series, other than Places To Read, to create and I'm thinking that maybe this could be one. I'm so serious about this idea, I even made a new banner for the series!

That's it for now, then.

Bye!

Review and Comparison - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Book and Movie

Review and Comparison

I will admit, I know bookworms will hate me, I watched the movie before I read the book.

I first heard about Ready Player One about three years ago at a weekend festival. I made a friend there who raved about this movie called Ready Player One and a contest, that whoever won it would 'inherit' a massive virtual world, which they could then do with what they wanted. I thought it sounded pretty cool but, after that weekend, I never spoke to that person again and practically forgot about Ready Player One.

Until...

My younger brother saw it on Netflix. We were looking for a movie to watch and he said that he had been meaning to watch it for ages. And just like that, I seemed to remember the fact that I already knew about this story.

So we sat down and watched the movie and both loved it. I asked my brother to get me the book for Christmas and he followed through, so I have now both watched the movie and read the book.

And they could not be more different.

Not in a bad way, of course, as I loved both of them, but it does mean I can compare!

The Movie

From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the science fiction action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name. The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a reakneck, reality bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.

Amazon UK • Amazon US

So, like I said, I watched the movie first, with my brother. We were sat with popcorn and sleeping dogs scattered around the room. There was not nearly enough popcorn.

This movie is fabulous! There's action, adventure, there are times when you don't know how Wade is going to get himself and his friends out of a new mess. The OASIS is a virtual world and, with the whole world addicted, people can escape the crumbling real world around them. Halliday, the creator of the OASIS, left his fortune to no one and everyone at the same time. An intricate hunt, some might say a wild goose chase, leads those who call themselves 'gunters' (egg hunters) searching for the Easter egg that Halliday hid inside his world. Whoever can complete the hunt, whoever finishes first – they win the fortune, they win the OASIS.

The main characters in the movie are likeable, you root for them as you watch them come to conclusions that you know in the back of your mind you never could have solved. Wade might've been the main character, but it was Art3mis that I liked the best. She is brave, smart, loving. She shows that you can be anyone you want, that if you work for something, if you work hard, you can achieve anything.

I asked my brother to write a review for it too. 

He did so (very unwillingly).

My brother's review:

I liked that everyone could pick different traits and build different avatars in the OASIS. I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it. (Is that it? Can I go now?)

He was very much more interested in the OASIS than the characters!

The Book

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle.

Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.

Amazon UK • Amazon US

This book, as I said, I received for Christmas. My plan for the New Year was to get a proper sleep schedule, going to bed at a set time each day so I could then start waking up at a proper time each day.

As you might be able to tell, due to my use of the word 'plan', this has not happened.

Anyway, I was going to use this book as a way to help me do this, I was going to start reading at 11 every evening, read one chapter, and then go to bed.

I finished the book within a week.

This is the kind of book that you just don't want to put down. The characters are believable and likeable and you root for Wade a little bit more with each chapter. As Halliday grew up in the 80s, all the gunters are obsessed with 80s culture, as it's obviously going to be important in the contest. The best gunters know everything about Halliday's life, about the 80s, they know every word to every movie Halliday ever watched. They are, in a word, obsessed.

Wade is a completely believable OASIS obsessed teenager. He's overweight, he spends every waking moment in the OASIS and doesn't get out. There is no time for exercise and he lives off food vouchers he gets in return for fixing computers.

The obsession with 80s culture appealed to me, particularly, as I have a strange obsession with 80s rock music. It gave me a little thrill of joy every time I knew a song that was referenced.

Since my brother hasn't read the book, as he so clearly pointed out, I asked him to give a review based off the cover. So this is an art review, more than a story review.

My brother's review:

(That is a mad stack of caravans. Is he climbing a ladder?)

It looks like the caravans would fall down at any second, they don't look too steady. All in all, a good cover.

Book and Movie Comparison

The book gave a lot more detail than the movie did. The book was definitely more focused on describing the world, telling the reader about what was happening in the world and letting them live in the world as if they were in the OASIS as well. The competition in the film was simplified so that the story made sense on screen and reading the book gave so much more insight into what was happening in the OASIS and the origins of the world.

The film was very much focused on the characters. Whereas the book was very focused on Wade, the movie spent more time with other characters, such as Art3mis and Aech, which I also enjoyed, because Art3mis is (I think) my favourite character in the film. My favourite character in the book, however, is Wade. This is just one point that shows how different the movie and book are, the fact that I prefer different characters in each.

If you have read the book and didn't like it, don't not watch the movie because of this.

Likewise, if you watched the movie and didn't like it, read the book.

Although I loved both, I'm certain if you didn't like one, there's every chance you might love the other.

Did you enjoy reading about my opinions? Do you disagree/agree? Do you think my little brother's reviews are better than mine, because I might agree with you!

Bye!

Why impulsiveness and hair don't mix

You might be able to tell where this post is going.

When I was little, my hair grew really slowly and my brothers' hair grew really fast. I remember sitting in the hairdressers, waiting as my brothers got their hair cut and I didn't, thinking 'I want to be a hairdresser when I grow up'.

This is where it all started going wrong.

I had it cut very short at one point – shaved sides and the little floof on top.

You may be wondering where this is going, but this specific haircut is very crucial to the story. As, when you have such a haircut, it doesn't grow out evenly. The sides reached my shoulders before the top had reached my chin. When the top layer was just long enough was when I reached for the scissors and lobbed it off, in a lovely little bob. And I must say, it was cut very straight.

Skip forwards about a year, I'm obviously bored again. So I cut my fringe. Not short, it fell past the end of my nose, but it was a change and there's nothing quite like feeling freshly cut hair and your fingers not being used to the hair ending so suddenly.

Skip four more days and I want my hair short again. So I pick up my trusty green kitchen scissors and chop chop chop. The return of the little bob is here.

This is where I explain the impulsiveness fully. When I cut my fringe, it was because I was watching Spiderman: Homecoming and there's a scene where they're getting on the bus to go to the decathlon. MJ talks about protesting. She has a fringe. It was not three minutes later that I sat back down with a fringe like hers.

I decided that I wanted to cut my hair short about half an hour before I did it. I gave a friend updates as I did it, questioning why I do these things and why she's not texting back and stopping me.

My hair is a little (lot) shorter than I meant for it to be. And yes, IS. This happened this week. My hair barely reaches back into a ponytail.

Oops.

I have a feeling this is not going to be the last time I make a drastic decision without prior thought and I have a feeling at some point, I'm going to make a decision more drastic than cutting my hair. Hair grows back, what's going to happen when I end up with last minute decision tattoos?!

I don't know how interesting this post is, but I wrote it late at night so I can be excused. Please, though, let me know if you enjoyed reading it or not. What sort of content do you actually want? Stories about me, short stories by me, posts about books, movies, WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?!

Let me know or else I'll keep doing whatever it is I want and you'll have to put up with it.

Bye!

Being Unoriginal and Asking Twitter for Questions to Answer

 I asked for questions on Twitter

I figured, I have no idea what to post about, I ran out of ideas after about five posts. So, like the unoriginal person I am, I went on my Twitter and asked for questions so I could answer them and pretend I'm interesting. Here are the questions I got and my answers!

Who are your favourite fictional characters?

Well, this might take a while! If we're talking books, I tend to like characters that make me want to be a better person. For example, Tris from Divergent made me want to exercise, but I was too busy reading to actually get up! Another character might be Evan from The 5th Wave, partially because I had a bit of a crush on him.

If we're talking movies, I like characters that go through a lot because it's interesting to watch and I'm obviously a mean person who likes watching others suffer. I must admit, most of the characters I like in movies and TV shows are generally male, and I generally like them because of the actors. An example of this would be Tom Holland's Spiderman.

TV show wise, I tend to fall in love with the characters more than in movies, probably because I spend more time watching them. I'm currently going through a Peaky Blinder's phase, and Tommy Shelby is my computer screensaver. Yes, I'm that sad. I'm also currently in a Supernatural phase, which has been going on for about a year so far, and I have to say, Sam is one of my absolute favourite characters in that.

Sorry, I rambled a little too much on that answer! Notice how there's only one female character in this answer...

Do you watch soaps?

I have to be honest, I had to look up the definition of what classes as a soap. This may be a clear sign I do not intentionally search out shows to watch that are considered soaps. However, Mr. Google tells me that both Friends and How I Met Your Mother are soaps (I beg to differ, I would call them sitcoms, but who's really bothered), and I have watched both of those and enjoyed them both. I haven't actually finished watching How I Met Your Mother yet, because my brother was also watching it and finished it before me and let slip the ending. Brothers - the most infuriating creature to roam the earth.

Do you have a colour theme in your room?

Yes! I used to have a room with no theme at all, it was very much like Bella's room in Twilight - random colours everywhere. And no, I'm not a Twilight fan, but I have read the books and watched the movies, which is how I came to the conclusion of hating it (after a period of loving it, a phase I much regret). Now, my room has a purple and grey theme. Half of my walls are purple, the other half are grey. I have wooden floors and furniture (bookcase, wardrobe, shelves). I have a grey rug and curtains, and purple and grey bedsheets. It all matches very nicely and I'm very pleased with the outcome of my careful planning. The only very different colour in my room is the plants in my windowsill, of which I have far too many and need to stop buying more.

Give us a moment where someone you didn't like experienced karma.

I had to sit and think about this one for a bit. I don't tend to dislike people, unless I'm related to them and they give me good reason. From this conclusion, I remembered a time when I was playing tennis and I was on the team with one of my little brothers (the same one who gave away the ending of How I Met Your Mother). I am not very good at tennis, and he is. Therefore, there was a lot of yelling at me to 'get the ball' and to 'run, you're missing it'. I missed quite a couple. Getting bored of the yelling, I basically stood still and hit any that came my way and let him get the rest, much like in Wii Sports Tennis - I was the person at the front. Anyways, after all this shouting at me, he tripped and fell. He got back up, blaming me for missing the ball, but his wrist was hurting. Turns out, he sprained it (it was assumed broken for a while, until the swelling went down) and he couldn't play tennis for four weeks. I think this counts pretty well as someone experiencing karma for being mean to me, even though it doesn't really fit the criteria of the question.

And with a grand total of four questions asked, I have managed to stretch this out into a full post because of my inability to shut up. Success!

If you wanted to follow me on Twitter, for when I inevitably run out of ideas again and ask for more unoriginal ideas, you can do so here:

Twitter

I also post kind of funny Tweets sometimes, so there's that too.

Thank you so much for the questions, because otherwise this week would've had some stupid post about my organisation of books or something - spoiler alert, they aren't ordered at all.

Bye!

Places To Read, An Unintentional Multipart Short Story Series – Part 2

 

Before Bed

You were meant to be in bed half an hour ago. The taste of mint is in your mouth as you think about how you will definitely wash your hair tomorrow, even though you've been telling yourself the same thing for the past three nights. Blankets tucked over you, your bedroom lights off, but a string of fairy lights casting a low glow across the room.

You were meant to be in bed thirty-five minutes ago, but there's still time. You don't have to be up that early tomorrow. What's ten minutes less sleep? You pick up your book, leaning back against your pillows, and open it, your bookmark sliding down onto your lap when you open the right page. Just one chapter, then you'll sleep. But ten minutes and one chapter later, you've surely got time for one more? 

You were meant to be in bed forty-five minutes ago, but it's at an exciting bit! That's enough of an excuse not to sleep yet. Just one more chapter.

You were meant to be in bed an hour and a half ago. It's pitch black outside, you heard an owl hooting just now. You look down at your phone to check the time and are surprised about how much time has passed. You are seriously considering changing the time on your alarm, because you need more sleep than you're allowing yourself. Yawning, you place the bookmark in the book, close it and put it down, switching the lights off and pulling the blankets up to your chin. You can finish it tomorrow evening.

You were meant to be in bed an hour and thirty-five minutes ago. You can't possibly leave it there. The lights are back on and the book is in your hands again. You'll read quickly, just until this bit is over. It'll be two, three chapters at most.

You were meant to go to bed four hours ago. The book is done, you finished the whole thing. But how can you sleep? That ending... no, you must stay awake for another half an hour and consider how the author could have done that and search the internet, trying to find out when book 2 will be out...

Hello!

Before Bed, the way I have spent way too many nights (shh don't tell! I was meant to be asleep!)

(I was actually meant to be asleep when I wrote this idea down...)

I don't know how accurate this is for most people, but often have I turned my bedroom lights off, turned on the fairy lights next to my bed and curled up with a book, staying up just a little bit too late reading.

This was originally going to be a story about restraint, reading one chapter and then tucking yourself into bed. I tried this method once. The book had 30 chapters. It took me a week to read it. I think that proves that I did not read just one chapter a night.

Don't be like me. Sleep.

The book will still be there tomorrow.

(I know, I'm not convincing myself either!)

Bye!

Short Story - Tell Me Why

My feet were pounding against the floor as I sprinted, my heart trying to leap out of my chest. I wasn’t sure where I was anymore, how long I had been here, where the exit was. All I knew was that he knew exactly where he was – and he knew where I was as well.

I saw an opportunity, he had given me an opportunity. Ahead, there was a gap in the wall of this old school, the old timber boards smashed to pieces, the lime plaster dusting the floor. It looked like he had taken a mallet to the wall, but after the past hour, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had done it with his head.

I skidded to a stop, glancing behind me before looking in the hole. It didn’t go to another room, it would pin me between two walls, two walls of wood, with only the hole as an escape. 

I heard a footstep and froze, glancing over my shoulder. Another footstep and I lurched into action, bracing myself on the sides of the hole with my hands and climbing through, hissing in breath as a splinter of wood pierced my palm. Without further injury, I made it through and crouched, looking up at the hole and the small amount of light it let into my little cubbyhole. I shuffled and a cloud of dust, of lime plaster dust, lifted into the air. My breath was still ragged, panting from running, and the dust made its way straight into my mouth, into my lungs. I coughed, the sound echoing off the wooden boards, and pulled the sleeve of my jumper down over my hand, pressing my hand over my mouth and nose as I tried not to cough, which was difficult with the tickling in my throat and my body pressuring me to get the dust out of me.

I jumped at the sound of something being placed on the floor, trying not to think about how close the sound had been. My breath was hot on my hand, through my sleeve, and my other hand was throbbing slightly from the splinter still embedded in it. I stared up at the hole in terror and confusion as the sound of a guitar being plucked started to echo around. It sounded like it was being played through speakers. 

Had he put a boombox down so he could kill me to music?

The sound of footsteps joined the music, as well as the sound of something scratching against the floor. It was the sort of noise that made your skin crawl. I risked a peek out of the hole and saw the silhouette of him walking down the corridor, a machete hanging loosely from his hand, the end dragging across the floor.

You are, my fire.

What the hell? 

The one desire.

He was going to kill me to freaking Backstreet Boys? I quickly sat back into my hole, my hand pressed against my mouth as hard as I physically could. The footsteps were coming towards me and as I crouched, my legs aching with the pain of the position, I hoped against hope that he would walk straight past me. I could run in the direction he had come from, the exit was bound to be somewhere. 

The footsteps stopped just outside of the hole and my heart stopped as I held my breath, my lungs aching and my throat tickly.

“Footprints in the dust,” the voice was low and gravelly and I swore profusely in my head. The dust, the lime plaster dust. Of course I had left footprints when I had climbed in, I had walked right through the dust. After a moment’s silence, I glanced up to the hole, gasping in shock when I made eye contact. He was looking through the hole, directly at me, and the grin on his face made me want to throw up. There was a clatter, presumably the dropping of the machete, and he reached both hands into my hole. I screamed as he grabbed me, dragging me out the the hole. He showed no remorse as he pulled me across the jagged wood, which dug into my back and cut through my skin. He threw me to the floor and I turned to look at him, trying to shuffle backwards. He leisurely reached down and picked up the machete, raising it as he approached me, his footsteps in time with the music, and I was too scared to even move. 

“Tell me why, Sam,” he said along to the song and my screams bounced off the walls as the song continued, closing my eyes as he swung the machete.

I never wanna hear you say,

I want it that way.

Hi!

I came up with this idea late at night and it sat, overnight, in my phone's notes app until I wrote it.

It would make sense that, considering this is supposed to be a (kind of) scary story, I would listen to atmospheric music. Instead, I put on an hour loop of I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys. This took me an hour to fully write and put together. Do you know how many times I listened to that damn song? According to my maths, about 18 times.

In a row.

It is going to be stuck in my head all day.

All week.

I'll be eating dinner and then suddenly:

Tell me WHYYYY!

Go and listen to the song and share in my pain. Here is a link:

I Want It That Way

Enjoy.

Bye!