I have a fun little exercise for fellow writers. I have a short story I wrote some time ago that I’ve chosen for a writing exercise:
I will post the first few paragraphs below as a writing prompt. Finish the story your own way and when enough people have submitted their stories, I will post my original continuation. This is not meant to be any kind of contest, nor will I be judging each entry, I just want to nudge fellow writers out there to do something different and I think it might be pretty entertaining.
The Story
“The cat goes to the door, okay? The cat meows, right? The cat alternates between meowing and rubbing against my leg for like five minutes while I’m trying to smoke my evening cigar. I get up. I open the door. The fucking cat looks me dead in the eye, turns around and walks away. This happens every night. Every night, this fucking happens. So, what do I do? I walk over to the cat, I pick him up--give him a little pat, you know? Then, I open the door, I set the cat on the patio, and I close the door.”
Mrs. Hutchin’s old, pale face was so red, it almost appeared normal. At eighty-three years old, five feet tall--even--and no more than a hundred pounds, Mrs. Hutchin had no fear. Vick looked to be in his mid-thirties, probably six foot one--maybe six, two--and easily two-hundred fit pounds. There was also the gun.
“All cats do that--sure it’s annoying at times--but you can’t just throw helpless, little animals out into the cold because you’re annoyed.”
Vinny, Tony, and Pete were speechless. They just looked on--mouths open and motionless. Vick was intent on making his point about the cat. He moved away from the window, put his handgun on the round, maple end-table next to Mrs. Hutchin’s floral patterned sofa.
“Look, lady. The cat wanted to go outside, right? No. The cat wanted me to open the door because he’s just smart enough to know that it gets to me when I do so and he just turns right around. The fuckin’ cat is a manipulator and a sadist. Also, I did not throw the cat. I opened the door, and sat him on the patio.”
…
This is where the experiment begins! Finish the story. After enough people have submitted, I’ll post the rest of what I have written. Again, this is not meant to be a contest in any way, just a fun little exercise to keep the words moving. I will be posting this on multiple sites.