As you’re probably aware, I often use writing prompts in my idea journal. Writing prompts can be a great way to let your mind wander, focus yourself before you sit down to write your WIP, or even just to play around with new characters. Currently, I’m in between active zero drafts. I recently finished the YA Contemporary and have a LOT to edit. So my focus has mainly been on edits and rewrites. This means I’m playing around with ideas and using writing prompts more than usual.
Today’s prompt was found at a fun website for randomness, https://wordcounter.net/random-word-generator. This site will generate five random words for your. Today I challenged myself to use all five of mine in a short scene/story.
My words: Damaged, rebuild, page, current, unkempt
Cecilia reached for the damaged book, teetering on the edge of the shelf at the back of the classroom. “What should I do with this?” she asked, holding it up to her mentor.
Mr. White frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”
Cecilia fanned the pages through her fingers. “Looks like just one ripped page.”
“Does it cut off words?”
She stopped on the ripped page. The bottom right hand corner of the page was missing as if someone had torn it off to wrap up a piece of chewed gum or to write down a phone number and pass it on to a friend. There was a single word missing because of the rip. Cecilia read the paragraph that ended the page. “One word is missing but you can figure out from the context clues that it was supposed to be man.” She flipped the page. “There’s nothing missing from the back side of the page because it is the end of the chapter.”
She glanced up from the book. Mr. White was working on something from his desk. He didn’t appear to have any attention focused on Cecilia. She frowned. “Do you want to see it?”
“No,” he answered without looking up. “If there’s a word missing we need to get rid of it. Throw it in the trash can.”
Mr. White kept telling her it was important to keep titles students actually wanted to read among the many on the shelf. She frowned again. This was a relatively current title, published in the last seven years. “Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s a newer book. I know you’re trying to rebuild your library with high interest books and this one sounds pretty good.”
Now he looked up. Cecilia held the book up so the light would hit the pretty gold foil designs surrounding the title. He shrugged. “I’m not certain having a damaged book would project the right image. If we’re attempting to show the students here that reading is important, we need to have books with high quality.” He sighed. “I’m sticking with my original answer. Throw it out.” He returned his gaze back to whatever he was working on.
Cecilia turned and frowned at the unkempt bookshelf. The problem was the kids weren’t taking care of the books they did have. So they were finding good quality books that were high interest and new, instead of stuffy old classics, but they were being ripped or damaged regularly. What good was having books if they weren’t being treated nicely enough to allow a second person to enjoy them?
The problem she had to find a solution for was not how to get good books into the library for students. It was how to get the students to take care of the books they were given. How to get them to fall in love with the words on the page.
That, she decided as she organized the rest of the books on the shelf, would be her new mission.
This is a basically unedited zero draft directly from my idea journal so it’s rough but it’s still mine. Don’t steal.
What Did You Think?
Drop a comment letting me know what you thought of the story.
I’ve been getting a lot of random comments lately and I’d love the chance to check out some that were actually REAL people!
Try it Yourself
Head to the website, grab your own random words, and write something!
If you blog it or even just take a picture of it, I’d love for you to share it with me. HAPPY WRITING!
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