Prompt: A nosy man eavesdrops on his co-workers and immediately regrets it.
Write an opening paragraph (to a story) of 100 words or fewer based on the prompt above.
Thanks to everyone who voted on WD’s Your Story #44! Here are the results. The winning entries, in ranking order, are as follows:
A. An icy wave cascades across my face. It’s jarring, but not jarring enough to snap reality back into focus, as I’d hoped. Bloodshot eyes reflect back at me in the mirror. Why did I hide behind that door when they came into the office? I guess I never could resist eavesdropping on a little juicy office gossip, but this? How could it be? John Davis dead? I reach down to splash more water across my face and my eyes flick to the mirror and catch it. There, reflected in haunting reverse, my name tag stares back at me: John Davis. (Zephyrus White)
B. Minutes pass before I remind myself to breathe. The office that once surrounded me evaporates. I try to pinch myself out of this nightmare but I can’t move my hands. I’m sinking into a sea of hurt. A chuckle brings me crashing back to reality. The chuckle belongs to Brian, my first friend here at the firm. It’s the same chuckle he has when he’s beating me on the court. The same chuckle he had when he became my boss. Now, he’s chuckling to his water cooler audience as he describes the dragonfly tattooed just below my wife’s left breast. (Lauren Zwiernik)
C. “See you after work for drinks!” The words circled in Sam’s head like the lyric of a love song stuck in a scratch of an LP. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Drinks. He imagined the shot of whiskey searing its way down his throat and bringing the warm relief. With a shaking hand, he downed the cold water he kept on his desk. ‘Why did I take off my headphones to listen to them?’ he thought. Sam tore off “Day 1″ from his 100 Days Of Sobriety calendar and chucked it in the trash. (Irene Palatics)
D. I stood transfixed, overhearing the conversation from my hiding place in the walk-in cooler. The words “revolutionary suicide pact” jangled inside my brain. The assistant cook protested about killing babies and toddlers while our boss told her to keep quiet and start mixing the potion. I peeked out at the two arguing and hoped for a quick, silent escape. I gazed past them to a window where the teeming rain forest framed our outpost’s front gate and armed mission members patrolled under the banner flapping in the noon day breeze, proclaiming “Welcome to the People’s Temple, Jonestown.” (Judith Grout)
E. I opened the office door and there they were, my three co-workers—Amy, George and Angela. I couldn’t believe how casually they were standing there having this conversation. Although I did have to creep in a little closer to hear exactly what it was they were saying, the fact that they would openly discuss such a matter in our place of business was appalling. And here I thought I was joining a company with high class. Never would I have guessed that my co-workers would be ruining the ending of The Dark Knight Rises before I got to see it. (Micah Alexander)
For more writing exercises to spark your creativity, check out Take Ten for Writers!
Am I running out of deadline? If not, can I submit my entry?
The deadline for Your Story #44 was August 27, 2012, so, unfortunately, you cannot submit an entry. But you can view the winning entries and vote for your favorite right now. Your Story #45 is currently open to submissions; entry deadline for that contest is October 15. You can submit here.
I entered contest #44, where and when will we see winners of that contest? Thank you.
You can view the top entries and vote for your favorite on WD’s Your Story forum here. Thanks for entering!
I also failed to put my entry in single-paragraph form. Following the advice above, I will submit again!
Hi. I just submitted an entry, but I didn’t delete the indentations. However, I did mean it to be one paragraph. It’s exactly 100 words( not including the title) Is my entry still valid? If not, can I resend it without the indentations?
Yes, you may resend your entry.
thanks tiffany:D
Hi Trish.
Just wanting to clarify to dialogue vs. paragraph parameters of the contest. If the submission is 100 words or less, is it okay to break out beyond a single paragraph? For a example: a lead-in paragraph, a sentence or two bridging to dialogue, and two lines of dialogue?
Thank you for your clarification.
Wendy
You may use dialogue, but it has to be one paragraph. Therefore, you can’t break out beyond a single paragraph.
Greetings Trish.i have already submitted a story via email because your appropriate form does’nt work.When do i get to see the list of finalists?
Brand new at this and did not see the “word count limitation” for this entry.
Can someone please advise what that is? (i. e., 500 words, up to 1,000 words, etc.)
Thanks a bunch!
Trish (<:
Hello Trish,
The prompt is: Write an opening paragraph (to a story) of 100 words or fewer based on the prompt above ["A nosy man eavesdrops on his co-workers and immediately regrets it."]. So the word count limit for this contest is no more than 100, and it must be a paragraph. Good luck!
I know it says to write an opening paragraph, but is it all right to include dialogue in the opening as long as it is 100 words or less?
Yes, that is fine.
I submitted an entry under the wrong prompt. I redid the proper one but can I resubmit another entry for this one? I put my opening sentence for 43 in 44, LOL Sorry
Yes, you can resubmit. Good luck!