A Difficult Topic

Not exactly a "sagging cabin..."



As I mentioned, I took part in a 24-hour Short Story contest over the weekend. We were emailed this topic and had 24 hours to write a 925-word story:

She was standing on the porch of a sagging cabin with bright
yellow leaves collecting around her feet. As the cold wind
billowed her skirt, she shivered and wondered if the owner
of the purse really lived here. She knocked timidly and the
door quickly opened, revealing a tiny girl holding a
hideous, bald doll...

I found this writing prompt very difficult. As always, Angela at WritersWeekly.com cautioned writers not to use the first topic that came to mind. She encouraged us to think outside the box. I heeded her words because I know that the first thing that comes to my mind is likely to be the first thing that came to the minds of many others. Or maybe not. Here are the ideas that came to my mind first:

• The purse would be an expensive designer bag that seemed in sharp contrast to the sagging cabin.
• The purse belonged to the girl and it was full of things she shouldn't have, like stolen goods, a big wad of money, or a gun.
• My daughter thought the purse should contain airline tickets and passports. I almost went with this storyline.

But then, my daughter and I brainstormed some more and we came up with a storyline that didn't center on the purse much at all. I won't share my story here until the contest results are in. But I'm happy with what I came up with.

Stay tuned.