(What If? Exercise: Read the description here.)
The archery competition was to be held in the village.
The grand prize: ten thousand coins and a kiss.
He was only here to win the latter.
He’d loved the lord’s daughter since childhood.
Secretly, she prayed for his victory.
He drew his bow steadily.
His arrow flew straight.
The maiden smiled.
True shot.
This piece is based on What If? Exercise 93: “Ten to One”. The exercise is to write a 55-word story in which the first sentence has ten words, the second has nine, etc., until the last sentence has only one word. The objective is to show that precision and thrift in writing can produce surprisingly powerful results. I hope you enjoy what I’ve written. Thanks for reading!
Let’s see if I can a 10 to 1…
At the office with a crumbled up piece of paper
In the other cubicle is a waster paper basket
It’s kind of far, may miss the shot
But not that far, it’s doable
Raising the crumble paper wad
Seeing its travel arc
Aim for it
He shoots
Missed! :-O
First time writing one of these 🙂
Ooops! I forgot seven. Here it is:
Or it may ricochet and hit Tom
Haha, well done! This is one of my favorite writing exercises; so many possibilities! Loved your story! Thanks for sharing! 🙂