Crunch: The Architect
Writing Exercise #27
I’m behind in all sorts of ways. PLEASE NOTE: I have been trying to publish flash fiction on a biweekly schedule—it’s not happening this week. I’m going to have to change this to a once-monthly schedule. I was lucky so far because I had a handful of projects half written already, but taking something from zero-to-edited is much harder and needs much more time. Thank you for bearing with me through the shakeup!
If you have ideas for Prompts, Crunches, Sprints, Relays, Stretches, Fables, or other writing exercises in the future, please leave them in the comments! If you would like to write your own take for this exercise, please comment with a link so that I can see what you wrote and support your work, maybe even share your version with my subscribers. Please let me know if you have any thoughts, comments, or constructive criticisms as well!
Enjoy!
Crunch: Write about an Architect
Two things stuck out to me on the space-elevator ride down to the surface.
First: How small the city looked. This was common, as new colonies frequently take a long time to grow. The ‘concentric ring’ design was standard practice. You could almost tell the age of the city by how far it had sprawled beyond that concentric ring system. This one was clearly very young.
Second: How big that tower was a few miles beyond the city. It looked almost as big as a colony ship, did they really build that thing after they landed?
“Excuse me,” I turned to my traveling companion, a local who received me when I stepped off the Hyperspace Ferry. “What’s that tower, there?”
He smiled, coyly. “That’s what we’ve hired you to come and inspect.”
He wasn’t kidding. I was whisked off to the tower right away, by the time we arrived the sun was fading, painting the façade of the tower with reds and oranges.
“What can you tell us about it, just by looking?”
“Well it’s massive—so it’s got to have a massive foundation, maybe underground. How deep does it go? If I was building something like this I’d have a central column with supports every ten floors. The…exterior is quite sophisticated, is this carved? I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never heard of a colony building such a thing as soon as they arrived.”
The man rubbed his chin, amused, “Well, that’s the thing,” he said. “They didn’t.”
(250 words)
Talk to me!
Your feedback helps to improve my writing. I would really appreciate a comment on your thoughts on this writing exercise. Consider telling me your thoughts about:
What’s your favorite building?
Do you like architecture?
Have you seen any of the wonders of the world?
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy! Come back next week for another writing exercise!
Have you taken a look at the section called “The Volume” recently? All my longer-form stories are kept there! Be sure to take a look and catch up on any stories you’ve missed!
Thank you and God bless!
1. This is a super tough question. From Cathedrals to skyscrapers to bridges, there are too many choices, lol.
2. I love architecture. If I could re-do my higher education, I wouldn't mind majoring in architecture.
3. Apparently, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum is considered wonders of the world, so the answer is yes.
I'd actually love to see more of this story if you ever consider adding to it. What's in the tower?