Crunch: The Castle
Writing Exercise #2
This one is from allllll the way back in November after I declared I wouldn’t write in December, and inspired by a tiny castle in Texas shared by
.BEFORE we get to the story: Last week, I made a big faux-pas by not reintroducing myself and these exercises for new readers. Welcome to Gibberish! I am Scoot, and I write mostly Science Fiction at this newsletter. I am currently winding down a serial, DUEL, a sci-fi detective thriller! I am currently winding up a serial, The Selected Letters of Armin R. Tolor, a character-drama set in my sci-fi universe. Weekly, on Tuesdays, you will find this: Writing exercises, in the Writing Gym. These Writing Exercises take inspiration from actual exercises. A Crunch is a 250 word story, a Stretch is a 500 word story, a Sprint is to write for 5 minutes, a Relay is to “receive the baton” of the first line, and finish the story. A Prompt is basically a free-write on a prompt. New this year, I have introduced Fables which are retellings of Aesops Fables. I am trying to become a better writer, and to do that I need to write a lot and get a lot of feedback. Please—in the comments, consider this an open invitation to tell me what you liked, what you didn’t. Tell me every little error you found, and every little detail that brought you Joy! Your feedback helps me a lot, and it has been incredible already to lookback after a year of writing and see how far I’ve come with your help! Thank you for reading!
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 Newman’s Castle
“So, I’ll be honest with you,” The realtor shifted uncomfortably on her feet. “This next neighborhood is…an acquired taste. But it is in the area you’re looking, and the homes are cheaper.”
Clem stole a knowing glance at his wife, Tara. “Not going to give us the realtor spiel about it being a quaint neighborhood with a fun atmosphere?”
“Uh, there’s really no way to spin this. If I was the listing agent I might have a different spin for you, but as it is—seeing is believing.”
They drove 15 minutes to the neighborhood. It was a gated community—but the gate looked more like a drawbridge.
The homes were normal looking for the most part, and then—they saw it.
A CASTLE. And across the street, ANOTHER castle. There were little trebuchets and scorpions set up along the walls. The right-neighbor’s window had a rock lodged in the window.
They drove slowly past, staring as they went.
They followed the realtor past and through the neighborhood, wending their way to the home that’s for sale.
Clem turned to his wife, his wife turned to him.
Simultaneously, he said, “I love it,” and she said, “I hate it.”
The realtor eventually pulled into a driveway. Clem and Tara pulled in behind her, and got out to follow her into the house.
“How much for the Kings Castle?” Clem asked.
“If it was for sale I’d be able to tell you.”
“How big is this property?”
“NO.” Tara said, laughing.
(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:
If money were no object, would you turn your property into a castle?
Have you ever been to a castle?
What would you serve guests that visited your castle home?
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!
My husband calls it stalking, but one of my favorite thing to do is get on Google Maps and poke around the UK for castles. Then I go read up on them in Wikipedia or their website. Castles have definitely been an inspiration in some of my stories that I've written.
Tons of story packed in to 250 word, well done. I always find below 300 to be a hard limit to meet - I'll be at 200, and suddenly decide I need more description, or another bit of dialogue. It's a challenge, but i thought you did a great job, especially with the mysterious setup, and the payoff in the last 3-4 lines.