Crunch: The Scroll
Writing Exercise #24
This one was inspired by
who suggested a variation on the Time Travel theme with this one. I think he had another idea but I took it a different direction.If you have ideas for Prompts, Crunches, Sprints, Relays, 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 time travel but you can’t affect anything and nobody knows you’re there.
“Whoa, are you ok?” Harold caught Jim as he materialized in the time machine and slumped forward. “Greg come help me! Greg!” Harold shouted in a panic.
“Oh man what happened to him!” Greg rushed in and grabbed his other arm. They pulled Jim through and found a place to lay him down.
“We can’t just leave him here, that crazy scientist is going to come back!”
“How are we going to get him out, huh Harold? This was a bad idea, oh man, oh man this was a bad idea.”
“Shut UP Greg just help me! His eyes are open but he’s not responding to me.”
Jim’s eyes were open but he was clearly not present. Harold felt his hands, and he felt cold—but his pulse was racing.
“Greg do you know where he went?”
“No, shoot, I wasn’t paying attention man!”
“Well where did you go?”
“Ancient Egypt! I saw the Pyramids being built, I heard the language of the Egyptians. Where did you go?”
“I went to 1914, I watched the Duke get shot.”
“Where did he go? Jim, where did you go? What did you see?”
A noise came faintly from Jim’s mouth.
“You hear that? It’s Jim!”
They paused in the hallway. “Jim you ok? Where did you go?”
“F…f…..forward.”
“Forward? How far forward did you go?”
“uh….uh……all the way.”
“What do you mean, all the way? What did you see?”
“Stars….the stars…”
“What about the stars?”
“They rolled up like a scroll…”
(249 words)
The Promptee Has Become The Promptor
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:
Where would you go if you had a time machine but you knew you couldn’t be seen by anyone or affect anything? You’d just be a time-ghost watching people live their lives!
What is the most personally challenging book or verse of scripture?
If a food could be named after you, what would it be?
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy! Come back next week for another writing exercise!
Hey, before you go—have you read my recently published Serial, SANDBOX EARTH yet? You can buy a hardcopy too! Check it out at the link!
God bless!
If I had a time machine, I'd go to July 2, 1776, and listen to John Adams' speech making the case for American independence; apparently everyone was so enraptured by the speech that they forgot to take notes. I've always liked Adams, and David McCullough called it the greatest speech of his life. I'd kinda want to hear that.
Fun story! Thank you.
My most challenging book is a hybrid spirituality/self-development book called Concentration. The first half is the author's thoughts on meditation and Eastern spiritual practices - easy enough - but the second half is a serious of increasingly difficult concentration building exercises. I've never made it past the 3rd exercise.