Today I share with you a Sprint!
In the Writing Gym, a Sprint is an exercise where I take a prompt and have 60 seconds to think about my idea and 5 minutes to write as much as I can—if the alarm goes off mid-thought I have to stop!
If you have ideas for Prompts, Crunches, Sprints, or other writing exercises in the future, please leave them in the comments! If you would like to write your own take for this Sprint, 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!
Sprint: Write about a character at their lowest point.
His legs carried him up the stairs. He was numb—it was like he was floating above his body and his body was operating on its own. He couldn’t believe it. After all these years, he thought. All these years, wasted.
He made it to the top of the staircase and pushed the steel door open. He was immediately met with a gust of icy wind and droplets of rain. But—he didn’t feel any of that. After all these years, he thought.
He walked with cold determination to the edge of the building. He was on the roof of a 48-floor tower. It was early evening, the sun was hidden by clouds so it felt later than it really was. The sky was dark and ominous. Above him, darkness—below him was light, distracted business of a crowded street.
“You’re not going to do that.” A voice said.
He turned around—it was a glowing man, dressed funny. “W-what do you mean?”
“You’re not going to jump.” he said.
He scoffed. After all these years.
“After all these years, what? Finish the sentence, John” the strange man said.
“Who are you?” John balled his fists—he was getting frustrated. None of this was how his evening was supposed to go. “Leave me alone!”
“No.” The strange, glowing man sat down casually on the ledge, crossed his arms, and smiled. John wanted to punch him.
“Tell me who you are.”
“Ok, come over here, I’ll tell you.”
“Don’t play games with me. I’m done with games. I’m tired of games.”
“Me too. Come here.” His voice was different this time—stronger, he was—
(5 minutes)
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy! Come back next week for another writing exercise!
God bless!