auxilary Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Rebecca and Gary English 44A Creative Writing Prof Miller In-class Assignment for Wednesday Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first paragraph of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to reread what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached. * * * * * * At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The camomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked camomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So camomile was out of the question. Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit. He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth — when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully. Little did she know, but she has less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion which vaporized Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of the sky!" This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic, semi-literate adolescent. Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. You total bastard. Stupid cunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Oh my god, that was GREAT! Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4... I knew it was going to be worth the read when I saw this after her paragraph. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 that is pretty damn funny.. sounds like my friend in highschool.. he wrote stories like this, SO FUNNY! great find like always Aux.. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 lol! that was great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BigWhyteDude Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 thanks, Aux, i needed a laugh Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I think this is a fairly common exercise in high school. My brother's English class did these kinds of things with hilarious results This was a great read--thanks, Aux! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VRJoe Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Thanks, I needed that - Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Excellent. A good laugh to start off the day. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-REX Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 hahahahaha!!!! we used to do those in my creative writing classes. they can really go either way... one i did ended up much like this with an added shouting match. one other got me a date for that friday... oh, the power of the written word!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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