Creativity Exercise

[dwndrgn]

Take an ordinary inanimate object and give it a name, history and a reason for being.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I'm thinking about this one, dwndrgn. Interesting exercise.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Neat!! I have something in mind...I was playing chess with a friend on sunday, and we were short one rook, so we took a tiny laughing Buddha and used it as a replacement...perhaps I shall write the history of the piece of wood that became a Buddha figurine that became a chess-piece, and what he makes of it all....interesting...


It'll probably take me a day or two, but this has got me thinking, thanks dwndrgn!!

 

[Vodstok]

Franklin was an apple. He started off as any other apple; a small, pink blossom on a tree. But he aspired to be more than just a seed-depositer like his many siblings.

Luck was with him, one day. His desires would be realised. A person came along, and impressed with his size and color, plucked him from the tree of his birth. Franklin rejoiced at his luck. He knew now that fate would not leave him to addorn the ground beneath his first home, becoming a rancid, wrinkled, brown pile.

He experienced such a journey! The person breathed on him, then rubbed him on their shirt, bringing him to a high shine. He saw the ground move below him. He saw the sun up in the sky, clear as day, not filtered between leaves. he passed cows and other farm animals.

Than he saw the destination of the journey, He neared a house! His heart(?) soared. He had seen the domicile from afar, but never in his dreams did he think that he could actually enter it. Inside, it was cool, and smelled of wonderful smells. The person set him down on a firm plank of wood. he looked down. it had beautiful grains. it was made of several pieces of wood glued together. He had heard the term "butcher-block" once before.

His admiration of the craftsmanship captured his attention. He never noticed the knife swinging down toward him.


The first blow was fatal. He was quickly cored, split into six pieces, covered in peanut butter, and consumed.

 

[Sliverblade]

Not sure if this stick rigidly to the exercise but I'm sure you'll tell me

Ganthor tossed back and forth on his simple wooden pallet. Straw fell to the floor and he started to groan. Sweat covered his weathered face and his neatly trimmed silver beard was glistening. The Pume lay before him. Smaller than he had imagined and worn smooth by its colourful history. The dense, dull grey stone was flecked with crystal specks. It was a simple stone and suprisingly heavy for its size. It was the first stone of Kalas. Scholars believe that it once flew through the void beyond their clouds until it was heated to such a tempuratue that the force contained within it was released. Ganthor had heard the force descibed as 'nature harnessed and contained'. The small stone had spawned Kalas, the world which Ganthor called home and everything within it. It was the very first rock of this and all lands.

Ganthor's mind flew through images. The stone hurtled through blackness, there was a searing heat and then a blinding light. A dark form was momentarily illumiated but then gone. Ganthor now stood above a small Reeth. One of the oldest races of Kalas and among the simplest. The Reeth poked at the stone before picking it up and running back to its burrow deep in the jagged rocks of the Clove Monutains. Now Ganthor was following a Yilth, first amongst the elven people of Kalas, it suddenly tumbled and fell through bracken into a concealled cave. There the Yilth discovers a crystal dotted stone and when his fellows rescue him he takes the stone with him. Another shift and Ganthor watched as King Alden ordered his chief advisor to discover a cure for his beloved Jocelyn who lay in his arms. The advisor scurries to a simple round hut, damp and smoky with herbs and pots littering rickety shelves. There a hag, old and gnarled tells of the Pume and how it has the power to heal. She speaks of lands as though she had seen them and forests thicker than the eyes of any man had ever seen. Ganthor was now riding next to Kathos as he rode on the Kings quest. Suddenly Ganthor was torn from the horse and his mind swirled until a dark form snarled at him as he floated in a vast nothingness. Then, once again, he was back on what he recognised as Kalas and standing beside him was Arthur. Arthur, Iron of the West. Ganthor felt a great despair as he remembered the stories of Arthur, how he had stood against the evil in the east until he was betrayed and fell in a great battle. Ganthor knew from the scene before him that this was the very battle. Arthur ranted and held a stone that was tied around his neck.
'You were meant to bring life!'
Ganthor recognised the Pume.

Suddenly he woke. He instantly leapt from his bed and splashed cold water on his face. He knew now what he must seek if Kalas was to survive the wrath it now faced. The Pume could heal the land, but if it hadn't worked for Arthur 800 years ago, why would it work now? And where was it? Ganthor turned the page of an old manuscript lying on his cluttered desk to reveal an image of a simple, dull grey stone.
Then, suddenly, he remembered the heat.

 

[dwndrgn]

Not the original premise but definitely a very good beginning of some larger piece. You should post this over at the critiques thread and write more of it!

 

[Paige Turner]

Penny lay forlornly in the ceramic dish, watching with detachment as a lazy fly flew back and forth overhead. She’d been sharing the same living quarters with two elastic bands, a marble, two business cards, and half a roll of mints for as long as she could remember, and they were now all covered with a layer of dust. None of them were very interesting to talk to, and she felt particularly alone. Once there had been another coin, and she’d had brief hopes that they might be friends, but that coin turned out to be a stotinka, and the language barrier had been insurmountable.
She was suddenly dazzled as the hallway door opened, and sunlight streamed in. She heard the familiar sound of the keys landing on the countertop. Suddenly and with some violence, something substantial landed in the dish beside her. The mints grumbled briefly and went back to sleep, and the marble rolled to the other side of the dish and stopped, rocking gently. Penny found herself looking into the eyes of a mysterious silver coin. He was smiling broadly, and she jumped when he spoke.
“Hey, doll face, how’s tricks?”
Penny was too stunned to speak.
“‘Sa matter, kid? Cat got your tongue? I’m Nick.”
“P-Penny,” she managed.
“Nice to meet ya, Puh-Penny,” he boomed, taking in his new surroundings, “Nice place you got here.”
“It’s just Penny,” she said, composing herself, “I’m sorry, you are…?”
“Nick, like I said. Wow, what a place. You been here long?” He turned to address the elastic bands. “Hey, boys, how’s it going?” No response. “Yo, Stretch! I say How’s it going, there?” The elastic bands stirred briefly, and were still again. “Huh. Friendly place.” He turned his attention back to Penny. “So, what do you do for fun around here?”
“Where, uh, where did you come from?” Penny ventured, starting to feel a bit less apprehensive.
“Where did I come from? Jeez, where haven’t I been? Woke up this morning in some cash register in a pet store. Hanging out with my buddies, there, we always have a good time. You know what they say, eh? Quarters get the glory, nickels get the girls! Hah! Got picked up, spent some time in a pocket with a few guys—one of ‘em Canadian, you believe that? Long way from home. Then I got tossed onto the counter of a newspaper booth, barely had time to say hello, and whoosh, I’m gone again. A wallet in a purse, I think, judging by the smell. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Hah! You can do a lot worse, am I right?” He waited for Penny’s response. It was not forthcoming. “Anyways, then it’s out again and onto the glass countertop of some drug store, some old lady counting us out one by one. Jeez, makes you feel pretty conspicuous. Hung out there for a while, ran into a guy I used to know back in the roll at the bank. What are the odds of that? Anyways, got scooped out of there, spent some time in a pocket with some condoms, of all things. A lot of guys, you know, don’t approve of that kind of thing, but I’m saying live and let live, right? Then it’s back here, and boom! Dropped off in downtown dullsville. No offense.”
Penny was winded just listening.
“So, doll face, when do we get outta here?”
Penny’s brow furrowed. “Out of here? What do you mean?”
“You know, out of here. Out into the world. Go places, meet people, have a few laughs. You know, out.
“We don’t go anywhere,” said Penny, and it was true. She couldn’t remember how long she’d been in the dish, but she couldn’t really remember ever being anywhere else.
“Don’t go anywhere?” Penny was jarred from her thoughts. “Don’t go anywhere? Are you kiddin’? You stick with me, kid. I got a plan.”

 

[mosaix]

The knife, known by its current owner simply as ‘friend’, was stained by its history.

It was etched with acids from apples in a cook’s kitchen, engrained with carbon from a schoolboy’s pencil and smeared with sap from a carver’s whittling.

And now it bore the marks of rust red juices and nick of bone from a torturer’s arduous labours.

[FONT=&quot]It was the best at what it did. [/FONT]

 

[ray gower]

From of the Earths' ore they forged me, wrought me,
For I am Billy the new nail, the shoe nail.

Watch the blacksmith hit me, strike me,
For I am Billy the used nail, the abused nail.

This is the King's horse that wore me, sored me,
For I am Billy the humble nail, the worn nail.

That was the King who needed me, discarded me,
For I am Billy the forsaken nail, the failed nail.

There was the Kingdom that destroyed me, betrayed me,
For I am Billy the treacherous nail, the vengeful nail.

The Earth has accepted me, welcomed me,
For I am Billy the returned nail, the prodical nail.

 

[Aes]

Dandy was just an average weed who spent his days, enjoying the sunlight and fresh air alongside his lifelong friends, Daisy, and Clovis. The three friends shared the field that was their home with countless other plants, as well as a myriad of insects, birds, and small rodents that were always zipping about.

"What a nice day, wouldn't you all agree?" Dandy leaned back a bit with the wind, taking in the warm, nourishing radiance of the sun. "Not a cloud in the sky, and oh my, this breeze is something else."

"Indeed it is, my friend, "chuckled Clovis." I should be able to make quite a bit of ground today."

"What about you, Daisy?" She just stood there, a joyous smile across her face as a fuzzy, plump bumblebee landed on her petals. "Oh congratulations, you're going to be a mother!"

The summertime revelry the three friends were sharing came crashing to a halt, as a faint rumble echoed across the grassland. Not long after, the sound of something breaking was heard, and without warning, Daisy's bee quickly darted away. The sound drew closer and closer, until the source of the sounds stood towering above them. It let forth a loud, bellowing mooooo before snatching away Dandy and the grass around him in its gaping maw.

"Dandy, no!" Daisy cried at the violent act commited against her close friend. Clovis just sat there, dazed, as the behemoth trampled him beneath its mighty hooves as it lumbered off.

Dandy was thrown back and forth within the creature's mouth for several minutes before he was forced down, deep into the hungering center of the ferocious beast. He landed in a foul lake which, to his horror, seemed to be dissolving his body right before his eyes. His once-beautiful golden petals began to wilt as his once-strong stem began to grow soft, and lose cohesion.

"Is this the end?" He looked about, terrified of this hostile, alien enviornment. "Am I going to die in this foul place?"

Just when Dandy thought it was over, his withered body was hurled into a twisting and winding labyrinth, where he felt his very life energy and nutrients being drained away. He began to panic as his body grew softer and softer. The withered remains of what was once grass and other plants began to mix with his own body, and he began to feel a change taking place. His movement within the tunnels became slower and slower, until finally coming to a halt at what appeared to be a dead end.

For the next few hours, Dandy rode around inside the beast, until finally, he felt it stop and stoop over slightly. Without warning, a tremendous force struck him from behind with enough power to push him through what he had believed to be a dead end. He fell several feet, hitting the ground with a nice, healthy splat. Finally, Dandy was free!

He looked around, and was overjoyed to see his two friends close by. Relieved, he shouted over to them.

"Daisy! Clovis! I'm back!"

"Who...are you?" The other two did not recognize that which had addressed them.

"It's me, Dandy! I made it out of that monster, and we can all be together again!"

 

[BookStop]

Penny lay forlornly in the ceramic dish, watching with detachment as a lazy fly flew back and forth overhead. She’d been sharing the same living quarters with two elastic bands, a marble, two business cards, and half a roll of mints for as long as she could remember, and they were now all covered with a layer of dust. None of them were very interesting to talk to, and she felt particularly alone. Once there had been another coin, and she’d had brief hopes that they might be friends, but that coin turned out to be a stotinka, and the language barrier had been insurmountable.

Paige - you always have the most interesting posts - I enjoyed your short, and may never lok at coins the same way again.

 

[Jesabelle]

Hi, I'm a complete newy to this and I thought it might be a good way of seeing what people think of my writing. There are probably grammatical errors a plenty (I've been reading the last line over and over and still can't decide whether it makes sense!), any feedback would be greatly appreciated. By the way, Ray Gower, yours was really interesting. I enjoyed! Anyway, here goes...

The wind caresses the lines and creases that mark His age. He's seen many a day such as this before, skies so clear one could catch a glimpse of heaven, coupled with a crisp, biting breeze. These were His favourites as the wind would whip and whirl Him around, teasing Him with the idea of freedom, a feeling he so rarely experienced. He can feel the smoother, younger bodies of those around Him brushing against His dry, worn exterior. But then it changes. The wind becomes wilder, a beast of nature, leaving a terrible sense of foreboding in the depths of His soul. The wind creeps up on Him like a cruel bully, pounding Him to and fro until finally it delivers its last crippling blow. He grasps. He cannot hold on. He is dislodged from the vessel that sustained Him through life, destined to embark on a journey yet unknown. All is still, leaving only Him and the wind to dance one last, desperate tango until it carries Him in a gentle embrace to a soft, fragrant bed.

Days pass and still He lies amongst the others, a meagre shadow of his former self with a view of those for whom his sacrifice has given life.

 

[Saltheart]

When Pit rolled by, Lily was very pleased.

She had spent most of her life alone in the field, surrouded by nothing intelligent except silly old grasses, wild weeds, and irratating bees who would buzz by and steal her gold from time to time, and who never even bothered to say "Thank you"! And sometimes when the butterflies came, the roses across the lot would put on their most alluring dresses--dresses Lily couldn't afford, thanks to the buzzards--and they would go to them instead. Lily was very lonely, because there were no other flowers nearby.

So when Pit came, she was very pleased, and said," Hello there! Where do you come from?"

And Pit, still dazed from all the spinning as he stopped rolling, said, "No! Please don't eat me!" for he thought that she was one of those hoo-mans, those wicked, wicked things.

"Eat you? Dear me, no! Why would I eat you. I'm just a flower!"

And Pit, once his eyes cleared, had a good laugh, and Lily did too; and they since became the best of friends.

They spent the whole summer and autumn together, doing things which friends do best, and having fun the whole time; and when winter came, Pit was deep in the ground and pregnant with their child, and their friendship was to become marriage for they had fallen in love.

Then Lily died.

 

[SpaceShip]

From of the Earths' ore they forged me, wrought me,
For I am Billy the new nail, the shoe nail.

Watch the blacksmith hit me, strike me,
For I am Billy the used nail, the abused nail.

This is the King's horse that wore me, sored me,
For I am Billy the humble nail, the worn nail.

That was the King who needed me, discarded me,
For I am Billy the forsaken nail, the failed nail.

There was the Kingdom that destroyed me, betrayed me,
For I am Billy the treacherous nail, the vengeful nail.

The Earth has accepted me, welcomed me,
For I am Billy the returned nail, the prodical nail.

All alone now!
Billy-no-mates.

 

[Gav]

Take an ordinary inanimate object and give it a name, history and a reason for being.

hmmm


Ko sat in his Place and dreamed. Like the millions of others, he had all the time he would ever need. He had the long slow dreams of his kind: deep, peaceful; memories which rose or fell as the Place flickered between warm and cool. Occasionally he was stirred and then he got angry. It was at times like this that Ko changed. He would find himself in new places, surrounded by new-others who were always the same yet different, renewed.

Not now. Now was the time of sleep.

 

[dwndrgn]

You've got me - I have no idea what your object is. At first I thought it was a penny in a wishing well but that isn't right.

More hints maybe?

 

[Gav]

Hey dwndrgn, I've pm'd you - as I assume your last comment was to do with what I had written?

I've written another piece today (inspired as I checked into this forum for the first time in ages):

I wasn't as I am now y'know. I was once young and new. I played amongst my peers where my presence shouted to all, "Look at me! Look at me!" And then the storm came.
I was removed from my friends, removed from my place, allowed to flutter, allowed to assume the state in which you find me. Torn and bedraggled I lie forgotten in a corner. I will be Great again - you will see; people will look at me and remember my name.

 

[Saolta Oiche]

My name is Figgie,
I am the bank that's a piggy.
I came from BHS,
A place full of stress.

I got a new home,
I met Earl the Garden Gnome,
He is a door stop,
For the garage with the fizzy pop.

But to cut this short,
And you'll see I'm distraught.
I was knocked from the shelf,
And spilt all my weath.

I am over here and yonder,
Broken asunder.
Oh pity me please,
As you watch them sweep me away with heartless ease.

 

[Leaf Face]

People are always looking at me when they walk in the house. “What an interesting picture,” they say. I have never seen myself, but from what I hear I am a close-up photo of a horse’s face, showing just one eye. I don’t even know what color the horse is.
There is one person, Kim, who comes here and when my owner Jackie goes out of the room, she will walk over to the wall I’m on and stare at me. It makes me a little uncomfortable to be examined like that. When she hears Jackie returning, she dashes to the couch and pretends she wasn’t looking at me.
She is here today, and sneaks little glances at me while she talks to Jackie. They don’t usually talk about anything interesting, but today Jackie asks her if the new medicine has stopped her hands from shaking yet. Kim says it seems nothing will do that.
My owner looks over her shoulder at me. She doesn’t look at me as often as she used to, but now her green eyes are curious, really seeing me for the first time in years. She says, “You can have it back if you want.”
Kim looks down at her hands and says, “Some day I will take another one for myself.”

 

[Quokka]

It would never know the names it had been given as it tumbled through the universe and CN-121276 was as irrelevant to it as any of the titles bestowed upon it, unasked for, by equally irrelevant beings.

It knew it wouldn’t return now, after all the eons traveled the path before it was known with that same certainty that it held for the trail left behind. Still it ached with longing as it passed by its kin once more. Feeling them grow more distant as they huddled together beneath strange ethereal substances, coating them so lightly that they appeared to beg for existence in that insubstantial place between his kin and nothing.

It had never known the completeness of its kin’s embrace even though they had grown together out of confusion and mist. Constanly circling and weaving, maturing into substance, as their purpose unfolded amongst them.

Then there had been a meeting, not a collision, not an ending merely the briefest of touches, a diversion as had happened time and time before but that touch had felt unwanted... unneeded and then there came a new sensation, a wrong sensation, no longer was it moving in time with its kin. It was leaving.

Now after eons of traveling through loneliness, each slight half-felt moment near its kin paid for with emptiness past the meaning of a word. This time there would be but one final path, such an incredibly short path and then it would not pass, not leave but finally reach, home.