I.... have a secret.
I am a big ol' lazy pants. The biggest lazy pants.
When I walk down the street people say, "Wow that is a big pair of pants. It looks pretty lazy."
I am a big ol' lazy pants and I am ashamed. So ashamed.
I never finish anything I write. Ever.
But not anymore! At least not so much!
I'm challenging myself to write one complete thing, everyday, for a year. I'll be posting my progress here.
Root for me, yeah?
Here are the rules for anybody who wants to do this with me~ Also so I can't cop out and change the rules when things get tough...
If you want to switch up the rules a bit so it'll work better for you feel free!
•What is a day?
A day is the period between you get up and go to sleep. So if you get up at 9 pm you don't have until midnight to finish, you have until your day is finished and you go back to sleep. Naps do not count so feel free to take as many as you want.
•What do you mean by complete?
You just have to consider it complete. If you feel like there should be more, it isn't complete. Complete doesn't mean all the questions are answered, you just have to consider it over.
•How long does it have to be?
Long enough for you to finish it.
•Can I use prompts?
Prompts are highly encouraged! Post them with your piece along with any brainstorming wrote down. Place those in a spoiler tag.
•What if I was too busy to finish?
That's alright so long as you were legitimately too busy to finish. No pretending you had things going on just because you forgot. On busy days going back and editing a previous piece and posting the revised version is acceptable.
Constructive comments and discussion are highly encouraged! Feel free to speak up about things you liked or disliked or thoughts you had on the piece!
However, something to keep in mind while commenting is that since the goal is to finish as quickly as possible a lot of this will be very rough and unedited. Constructive criticism is always appreciated but please don't tear me apart too badly.
indentThis... was not what she expected to be greeted with when she died. The cold? Yes. The mist? Yes. The skeletal reaper? Yes. indentThe bike? No. She had not expected the bicycle. The reaper had pulled up to her driveway on the bike, his robes knotted up around his femurs away from the tires, and rang the little bell affixed to the handles. He gestured to the basket behind him. The ghost jerked forward, then back, feet caught between her instinct to obey the reaper and her confusion. indent“I have come for you.” The reaper said in response. He stretched his bony hand out to her. “It is your time.” indent“Oh.” She managed. He patted the basket invitingly. “Oh.” She said again. The ghost didn’t know what to say. A lot of questions came to mind but none of them seemed particularly polite. The reaper started tapping the toe of his bright yellow sneaker against the ground. indent“Nina. Get in the basket.” He ordered. Nina shuffled forward, clearly suspicious of her ability to fit comfortably inside the basket. It was large, sure, and had handles on the sides and a cushion on the bottom to protect passengers against the metal, but it was a basket. She cautiously tested her weight against it, checking to see if the bike would tip as soon as she started to climb it. The reaper tapped his fingers against the handlebar while waiting for her. indentNina climbed in and tucked her feet underneath herself. She was relieved to note that there was a safety belt inside and fastened it around her hips and over her legs. indent“Are you ready?” He turned back to look at her. She hesitated before shaking her head ‘no’. indent“I have some questions.” indent“Ask me on the way there.” She could almost hear him rolling his eyes from the tone alone. If he had eyes.
indentAs unexpected as the bike was, it was a rather pleasant way to be taken away. The air was crisp and the scenery was lovely. When Nina finally felt comfortable enough to not fear the bike falling over she asked why the reaper picked her up on a bike. Some sort of bureaucratic money saving thing? indent“Naw,” the reaper replied, “My doctor says I need to get more exercise.” indent“Oh.” Nina agreed. He definitely needed to get more exercise. When they were going up a hill later Nina had felt a bit bad. The reaper had been huffing and puffing a lot for a skeleton. If he had skin he probably would have been sweating up a storm. Nina had offered to get out and walk up the hill but the offer had only offended him. When they reached the top he pulled a water bottle out of his robe, took a hearty gulp, then splashed some on his skull. indent“Skeletons overheat?” indent“Everyone can overheat.” indent“Huh.”
indent“I like the bike.” Nina commented. She had converted from gripping the handlebars to wrapping her hands around the reaper’s waist (she felt more secure that way) a while ago. indent“Yeah, so do I. I still miss my car though.” indent“I think I’d prefer the bike.” She mumbled. The ghost rested her head against his back. It really was a pleasant surprise.
Prompt/Brainstorming
Challenge: combine two things that don’t normally go together
psychic dog? frog whisperer? guy talks to plants? superhero who wants plastic surgery? death rides a bicycle?
death train is actually a bicycle with a basket. the grim reaper pedals you to the other world. he has a classic outfit (dark robe, skeleton) but his robe rides up comically when he rides the bike.
why the bike? budget cuts? he just likes it? that’s the way it’s always been? he’s trying to lose weight? why would it be a train? why is death riding a bicycle???? i’m going to look up information on bike snobs
what do bike tires sound like?
character will die and rise up from the ground all ghosty n s**t and the area will get all foggy and they’ll see a soft light in the distance
they’ll begin to wonder if it’s the death train coming for them, but as it gets closer and closer it stays very quiet until they can hear the soft whirring of wheels and then CHIME CHIME a bike bell
death will skid to a halt, robe hiked up exposing a bone calf, and motion for the character to get in the bike basket
how would somebody react to that? develop the character more
it would be funny to have death ride the bike with his butt all up in the air and him huffing and puffing n stuff that is comedy gold
ok so death is definitely on a health kick
100
