Stories: In Ten Words

Being that the bus is incapacitated and unable to travel, I find myself living at my home away from home: the Dodd’s house. Now, my family has known the Dodd family from before we went into travelling evangelism almost 20 years ago. This house is one of my all time favorite places to be; you never can tell what’s going to happen here. The day before yesterday, for instance: Guy, the Dodd’s cousin, was having a conversation with Bethanie, their youngest child. He told me about it in a conversation that took place yesterday, which looked something like this:

“I just totally made this game up yesterday with Bethany, while the other boys were playing. She loves to tell stories, but they’re always really long. So, I said ‘Hey, lets try this. See if you can tell a story in ten words.'”.

So, the objective of the game is to tell a story in exactly ten word?

Well, I let the younger kids do ten words or less. But, yes: ten words.

So, I learned a new game yesterday! It’s a ton of fun and I thought I’d share it with all of you. I think it would make a great holiday game when you have all of those relatives over and you don’t know what to do with them. Here are a few of the ones we thought of yesterday afternoon. They started out simple, but ended up getting very complex and interesting. The entire family got involved.

Samuel: Once there was a girl named Abby, she passed tests.

Benjamin: Once Abby got married to…(unfinished story due to content issue: Censored.)

Guy: The paintings in my house come to life at night.

Jared: I wish that I could say all of my story.

Guy: The people ate fuzzy mushrooms for breakfast, and then died.

Guy: I looked in the mouth of my uncle’s gift horse.

Stephen: I found the antidote, but it was far too late.

Kevin: I saw a fish, caught it, then let it go.

Guy: My flashing antenna sensors blink when I fall in love.

Jared: They were trapped inside then found a secret door.

Stephen: There is a mild design flaw to the saber’s holstering mechanism.

Guy: Farewell, my dear captain, sometimes the ship goes down alone.

Bethanie: Once there was a girl playing the violin very prettily.

Guy: Far too many cards fall under tables while playing games.

Jared: The glasses sit abandoned for their drinkers are in jail.

Bethanie: I just pinched my finger in the piano’s black keys.

Guy: My wife abandoned kids and me. Count it all joy.

Jared: Dog are dogs no matter what the government tells us.

Isabel: This is a star. It’s a decoration, and a camera.

Teri: And then there were none left to continue the quest.

Bethanie: It’s a mask that looks I am wearing glasses.

Stephen: When they fell, I knew that hope had fallen too.

Guy: Tomorrow. We will ride. The sun may not arise. Apocalypse.

Savannah: So there they were, each left to his own adventure.

Jared: A picture is worth a thousand words. Prices may vary.

Guy: I haven’t had inspiration at all today; too many distractions.

Josh: A man hit Somebody. Somebody’s friend hit him right back.

Guy: Jesus paid it all, I owe it all to Him.

Jared: Clock: the noise a clock makes when it hits you.

Guy: “I need a holiday,” he said, wiping off another’s blood.

Jared: Stop watch! Don’t move! You will be put in timeout.

Brittanie: Smiling, the dog jumped, leaped, frolicked, and ate the bone.

Jared: The last living human hears a knock at the door.

Guy: I’m afraid of falling, but I cannot find a floor.

Jared: I didn’t shoot him, he shot me, then I died.

You can even try variations of this game and split a single story between multiple people. Here are examples of myself and Guy each contributing five words chunks to a single story, and also taking turns adding one word each, respectively. After that, things just got crazy when Guy and I built 1 single story out of multiple ten words stories.

Jared, Guy: Ten thousand gleaming blades raised, they shouted with frenzied pleasure.

Guy, Jared: Many times our minds fill with wicked intentions. We sin.

Guy: Light-years apart, the star-crossed lovers dedicated themselves to galactic exploration.

Jared: How did they meet? Is there a cosmic postal system.

Guy: No, but antenna sensors can communicate telepathically across solar systems.

Jared: Sadly the majority of long-distance relationships are doomed to failure.

Guy: However, they are so in love, they will fight forever.

Jared: Nevertheless, the light-years between them alienated them from each other.

Guy: So, he built a Hoverbird and flew to her system.

Jared: Their love grew. The two often flew their starships together.

Guy: Eventually, their union in matrimony created problems of planetary proportions.

Jared: She left to parts unexplored, his starship went down alone.

TA-DA! There you have it. Stories: in ten words.

As always, thanks for reading.

—the anonymous novelist