Challenge accepted.
Okay, in truth, I didn't read all 500. Sorry. I read a bunch, though. I read until I found a line that sparked a full-fledged idear and I went with it.
I'm what's called a "pantser" in the writing community. I don't outline what I'm going to write in advance, I just sit down and put those crazy ramblings in my brain down on digital paper. In other words, I write by the seat of my pants. Sometimes, if the ramblings aren't too incoherent, a story can be carved out of that. Which is why I like this exercise so much--it challenges me to write a complete story in a single sitting, edit it, and immediately put it out for the public to shame and tear to pieces.
Anywho, I chose a line written by George Kaltsios. I need to thank George for writing an intriguing sentence--"Try as he might, the Postman could not stop looking through the keyhole." It certainly captured my imagination.
And, as always, thanks for reading!
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Postman
by JC Hemphill
Try as he might, the Postman could not stop looking through the
keyhole.
The house, a
two-story Tudor set back unusually far from the road and hidden behind an
overgrown jungle of fragrant weeds and unkempt bushes, carried many legends that were known to him. Home
to the deranged, the grotesque, the unwanted, 2211 South Bend represented the
debauched fringes of human imagination, the details of which were as
multifaceted as the locals professing its history. The house was haunted,
people whispered, citing the dozens of murders and rumors of murders that had
occurred beneath its thatched roof. Some claimed it was home to succubi. Or vampires.
Or constructed with the bones of missing children.
But one thing was
clear to all who viewed the house--this entity belonged to a darker age. Modern
man had no claim here.
