A drabble is simple: it's a story told in one hundred words. Okay, maybe that's not so simple. Anyway, this is my challenge: (It does not need to start on any given day; do it when you want to.)

Write three drabbles: (One hundred words, plus fifteen max. for titles and subtitles. Hyphenated words are permitted.)

A drabble in the first person. (So, the narrator is the MC.)

A drabble told in the third person. (The narrator is not a participant in the events.)

A drabble with no people in it. (So, you tell the story of a place or object. People can be implied, but not directly involved.)

I'll submit mine soon.

You have been challenged.

The gauntlets been thrown down,
The challenge begins,
you compete not 'gainst others,
but 'gainst the editor within.

Here's an example:

To the Onlie Begetter, Mr W. H. by Ray Girvan

"Hey, Will, dear heart," said William Shakespeare's friend,
"Methinks to pen a Drabble's all the rage.
Fourscore and twenty words, from start to end;
Far preferable to hacking for the stage."
A sonnet Shakespeare thought the simplest way,
"Just fourteen lines: a momentary chore.
'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'.
Hmmm. 113. I'll versify some more.
'When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes'?;
Worse: 114, exceeding far my aim."
He flagged... "Enough! To discontinue's wise,
The form's absurd. My talent's not to blame."
But though the Drabbles overstrained his Muse,
His failed attempts make scholars still enthuse.

Need an example of that last sort: how do you have no people?

Wow! I read this post, and I couldn't help but accept the challenge. Of course my favorite part of it was trying to figure out how to create a drabble that had no humans in it. I believe I succeeded. There's just once problem with it. It's 111 words. Now I have to figure out how to cut it to the right length, but still make it sound interesting and not choppy. Oh, well. Back to work.

Well, basically just do what Lady Shanai said: tell the story of something, like a vase. The key is to think of a drabble as someting like poetry, heavy metaphors are your friends.

Glad you're doing it Celestria!

This sounds like a good challenge I shall have to try it tomorrow if I can find some free time.

Sounds interesting... I'll have to try it sometime.

My drabbles:

High Fantasy by [Neil of Erk]

We rose higher and higher. Soon, we could look down and see our little piece of the world, not unlike a patchwork quilt, dwarfed by the heights of other people’s mountains, the length of other people’s rivers, the quaint ways of others, their astonishing wisdom, their sad foolishness. But we were beyond that now.

Now we turned and looked out into the depths of space: The cold hard reasoning of the dark void, the bright joy of the stars, galaxies, and super-clusters following the steps of their dance. Then we descended to earth.

I closed the book, read the back-cover.

A Conversation on Pride by [Neil of Erk]

“Say, sir, have I seen you before?”

“Not that I…wait, you went to Lincoln High, right? Played on the football team?”

“Yeah! I’m the guy who tackled you when you were about to make that important touchdown at the championship.”

“Funny we’d both remember something like that, why did it come to mind?

“Well, I got real proud that I stopped that play. Well, that pridefulness got me kicked off the team the next season. I learned an important lesson, and it’s served me now that I own my own business. How ‘bout you?”

“My team coulda’ won the championship.”

The Wood by [Neil of Erk]

The seed fell to the ground, beginning the story. The seed became sapling, the sapling became tree. It grew tall, towering over the forest for a century. Then it fell to the axes and saws.

It floated down-stream, to the lumberyards. It was formed into a mast, and sailed the seas for two decades. Then, the ship went down, and the mast was buried in the sea.

Two centuries later it was dug up and sold to a guitar manufacturing company. It became the backboard of a small instrument. It was broken. Tossed in the trash, then the furnace.
<><><><><><><>
What do you like, what don't you like?

Thanks, it was very fun to write.

Yeah, it would have been better if I could throw in another word, but, then I would have gone over my limit.

Well, here I go!

Drabble Challenge: Story 1: 1st Person

A whistle for the Wind by [Radisana]

I took off. Like the wind. I mean, I am wind. Anyways. That day was the day that my father, the legendary Storm would teach me how to whistle and howl. I couldn’t wait. When you become 15, you get to learn how to whistle or, actually, you get the power to whistle given to you. My father blew and I felt tingles as I whistled like a real storm for the first time. I was a storm! I couldn’t believe it!

Drabble Challenge: Story 2: 3rd Person

Sun Run by [Radisana]

The sun was just starting to appear from behind the mountains, lighting Emma’s face. She had always loved sitting on her from porch to feel the sun on her face, and shield her eyes from the sudden light. She was stressed but she didn’t care at that very moment. In a few minutes she would take off for her morning run and shake off her worries. That’s what she always did. She stood, stretched then started; her face still being touched by the sun. Her heart began to pound louder as she ran faster; towards the golden sun.

Drabble Challenge: Story 3: No People

A Million Sparkles by [Radisana]

The beach was deserted. Only the water, sand, grass and occasional log kept each other company. It was a shame that there was nobody there to watch the sun’s setting reflection on the water. The millions of sparkles as the little fish and currents made the surface ripple. The sand on the shore anchored the grass that swayed in a light breeze. It truly was a shame. No diamonds could compete with those sparkles on the water. A few birds flew over head but they didn’t take notice to the beauty. They never did. Shame.

Wow, guys! I know no one has checked this topic in about two months, but I just read y'all's drabbles and they're pretty cool. I'd like to try one, but my characters from my book are still bugging me to work on their story, so I think that will have to take first priority.

Just out of curiosity, where did the term 'drabble' come from...did you make it up? And my favorite, Neil, would also have to be a conversation on pride...that was hilarious!

Actually, "drabble" was invented by some college students at least two decades ago, if I remember correctly. I had intended to post a link for some examples and explanations, but I couldn't find anything that was totally clean.

BTW, how would you all feel about a fantasy themed drabble competition? I'll talk to Jay about it, but I'd like some support first. You could enter drabbles from this page, if you like.

I like the idea.

What kind of challenges were you thinking of?

Yes, I agree! I think having a drabble competition would be cool.

Hm...definitely the challenges I've already proposed...but fantasy themed. I can't seem to come up with more, but there certainly are other concepts.

We could make the prizes inclusion in a collection of fantasy stories from Holy Worlds. (There's a word for that...but I can't think of it.)

I like the idea. Haven't tried writing a drabble yet but I like the idea of a contest. I think it would be interesting to do a competition that's only in the third person with no people, like you suggested. But the fantasy-themed idea is cool too.

eruheran

That's actually pretty funny Evening.

I thought so, too. It gives those of us who aren't NaNoing a glimpse of what it's like.

Yeah, same here.

I think that it was very good.

That's great Evening!

How are these?

The Unseen

I can see things, phantoms that nobody believes are there. But they are, because I can see them. I’ve always been able to see such things, ever since I was very young. I think that’s why my parents put me in a prison for the mentally ill. At first I hated it, because they did horrible things to us. Now I’ve seen so much horror that my mind is numbed. How can they do this? Nobody understands us, but that’s okay. I have my friends, and they will take care of me. They are the Unseen. They will avenge me.


Dead or Not

“Sir? Sir? Are you alive or dead?”
I groaned and twitched.
“Does that mean you’re alive?”
I groaned again and opened my eyes a crack. A young boy’s face peered down at me. “Sir, I really need to know if you’re alive or dead, so I know if I can bury you or not.”
I pushed myself up on my elbows and squinted at him. “What does it look like?” I croaked.
He shrugged. “I have seen movies, sir, with movin’ dead people.”
“I’m mostly alive, thank you,” I snapped.
He jumped up. “Okay, you’re welcome.” Then he ran off.

Those are cool. The second one is funny.

Here goes.


Absence of Cold

“It’s cold out,” said Ande, standing in line, trying to secure a decent seat for a famous acrobat, and magician. He swirled his cup of the hot, greenish liquid that warmed his hands.

“Cold is the absence of heat,” his older sister, Jordan observed, more to herself than Ande.

Ande grunted. “Or maybe heat is the absence of cold.”

Jordan pulled out of her world of thought and shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t work like that. Heat is actually…”

“Okay, okay,” said Ande, annoyed and amused. “Don’t get technical on me. All I said was that it was cold.”

-Terra

I like that, Terra! It was funny.

lol, Terra! Sounds like something Griffin would say!

A few peeps on the chat have already seen this. It's only part of the challenge - this first person part - but I'll go play around with Drabbling today and come up with a few more. The last looks the hardest. Has someone actually written a drabble without people in it? I read over the thread but didn't see one. It's early, though, so my eyes may see/not see many things.

I really like that one, KatROID. It had a lot of emotion in it.

KatROID? Kat, Katty Roy, Katty, Katir, Kate, Kath, Droid. . . KatROID. *bursts out laughing* I have mostly lost track of who calls me what.

Thanks! I think that was actually the first time I've ever tried a romantic scene. Drabble form, of all things. I hope the emotion wasn't gushy.

It didn't seem gushy to me, either.

I really like it, Katty! It wasn't gushy at all.

Yikes! no posts since December!? *remedies*
Here's a quick drabble inspired by a dream I had last night...

   The queen stood stiffly near the door. They had removed her once, it would never happen again. The bodies of her fallen guards decorated the floor, while those that remained alive strove to hold the door. The rhythmic pounding and constant yells from without foretold their impending doom. One cry separated itself from the rest. Silk rustled as the queen turned and looked into the dark corner of the hall. A small shape moved softly. With a sad smile the queen went to the child and picked her daughter up. She looked at the girl. “Remember, Tasha, God is good.”


Now post peoples!

*gasp!* I didn't know this existed! *bookmarks*

I've posted several drabbles for other challenges... I forgot about this one.

Thanks for resurrecting this thread and bringing it to our attention.

This drabble had a lot of depth and color - a weight that usually only longer stories have, it felt to me.

I'm not very good at the poetry drabbles, but here is one I tried about the rainstorm this morning:



eruheran

Awesome!! As most of you know, I love storms, so found that epic, Eruheran!

I like how you compared the storm to a battle, especially at the end where you referred to the fallen tree as "murder." Rich imagery there.

Forgot about this thread... but anyways, here's some drabbles. Second one's an Alice in Wonderland inspired thing. I have another, but it's only at 74 words so I'll have to tweak it a bit.


He stared out the window, wishing he could be in the fresh air instead of this boring place. The teacher’s voice droned on, but he paid no attention. He’d heard it all before.
The alarm sounded.
Another drill.
He stood, glancing at the window one last time. Then he had a thought. They’d been told to use the nearest exit hadn’t they? Well, this window was closer than crossing the room and walking through the door. He opened the window, and jumped, laughing, just as the teacher looked in his direction. He heard her yell.
Took care of that problem.

---

Falling was terrible, waiting to hit the ground. Stretching and shrinking isn’t very comfortable. Inhaling smoke was not at all pleasant. I’ve been chased and fought for, and cajoled into fighting a terrible beast. I’ve had to endure a hatter who is entirely mad, and a queen with a big head who wanted my own. I felt it was a dream; I was completely befuddled. In the end, I knew I had to return. I knew I couldn’t stay in such a place. At night now, I lay awake. Dreams plague me. I want so badly to go back someday.

Slightly erratic; rather morbid. Maybe not even all that good. But, here it is:



Rushing wind, cold and exciting.
Scales beneath my hands,
Nothing beneath my feet
But empty space and the ground below.
 
The roar of crowds
And of dragons alike.
A stirring of nervousness
Excitement; fear.
 
Shifting nervously.
Awaiting the sound.
That signals the beginning.
Knowing the end is near at hand.
Expecting death.
Wishing for life.
 
Wings beat the air.
Hold on tightly.
Exhiliration.
The rush of wind
Cooling my sweating hands.
 
Turning through the air.
Feeling unstoppable.
 
The dragon twists suddenly.
Losing my grip.
 
Braced for impact.
My last thought;
Wondering what death is like.
 
Crunching bones.
Blood everywhere.
 
Nothing.

All of those are very vivid, Arias, and powerful. Though the kid from the first one is a little rebel, and the last one is a bit morbid. But all of them are extremely well-written!

Thanks I enjoy writing them, even if I do wonder if they're a little too weird.

I really like that third one! Really! That was so good! Morbid, who cares?

Thanks *is happy*

Here's a drabble I wrote describing a dramatist's techniques... I'd love opinions on it, as I'd like to publish it on my blog on Friday.