"The" - Story Day

Ever used The Most Dangerous Writing App? It's one of my most favorite writing tools for when I'm feeling story-less - which happens more often than you'd think, especially with ATOTB off limits. It's a writing website that gives you a prompt and a timer, then essentially forces you to write something - anything - and not stop. If you pause in your typing for more than about ten seconds, it will delete everything that you've written. Yeah. That's scary.

Well, the other day I asked my siblings for some one-word prompts to use with TMDWA. One sibling gave me the word, "the". I immediately thought of something like, "They day was warm when..." or "They say that 'the' is undefinable, but I..." Neither of those clicked. I wanted something newer. Something I'd never done before.

Allow me to present a 273 word flashfiction in which I never once use the word "the."

The Prompt

Write a story without using the word "the".

The Story

"Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father..." A familiar tune waltzed through my head on melodic feet. I smiled to myself and vaulted a boulder that just happened to be in my path. Today was bright, with clean air and a fresh start in each breezy gust. Today was a day for beginnings.

I often wander by myself through our familiar territory. My family has inhabited this property for nigh on two decades, and yet there is somehow always something new around every corner. A new twist in a path long-since explored. A new tree, thirty feet tall, that hadn't been there before. A new cliff face that would have taken centuries to erode which appeared in one night's course.

Aye, this is a strange place.

Maybe that's why I wander alone so much. Nobody wants to be friends with a kid from a family rumored to be cursed with never-ending changes.

I like change. I like never knowing what's going to happen after a single breath. After all, excitement is good for my soul - or so my mother says. She sees my fidgeting and knows how hard it is for me to keep still and listen to my elders. It's a blessing to have such a keen-sighted mother, but it is also a curse.

This is my story. One of redemption and failure. One of new beginnings and an old end. One where I learn that sometimes even those curses that seem to be worst can actually be blessings in disguise.

After all, you never know what might be around that bend your feet long to travel. Maybe nothing.

Or maybe... something.

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What do you think? Was the story too choppy without the forbidden word? Did it make sense? Was it a good idea to even try this? Should my next novel follow the same pattern? (I really want to try that. XD)

Let me know if you use the prompt! Until next time,

Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!! ;P

-Joelle