Hell
Today's exercise: Hell
(And if you hadn't noticed by now, these blog posts are titled with the topics of the day's exercise.)
She'd always been told that Hell was a big hot place with lots of fire and red-skinned guys with pitchforks and tails. Now that she was here, she wanted to go back and tell her pastor that he'd been wrong, wrong, wrong. Sure, it was rather hot, but only in the places that were all hellfire and damnation. There were the really cold places, too, which were where these strange guys in furs and horned helmets hung out, and they didn't look too happy either. She didn't think that she'd ever get around to the part that was really really rainy, but she could imagine how awful it would be to never get anything dry, ever. Right now, she wasn't in any of those places. She was in a big airconditioned room - but airconditioned badly, so that it was still kinda stuffy, since the windows were closed, and parts of the room were ice cold and drafty from the vents, and parts were hot and stuff as if she were outside. There was a receptionist. The receptionist was not very helpful, and was in fact the antithesis of helpful, even if she pretended to be helpful. Like this:
"What can I do for you today, ma'am?" said the receptionist.
"Could you tell me how to get out of this place?" she asked.
"Sorry ma'am, You'll have to wait in line over there while I process the inquiries that came before you. Would you like to take a number so I know when to call you up here?"
"I already took a number, and that's what you said last time."
"Well then, ma'am, you should go back and wait your turn. I promise we'll get around to you eventually. If you get thirsty, there's a water cooler over in the eastern corner, and there are some snacks beside it if you get hungry."
"The water cooler doesn't cool the water. It's stale and tastes of chemicals and it's lukewarm."
"I'm so sorry ma'am, would you like to file for an appointment with Complaints?"
"How long will that take?"
"You'll have to take a number ma'am. There are at least 534,589 other people in line."
371 words, 5 and a bit minutes. Down from yesterday, but I wanted to try out some dialogue, and my fingers kept tripping.
(And if you hadn't noticed by now, these blog posts are titled with the topics of the day's exercise.)
She'd always been told that Hell was a big hot place with lots of fire and red-skinned guys with pitchforks and tails. Now that she was here, she wanted to go back and tell her pastor that he'd been wrong, wrong, wrong. Sure, it was rather hot, but only in the places that were all hellfire and damnation. There were the really cold places, too, which were where these strange guys in furs and horned helmets hung out, and they didn't look too happy either. She didn't think that she'd ever get around to the part that was really really rainy, but she could imagine how awful it would be to never get anything dry, ever. Right now, she wasn't in any of those places. She was in a big airconditioned room - but airconditioned badly, so that it was still kinda stuffy, since the windows were closed, and parts of the room were ice cold and drafty from the vents, and parts were hot and stuff as if she were outside. There was a receptionist. The receptionist was not very helpful, and was in fact the antithesis of helpful, even if she pretended to be helpful. Like this:
"What can I do for you today, ma'am?" said the receptionist.
"Could you tell me how to get out of this place?" she asked.
"Sorry ma'am, You'll have to wait in line over there while I process the inquiries that came before you. Would you like to take a number so I know when to call you up here?"
"I already took a number, and that's what you said last time."
"Well then, ma'am, you should go back and wait your turn. I promise we'll get around to you eventually. If you get thirsty, there's a water cooler over in the eastern corner, and there are some snacks beside it if you get hungry."
"The water cooler doesn't cool the water. It's stale and tastes of chemicals and it's lukewarm."
"I'm so sorry ma'am, would you like to file for an appointment with Complaints?"
"How long will that take?"
"You'll have to take a number ma'am. There are at least 534,589 other people in line."
371 words, 5 and a bit minutes. Down from yesterday, but I wanted to try out some dialogue, and my fingers kept tripping.
posted by Selene at 4:43 PM
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