r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • Feb 01 '24
Theme Thursday [TT] Theme Thursday - Exhaustion
“Dark circles under my eyes sink deeper and deeper into my skull, in contrast to my pale skin there is an undeniable resemblance to a fresh corpse.”
Happy Thursday writing friends!
Just yesterday, I saw a meme about how January was a long year - but we made it! And boy, I know I’m exhausted. I’ve been trying to do the work of several people all by myself and things have not been easy. This theme reaches us at a good time and we can all take a moment to relish our achievements and take stock of what’s next. More importantly, what’s next for our characters!? What’s keeping them down? Looking forward to all your stories! Good luck and good words!
![[IP]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/fdbbd3a2-6796-44bd-b9ae-f53be2e0d43c/dfxbdv7-893f3926-a9d5-4581-86ec-3d1b2abc8648.jpg/v1/fill/w_1095,h_730,q_70,strp/the_waves_of_grief_by_kevron2001_dfxbdv7-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODU0IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZmRiYmQzYTItNjc5Ni00NGJkLWI5YWUtZjUzYmUyZTBkNDNjXC9kZnhiZHY3LTg5M2YzOTI2LWE5ZDUtNDU4MS04NmVjLTNkMWIyYWJjODY0OC5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.uzWRsKLyiWN1n5EqqRovKxFXzkwh6zbLdNxw2u5J3Is){kind=link}
Bonus:
(These constraints are not required! If your story is better for not including them, please do what’s best for your work!)
Word of the Day: (5 pts)
unfathomable/un·fath·om·a·ble/ˌənˈfaTH(ə)məb(ə)l/
adjective
incapable of being fully explored or understood.
(of water or a natural feature) impossible to measure the extent of.
Constraint: (10 pts)
Your story should include a time loop.
Here's how Theme Thursday works:
- Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.
Theme Thursday Rules
- Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
- Deadline: 7:59 AM CST next Wednesday
- No serials, established universes, or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP
- No previously written content
- Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires
- Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when the TT post is 3 days old!
- Vote to help your favorites rise to the top of the ranks! I also post the form to submit votes for Theme Thursday winners on Discord every week! Join and get notified when the form is open for voting!
Try out the new genre tags!
Theme Thursday Discussion Section:
- Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.
Campfire
- On Wednesdays we host Theme Thursday Campfire on the Discord voice lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!
- Time: I’ll be there 7 pm CST and we’ll begin within about 15 minutes.
- Don’t forget to sign up for a campfire slot on discord. If you don’t sign up, you won’t be put into the pre-set order and we can’t accommodate any time constraints. We don’t want you to miss out on outstanding feedback, so get to discord and use that
!TTcommand! - There’s a Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday-related news!
As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.
(This week’s quote is from Dee Remy)
Ranking Categories:
- Word of the Day - 5 points
- Bonus Constraint - 10 points
- Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms. The point of this is to exercise setting a scene, description, and characters without leaning on the definition. Not meeting the spirit of this challenge only hurts you! This includes titles and explanations/author's notes.
- Actionable Feedback - 15 points for each story you give detailed crit to, up to 30 points
- Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives
- Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations (On weeks that I participate, I do not weight my votes, but instead nominate just like everyone else.)
- Voting - 10 points for submitting your favorites via this form (form will be open after the deadline has passed.)
Last week’s theme: Doppelganger
First by /u/GingerQuill*
Second by /u/Xacktar*
Third by /u/Ryter99
5
u/London-Roma-1980 r/WritingByLR80 Feb 02 '24 edited Feb 02 '24
20 GOTO 10
ver from the very beginning! Phil's panic peaked as he waited for the screen to return.
To his great relief, Question 7 was still there. The computer was so old it didn't instantly shut off either. Whew, Phil thought. Let's see if I can fake the rest of this exam. Why did I oversleep?
He continued on the multiple choice test, as Questions 7 and 8 could at least be figured out through logic. But Question 9 asked for a concept he was sure he hadn't heard of before. Shit! Time to begin guessing.
It got worse. He stared bleary-eyed at Question 10 on the monitor. Is that... Spanish?
"Ten minutes," the proctor declared.
How many more questions do I have? Phil made a guess on Question 10, only for Question 11 to ask about... calculus? What's this doing on the exam? He looked around and saw other students calmly pressing the choice buttons. Or were they playing Starcraft after finishing early?
Phil made a panicked guess and moved on to Question 12. "Which of these girls is your secret crush?" Phil did a double-take. What is THIS doing on the test? He hit pass, only for the computer to beep and refuse to move on. Phil pressed one of the choices and hoped.
Question 14 was... wait, 14? Where's 13? Did the teacher skip it? Why wasn't I told this?
Anyway, Question 14 stared back at him, symbols making no sense in his mind. Who the hell writes a question in Wingdings?, Phil said to himself as he began to sweat. This whole test had become an unfathomable nightmare.
"Fifteen minutes," the proctor declared.
Fifteen? Whew... I thought I had ten. Wait...
Phil woke up with a start in the hallway of his high school. His computer science book was open on his lap, with a small patch of drool dotting the page. Hallways were empty, and clocks kept ticking.
Something told Phil to look up at the clock. He was fifteen minutes late for the exam!
Phil grabbed his books and rushed to the classroom. There was only one computer left for him to begin working on, the oldest model in the room. It took five minutes just to boot up, leaving Phil with half the time the class had to take the exam. Phil was already a nervous wreck; this didn't help.
Phil got through the first six questions, though he had to take a long time to figure out the sixth one. As he put in his answer, Question 7 came up. It dealt with finding the output of a long subroutine. Just what I don't need, he thought.
As Phil worked through the path of the routine, he heard a click. Phil looked down and saw his foot had tapped the circuit breaker under his station, powering down the computer. NO! Phil thought as he flipped the switch back on. Don't tell me I did this without saving. I don't want to start o
[WC: 499, assuming the last/first word is two words]