This is something they posted on Twitter that I found smashing! You'll find my excercise after the rules.
Exercise: Write descriptions for 10 swords
- (it can be 10 of anything, but 'swords' is for ease of explanation).
The rules for this exercise are as follows -
- You get only 20 words for each description, no exceptions. Any name you give the sword is included in this 20 words.
- (Over-hyphenation is cheating! Imagine if someone has to localize your descriptions into a different language).
- You can't repeat/reuse descriptors.
- Words like 'blue' and 'scimitar' are descriptors. Works like 'the', 'of', etc. are not.
- Descriptions can't start with the same word, no matter what the word is.
- This is to prevent patterns like "the [color] [material] [weapon] is..."
- When finished, show your descriptions to someone you trust to evaluate your creative work. Ask which descriptions they like best and why.
- Hopefully - learn something.
If this doesn't seem hard enough for you, add this additional rule for bonus points:
- Before starting your descriptions, randomly assign a rarity to your swords from 1 to 5 stars. Gussy up or dress down your descriptions according to the rarity.
- Timers stress me out, but if you work best under pressure, try doing the exercise in under 30 minutes.
Twitter thread Link: https://twitter.com/DeathMeetAuthor/status/1547621439099940865
My Exercise: Describe 10 Computers
- Mechanical XR37: Made of gears and leather, it was a revolutionary system that displayed the future with its bulbed screens.
- Ariel’s System: Covered in stickers. This once mobile device is tied to a power outlet trying to stay alive.
- F.L.O.P. 3000: Catastrophic failure that plunged the company into a marketing spiral of no return. 13 Teraflops were not enough.
- Perfect Gaming PC: it shuts down when its user is toxic. Making the world better one boot at a time.
- Brand New: still in its box. It waits excitedly for the day it can power ON unaware it’s been forgotten.
- Cloud Computing: Flickering glass that receives messages from beyond. Vibrating with purposeless notifications at random intervals… Forever. –Bzzzz– --Bzzzz—
- Dream Machine: Inspiring tales of wander and awe. Using it bestows a story with narrative resonance and beautiful prose.
- Dirty: Gathering dust everywhere except for the WASD keys and mouse. Its fan, loudest in the room, ignored by headsets.
- Math Checkers: Smart women scribbling number after number. More powerful than anything before or since: a room full of women.
- Joy Breaker: Controller shape dent followed a brightly lit red ring around the Power Button of the plastic box.
I'd love to see what you come up with!