Here I go putting on my professor hat again. Day job and all that. This particular exercise evolved from a recent story I wrote that is currently under review with my writing consortium. Enjoy.

The Rules

Set a scene where the POV (Point of View) character cannot see and multiple individuals are talking around them. You must distinguish between these individuals through the natural flow of the narrative, with distinctive dialogue for each and descriptive sound elements delineated with a paragraph break when shifting from one character to the next.

Breakdown

• No sight: POV character cannot see.
• Scene: Multiple other characters talking.
  • Each character’s voice is distinctively described and differentiated.
  • Each character’s dialogue is distinct.
• Maintains plot structure: Inciting incident, POV agency (internal or external), one obstacle (problem), and, in the end, the obstacle is surmounted, nullified, and becomes impossible.
• Use the remaining five senses: Primarily sound, then touch, taste, smell, and plenty of interiority (the sixth sense).
• 500 words.

The Purpose

This will stretch your ability to create and maintain varied diction in your narration and isolate unique dialogue patterns emphasizing distinct diction, habits, and metaphors per character. Try to maintain this for 500 words.

Example Start

As if the switchblade stuck in one eye wasn’t enough, when the brown flecks of sand struck the other moments ago, Marik lost all sight.

The burning sun, peaked at the zenith, heating the back of his fists, no longer outlines the six cloak figures hesitant before him.

Still crouching, he lifts his blank gaze and spits crimson grit from his teeth.

Feet skitter away, three of them, most likely kicking up dust from the hard-packed road. One on the left, two in the middle, but that leaves the cocky kid far off to the right, unmoving.

Good. Marik offers a split-lip grin to his hunters, wider than he should. They still fear him, even blinded as he was. The burning sting in one eye mingles tears into the blood oozing from the other. Probably dripping off the stubble of his chin. Dripping onto the twitching corpse he just created. “Who’s next?”
As expected, the mustached kid off to his right chuckles sardanic, more than a little grit in his voice as if someone punched him in the neck too many times, “Not so tough now, Sunscorch, are you. The snake might get his head bit off after all.”

Used Marik’s bounty hunter name. That’s brave. Or stupid. “Betraying yourself. No snakes in this wildland of Alaska. Maybe you are the one who should slither back home before someone skins you.”

The Challenge

Type up a page or two–better yet the full 500 words–and provide a link or snippet in the comments below. Let’s see what you all can create.

Also, if anyone publishes a story using this prompt, I’ll create a feature on my blog here linking to the story.

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