Freestyle Writing Challenge – Smoggy Alien Giants

Melissa Barker-Simpson tagged me for the Freestyle Writing Challenge! I followed the rules (below) and I didn’t check my prompt until time to write. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be fiction or non — it’s not in the rules. Melissa’s prompt seemed more fiction-y, but my nominees can do either. Here’s her prompt:

“The world as we know it has ceased to exist. Describe this new reality.”

And now I begin:

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When the aliens came in their great pod ships, none of us knew what to expect. We imagined they might bring us medicines and sciences, new foods and new words. We also imagined the great guns underneath their ships, and we used movies to fill in our images of destroyed cities. 

We didn’t expect the aliens to ignore us entirely. They were so far beyond us, they didn’t even realize we were sentient beings — or so we assume. The aliens are so tall they step on us without thinking. Our cities are charming and impressive, if slightly irritating. Like anthills. They avoided walking through cities until they could bring poison. Most cities they didn’t even gas, they just waited for the terraforming — xenoforming — to take effect.

We lived on a blue-and-green planet, before. Now we live in a pink one. The aliens sank huge machines in the oceans that partly vaporized the water, spewing out pink smog like smoke machines at a rock concert.

The smog killed most of the humans, but some of us adapted. Instead of walking, we swim and float in three dimensions. Those of us who survived the change can eat the new food and breathe the new air, and we’ve been freed from the land for good. We can hardly imagine how we were bound to the Earth’s surface like crawling beasts!

Still the aliens wade through the mist, never seeing us at all… unless they raise their shoes to check for bugs, of course. But even if they do find human remains on their soles, why would they ever care?

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268 words in 15 minutes. I really have no idea what this is. Just some strange imagery, I suppose. If I had time I would’ve added some things, given it a sort of “point” or central thought about how the speaker thinks the aliens are great benefactors and the possibility of being stepped on is worth it for the ability to fly, but I refrained from the urge to go over my time. It was definitely fun to write so quickly on a totally new and unexpected prompt, but also a challenge worthy of the name!

Here are my nominees: Alex Hurst, Atherton’s Magic Vapour, Cindy Grigg, Eclectic Alli, Not a Punk Rocker, Only Fragments. (As always, if you don’t have the time or inclination to fool with it, just consider this a no-strings shoutout! And if you’re not listed but feel inspired, go for it!)

And here are the rules:

1. Open a new document.

2. Set a stopwatch or your mobile phone timer to 5, 10, or 15 minutes, whichever challenge you think you can beat.

3. Your topic is at the foot of this post BUT DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH YOUR TIMER!!!

4. Fill the word doc with as many words as you want. Once you start writing do not stop.

5. Do not cheat by going back and correcting spelling and grammar using spell check (it’s only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write the right spelling and stick to grammar rules).

6. You may or may not pay attention to punctuation or capitals. However, if you do, it would be best.

7. At the end of your post write down ‘No. of words = ____” so that we would have an idea of how much you can write within the time frame.

8. Do not forget to copy paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new topic for your nominees and copy paste these rules with your nomination (at least five (5) bloggers).

And here is your prompt:

“Write a scene of inconvenient emotion.”