Tagged: games

I Narrowed My Eyes

  • by jenyours just happens to be immediately visible
  • we watched professional bowling
  • the bakers are in revolt
  • I’ve never been shushed by anyone other than my family
  • played German dodgeball

Tune in next time part 679      Click Here for Earlier Installments

I narrowed my eyes. “Everyone has ulterior motives, yours just happens to be immediately visible.” In truth I was sure only that there was an ulterior motive. The nature of it was anyone’s guess.

The sisters sighed in unison and stepped away from me. “He’s no fun,” they said to each other.

“If it’s fun you want, track down my dad. You seemed to have a good time with him.”

“With Jack?” asked Esmerelda. “We watched professional bowling, that’s all.”

“That wasn’t all,” I said. “I was there. I saw.”

“Don’t forget,” said Cleopatra, “we also talked about the dreadful state of the pastries. Esmerelda, you said, ‘It’s like the bakers are in revolt!’ and Jack said, ‘Actually the bakers are revolting.’ Remember how we laughed? That must be what he’s talking about.”

“I’m talking about how you were all naked and climbing all over each–”

“Shh!” both sisters hissed.

I’ve never been shushed by anyone other than my family. It startled me. If you’d ever been shushed by my family you’d know that it felt like you played German dodgeball for an hour. The precision and fury of their shushes was brutal and relentless, and often left bruises. But the shushes of these sisters were so different, so gentle. It was like a lover’s caress.

Which made it the perfect distraction. Why would they so vehemently deny their dalliance with my father when there was no one around to overhear?

bonus points for using them in order

about stichomancy writing prompts

try our stichomancy writing prompt generator!

Fill In the ______

We’ve discovered a fun way to gain useful insights into your own prose. Want to know how many modifiers you use? Curious about how obsessed you might be with anatomical references? This one simple trick can help!

Make a mad lib from a page of your book.

We’re sort of kidding about this serving any real purpose. Sure, if you still have adjectives left over after setting up twenty blanks for them, you’ll want to trim a few. But don’t let anything like that get in the way of the hilarity.

Jen invented this and didn’t tell Kent. We do “real” mad libs all the time, so he didn’t suspect a thing. When she asked for a liquid Kent said “coffee” (which will become important in a moment).

The reveal was pretty priceless, and of course Jen made him read it out loud. It was based on a pivotal, though lighthearted, passage in Miss Brandymoon’s Device, which made it perfect fodder for such irreverent treatment. Remember about “coffee”? Take one guess what type of liquid was in the original text.

A co-author is the ideal playmate for this game, but it could also work among members of a critique group, or with a beta reader. Or a stranger on the bus, if you’re looking for novel ways to make friends.

Give me a verb ending in -ing…