This year, I am participating in Voice Week, a writing contest invented by BeKindReWrite. This contest involves writing about the same situation from the perspectives of five different characters (or narrators/perspectives) and posting one a day from November 4th to November 8th. Each piece can only be around 100 words long, and in that space I am supposed to establish a unique voice that tells you something about the character. I have a hard time adapting my vocabulary to voices, so this ought to be a good stretch for me. Also, you can go to the main page linked above to read and comment on the work of others who are also participating.
The scene or situation which I took on was an empty house. I hope you find it entertaining!
They give me assignments no one wants, and this seemed no different. I shouted at the edge of the yard, according to local custom, and no one shot me, but no one answered, either.
Cautiously, I mounted the porch and shouted again, identifying myself. There was no answer. By this time, I was actually curious. I knocked, and then slowly opened the door.
Once out of the moonlight, my eyes adjusted to their native dark and I saw an empty, but orderly room. I thought that finally there might be something interesting going on. They gave me the assignment, they were not going to take it from me.
~
jubilare 
November 4th, 2013 at 7:59 am
Who are they? Well done. Makes me want to read the other perspectives.
Good writing challenge idea.
November 4th, 2013 at 8:01 am
You tell me! I would love to know how the narrator comes across. Thank you for reading!
You should join the fun. Today is the deadline to join, so there is plenty of time to beat out 100 words. Unless, of course, NaNoWriMo has you in its clutches.
November 4th, 2013 at 8:33 am
It has, or sort of. I’m aiming at 50 hours editing +/including 50,000 new words this month. Sort of cheating I guess.
When does perspective #2 come?
November 4th, 2013 at 8:56 am
Good luck!
Tomorrow morning, and on through Friday. I have them set up for automatic publication. Five in all. :)
November 4th, 2013 at 12:01 pm
Oooo. Instantly intriguing. I get a sense this person is pretty tough and independent, and has a definite sense of humor (“no one shot me”).
Wait, “eyes adjusted to their native dark”? Is this the vampire? Hmmm, I must reserve judgment until after further reading. Looking forward to it!
November 4th, 2013 at 12:13 pm
^_^ I am glad the dry humor got across. I wasn’t sure if it would. Four characters I know showed up to participate in this, two of them are human, and two are not. The fifth one (not in order of posting) is new to me, and I have no idea what she is. Be that as it may, reserve judgement until all is complete! Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for hosting this challenge!
November 4th, 2013 at 12:01 pm
[…] Read the rest at Voice Week Day 1 | jubilare. […]
November 4th, 2013 at 2:21 pm
Ah, the burning question…who is this? Can’t wait to find out! The society you’ve created so early on is very intriguing!
November 4th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
I fear you won’t find out any more about this one, at least not in this series. However, I’d love to hear your interpretation of the character from the little there is!
The house itself remains the same in all five of my pieces, but the characters encountering it won’t encounter each other. That’s a great idea for next year, though. Hm… Thanks for reading and thanks for the idea!
November 4th, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Anytime! Honestly, I’m not sure about who this character is…but I know not many people are on his side. Not enough to stop him from risking his life for what I’m assuming is minimum-wage. However…he’s motivated. He’s going to live his own life, it seems, and take everything he can get toward his eventual happiness. I like him…
November 4th, 2013 at 5:29 pm
I would be worried about your powers of ESP if you knew who he is, but for the rest, you are pretty much spot-on. He’s a bitter one, but I like him, too, in spite of himself. One day, I hope I get around to writing more about him.
November 4th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Several possibilities are rolling in my head :). Great prose and suspense. Look forward to second installment.
November 4th, 2013 at 5:25 pm
What kinds of possibilities? I’m incurably curious as to how writing strikes each individual differently. Sometimes I think reading, not writing, is the most important part of this kind of thing. As writers we may create something, but it’s always the one reading it who really finishes it.
Thank you for stopping by!
November 4th, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Native dark, made me think that this person could be vampire, evil spirit, death, a nocturnal animal? ( I know, I tend to take it too far…), Maybe the local custom of such dark forces is to identify themselves before they claim others, but no one hears them anyways.
Did I make you chuckle? (the humor about no one shot me is good)
November 4th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
All good guesses. You made me and the character grin, although his wasn’t a very nice grin, but then with him it never is. He is definitely nocturnal, but he is also corporeal.
As for the rest, there is a vampire among the five characters I am writing in this series, but I have set it as a challenge to Stephanie to sniff said vampire out. Therefore I will neither confirm nor deny the possibility that this character is one.
If you also want to play the guessing game, then go for it! When this is all over, though, I will tell a little about each character so that people will want to smack me a little less than they would otherwise. ;)
November 4th, 2013 at 8:21 pm
Great sense of intrigue and mystery here. I was trying to decide in my head if the narrator is something mundane, like maybe a real estate agent or a landlord’s agent, but I feel like there’s something not entirely ‘earthly’ going on in this house! I’m probably completely wrong though. I’ll be back to see what happens tomorrow…
November 4th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
You’re instincts, both towards the mundane and away from it, are equally probable, so don’t dismiss them yet. Thank you for stopping by!
November 5th, 2013 at 12:15 am
Oooh, suspenseful! I like! :D
I adore this character’s dry, cynical sense of humour. I’m curious about who this person is — I got the sense that it was a young man, probably mid-twenties, but that was just my guess.
Looking forward to the next segment, jubilare!
November 5th, 2013 at 7:52 am
:) From the little I know of you, I think you would enjoy this character. Maybe, one day, I’ll have a full story for him and we can see for sure. He is probably the equivalent of 20’s or 30’s for what he is, so good guess!
Thanks for stopping by.
November 5th, 2013 at 5:15 am
The part I like best: “…and no one shot me”
I have the sense, as your narrator enters the house, that that possibility still remains.
:)
November 5th, 2013 at 7:53 am
:) Possibility is the stuff of stories, or at least the stuff of stories I like to read and write. Thanks for reading!
November 5th, 2013 at 5:43 am
I did something silly, I posted my comment on your post on voice week HQ.. here’s what I said: Ooo this is intriguing, sounds like a man on a mission, but what -is the question. Great start.
November 5th, 2013 at 7:56 am
That probably works, too.
What, indeed. He’s one of the most, if not the most, ambiguous of the group in terms of what he’s doing there.
Thank you for reading!
November 8th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Now I want to know what he REALLY is up too. lol
November 5th, 2013 at 7:13 am
[…] Day 1 […]
November 5th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
I’m interested. Keep writing.
November 5th, 2013 at 12:13 pm
I’m glad. I will.
November 5th, 2013 at 5:52 pm
Very suspenful, excited about tomorrow’s piece.
November 5th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
Thanks!
November 6th, 2013 at 12:57 am
really interesting voice narrating a really mysterious scene. leaves me with a million questions.
November 6th, 2013 at 6:07 am
I fear few of them will be answered, but perhaps some of them may. Thank you for reading!
November 6th, 2013 at 6:03 am
[…] Day 1 […]
November 6th, 2013 at 11:31 am
Very interesting…looking forward ot seeing where this might lead. There is a sense of frustration with this character and determination
November 6th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Thank you! But I feel like I am leading people on. This isn’t leading anywhere. :( I am playing, and theses are character sketches, nothing more. The characters themselves have their own stories, but they won’t play out here.
Determination and frustration describe this guy perfectly! Thank you for reading!
November 7th, 2013 at 6:00 am
[…] Day 1 […]
November 8th, 2013 at 7:11 am
[…] Day 1 […]