So after the last two posts (which were quite frankly a bit ranty) I thought I’d try my hand at a little exercise I found on a blog called Newscoma http://newscoma.wordpress.com. It’s basically a fill in the gaps writing task, but there is only one gap, and it’s quite large. I’ve changed the last word to make it more UK-friendly.
Basically, the trick is to fill in the space between the sentences – ‘In a seedy little casino on the outskirts of Las Vegas’ and ‘…from then on, they became the stars of the Oxford Fire Department.’
So here goes!
In a seedy little casino on the outskirts of Las Vegas is where we find our hero Jake Shuffling. Not Jake…shuffling. No he isn’t a dealer. Of cards, anyway. Our man deals in dreams, toying with the lives of the people who put them in his hands. He’s a PR guru, and he’s going to the top. Or so he thinks. Before long we’ll find him at the bottom of a pole greasier than the one the girls are currently swinging round before his very eyes.
In the corner of his eye he spots a girl alone at the bar. Bingo. His target, the one he has waited two days for, sipping whisky sours, making them last even though they are free. Truth is, he didn’t want to come into contact with the low-grade cocktail waitress that brought him his drinks, smiling expectantly through gappy yellow teeth each time, and never receiving the dollar she wanted. Still, give her credit, she was persistent. He shook the thoughts of the aging woman from his head and focussed on his prey. He had his pitch down pat (he’d had two days to finely hone it after all).
‘Can I buy you a drink?’
‘Nice try. Now leave.’ Not the result he was really hoping for. ‘Did nobody tell you they were free?’
‘OK, can I get you a drink?’
‘Better. Vodka. Grey Goose. Straight on the rocks with a twist.’
While he waited he studied her profile (she hadn’t deigned even to look at him yet, and it was too dark to make anything out in the mirror behind the bar). Cute nose, plucked eyebrows, deep brown eyes, pouting lips. She looked every bit the star that she wasn’t, but that he planned to make her.
After taking a long sip, swilling it round her mouth, swallowing and savouring her drink, the girl swung slowly round on her stool to face him.
‘So, how can I be of assistance?’
‘I’m going to make you famous.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah.’
‘OK, let’s go.’
And with a flick of her hair she had finished her drink and was almost out of the bar before Jake had time to think ‘Hang on, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind.’ Slightly bemused, he hurried towards the door, wondering where this liaison was headed. She wasn’t going to try and sleep with him, was she? He was flattered, but wasn’t sure Eddy would be so keen.
…The rest will follow in my next post. Watch this space!