Story Cubes Writing Challenge Number 1

Story Cubes Writing Challenge

Number 1

May 11, 2019

This series is a collection of writing exercises that I started using to get back into doing some creative work. The rules are: roll the story cubes, arrange them in a random order, then use each cube in order to tell a quick story that can be written in 20 minutes or less. Cube images can be used literally or interpretatively. The highlighted words indicate where I used a cube. Stories will be generally kid-friendly because my 8-year-old loves reading them.

An arrow flew from the hunter's bow with a whizzing sound, not unlike an old zipper. The arrow was not made very well, having been constructed from whatever he could find in the woods. Delvin, the hunter, was hungry and could not afford to let poorly-made arrows prevent him from eating today.

The arrow missed, almost as if to spite his urgency. The rabbit jumped and scampered down the hill and to the left.

Delvin dashed after the arrow. It was his only one. He had not been able to muster the energy to make any more lately. He quickly retrieved it and looked around intently.

A flash of brown fur caught his eye. The rabbit was only a few yards away, clearly not sure yet what it was running from. Delvin nocked the arrow and loosed the bowstring in one strong motion. The distance was too close to miss, even with an arrow made of a sharpened twig with leaves for feathers.

As the arrow flew, Delvin's heart leapt. The anticipation of his first meal in many days sent a course of adrenaline through him. The world felt like it had stopped turning as the arrow sailed through the air for what felt like a full minute. It appeared to travel in all directions at once as it wobbled in its flight path. His eyes seemed to zoom in on it as it traversed the final third of the distance between him and the rabbit.
Enthusiasm turned sharply to intense grief as he saw a leaf fly off the end of the arrow, causing it to veer at the last millisecond and impact the gravel just in front of the rabbit. Debris exploded from the ground like a meteorite that had just descended from the heavens.

The rabbit leapt again, this time jumping straight up into the air and then coming down onto nearly the same spot. Delvin was already on the move to catch it but he nearly ran it over. The rabbit had landed hard on the ground and lay there, unmoving. Delvin's cloth-wrapped feet skidded to a stop on either side of the animal. His heart still pounding, he swung his bow around and prodded the rabbit deftly with the end. There was no movement. The rabbit was dead.

In the 8 years he had been stranded on this planet, Delvin had never seen an animal die of fright. He certainly felt like he might have done so himself several times in the past. But now, he felt excitement, not only for the much needed meal he would eat, but for the story he would tell Jennessa tonight.