For Friday’s writing prompt, a short challenge. Below are three fairly generic passive phrases. Your goal is to make them active in a short scene, either fiction or non-fiction. You can choose one, two, or all three to play with, but you only have 100 words.
- [he/she/I] was devastated by […]
- [feeling] was experienced by […]
- [person/thing] was possessed by […]
Passive vs Active Voice
During my childhood I experienced fear many times. In this particular instance I was in my teens and came out of my bedroom and headed towards the stairs to go down. Directly in my path was a full-length mirror. You couldn’t help but look into it as you went past and turned left towards the stairway.
There was something different with the mirror that day. As I stared in horror, I realized that it wasn’t my reflection in the mirror, but that of a teenaged boy of another era. A ghost possessed my mirror. I fled down the stairs.
Tessa
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About Tessa
Teresa (Tessa) Smeigh is now in her 60's and still going strong despite her disabilities affecting both physical and mental abilities. She has bipolar disorder (mental), Fibromyalgia (nerves), degenerative disc disease (spine), and arthritis (joints).
Despite that she is active in Mental Health Advocating, writing for www.IBPF.org (volunteer for non-profit) and has 5 blog posts already published by them. She is also working on 2 fiction books (mysteries). She keeps her blog filled with useful content, daily devotionals (She is a Christian), stories and poems. Plenty to keep you busy. She has also been interviewed by blogs and had other posts published on many different blogs.
She has 3 blogs so far http://www.tessacandoit.com and http://www.finallyawriter.com and http://www.sunnythoughtsandprayers.wordpress.com
She is from Deptford, NJ. Her family and blogs keep her busy.
Yes, a possessed mirror would be terrifying. I’d run, too 🙂
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Thank you for reading! I “see” dead people….LOL!
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Haha! That was great. A really creative us of the prompts. I would love to see more… 🙂
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Thank you! I will keep my creepy stories in mind for future prompts. 🙂
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Oh my, creepy! Good job!
One tiny misplaced comma: “You couldn’t help but look” doesn’t need the comma after the word help!
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Thank you Suzanne! I usually write in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep and obviously can’t proof read either LOL! Thanks for the heads up and reading. Have to remember to correct that.
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Oh I loved this. I freeze like an opossum though, I probably would not have bolted. 🙂 Excellent use of the prompt!
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Thank you! Since this is based on a real story, I know I bolted. I also never looked in that mirror again which was quite a feat since I had to pass that mirror many times before I moved out of that house. It is a wonder I never fell down those stairs in my haste to avoid that mirror. 🙂
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Oh! It’s a true story? How terrifying. We live in an old house, and I am now so pleased we don’t have a mirror on the staircase.
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Yes it is a true story and I have many more of them. Perhaps more of these prompts will allow me to write up others. Thank you for reading!
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How creepy scary! I love your description of that moment. I’d love to see what you could do with this as the start to a longer fiction piece.
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Thank you! It was very creepy and scary. As the beginning? Have to think about how that would work. Thank you for reading!
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Pingback: Writing Prompt – WOE – June 22, 2012 – “passive vs active voice” | Tessa Can Do IT!
Reblogged this on and commented:
This is non-fiction and belongs over here.
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Love it! I reblogged and wrote one myself.
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