The Scrabble Writing Prompt: 20 percent


I recently reinstalled Networdz, an application for the PC that lets you play Scrabble online or against a computer player. It's fun to let two computer players play each other, to see the words they come up with.

I then got the following idea: take all the words from such a game and use them in a single story. I call it the Scrabble Writing Prompt, and here's my first attempt with the players' difficulty level set at 20 percent. All words in bold are played words, and the only words not used are the ones whose meaning I couldn't discover in dictionary.com. (What the hell is 'ose'?) Feel free to look up a word if you don't know it.

I met Liang in one of our mews, in a cove a few li west of the old weir. As I approached him, he broke out of his "om" trance and spat on the ground.
He got in the rowboat. "Yar, laddie, hold on tight," I said, grabbed an oar in each hand and pushed off.
Without saying a word, he took a nap, exposing his unwashed feet and an ab through a jag in his outfit. Only when we arrived did he wake up. This deserted island was one our perfect dens for talking business. "So," I said as he rubbed his eyes, "What's the gen on this new shipment of dex?"
"Nae, it was a con", he sighed. "Turned out to be a barrel of koi."
"Damn", I said. "Curse that cad Wong. Remind me to kayo him so hard that he'll spin on his axis. I got my eye on that rat!"
"Ease your mind," he answered. "I got dibs on the next load."
"You did sell those fish, though, eh?", I said, taking the ouzo and nuts from the bottom of the boat. "Would be a sin to waste them."
"Ha! You betcha!" he chuckled as we walked through the dense ti.
We entered the hut.
"You know, Sean", he said as he bit on an almond, "It's high time we do something dramatic. Ae final heist, to be remembered through the ages. Be revered in the naoi of crime. We err too much on the side of caution."
"I don't-- what's that?" I heard footsteps.
Liang laughed his head off as a doe passed by the window. "See?" he said. "You're nervous and repressed. Let your id do the talking."
"What did you have in mind?" I said casually, fingering the weft of the tablecloth.
He came closer. A spotted warbler whistled a high ut in the underbrush.
"The Ring of Wuxia", Liang whispered. "Oft pursued, but never found. Sith time immemorial, men have sought this treasure. It has the shape of a nu, containing the largest pearl ever found east of Ulaan Batar."
"But how do we find this thing?"
Liang leaned forward and said, "Confucius say, 'He who mops the lav may find unexpected treasure among the waste.'"
"Did he say really say that?"
Liang shrugged. "Who knows? He said so many things."
"I'm intrigued. Let me brew a pot of java. I don't want to get a DUI from some dumb cop on the way home."
He revealed his plan to me that night. In the early morning, we rowed back to the mainland.
"I'll see you next week at the agreed time and place," he said. "Patience, my friend. Soon the Ring will be ours!" And with that, he disappeared into the Shanghai crowd.
"Bye", I called out, but he had already vanished.

Posted by cronopio at 02:15 PM, July 27, 2006