Writing Prompt Wednesday

I am a huge fan of dialogue. It can do so much for a story. We get to know characters through their voices, what they say, what they don't say, how they say what they say. Information can be given through dialogue (as long as it isn't used just to portray information to the reader. A character wouldn't say "We have to stop Dr. Cyclops before he unleashes his evil plan to take over the world, starting with the U.S. and spreading out from there, by controlling the production of Pop-Tarts." They'd say, "We have to stop him." The other character ought to know who they have to stop, why, and how already). 

Dialogue is also a great way to bring people into a story. Some people disagree with me, with the opinion that a good story should open with an intriguing and memorable image. While I'm all for imagery and strong images that will stick with the reader long after the story has ended, dialogue has an immediacy that some images just can't convey. It put's us right in the thick of the characters lives. 

So for this week's writing prompt, I found another dialogue prompt on Pinterest. The prompt is this: "Please stop putting things in my microwave." If you're intrigued read on.

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The whirring of the microwave alerted Jason to the fact that Logan was back. Sitting at the desk in his room, Jason waited for the smell of a microwave pizza to reach him. When it didn't he slid back and out of his swivel desk chair and headed for the kitchen. 

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the new, white microwave he'd bought the other day at Walmart. 

"Relax man. I saw this on Youtube." Logan was leaning down, his hands on his thighs, his face at the level of the microwave, watching. 

Jason hurried around the counter so he could see inside through the mesh covering the door of the microwave. "What is that?"

The bubbling, black mass in the microwave was a seething monster writhing on top of itself in an ever mounting hill. The metallic liquid looked like something out of a fantasy novel being born from the magma of a volcano. But instead of glowing orange and red it was dark like lava once it's cooled.

Hitting the stop button, Jason said, over Logan's protests, "Please stop putting things in my microwave." 

"Come on, man--"

"I bought this three days ago and already you've melted your sister's old barbie doll into and infected pile of melted plastic, and burned a couple bags of popcorn so that whole apartment smells like crap." Jason touched the turntable lightly with his finger, testing to see if it was too hot to touch. Then he pulled it out of the microwave and stared at the unsightly black goo that he wasn't sure he wanted to try and clean off. Setting it on the counter, he turned to his roommate. "You owe me a new microwave." 

"Yeah, right. You're the one who left the microwave here in the kitchen where anything could happen to it."

"Buy me a new microwave or get out. You're choice."

Logan just shook his head and flopped down on the couch in the living room, just off the kitchen. He turned on some dare devil show and ignored Jason. 

The next day, Logan came back from class to find his underwear strung up along the railing from just outside their front door to the bottom floor of their complex. His furniture had been dropped over the railing into a pile of shattered belongings. The front door was locked and the door knob had been switched out so his key wouldn't work. The microwave had been avenged.

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So how'd this prompt work out for you? Did you surprise yourself with where the story went? I hope you enjoyed this week's prompt as much as I did. Feel free to comment below, either on the prompt, or on my short response, or whatever else you'd like to discuss. Thanks for reading.

Keep on Creating,
K. A. Jairl