Prompt #34 — Write Like Kendra Grant Malone

Writing a normal situation into a strange one can be a fun way to turn a story on its head. In “45 Walker Street” (view it here) Malone takes the very ordinary situation of a job interview and tweaks it to make it feel strange. She creates tension through the dialogue—the interviewer’s pause before asking the applicant why she wants the job—and creates mystery through Julia’s response, as well as by not explicitly saying what the job is. This is topped off by the strange image of the man stumbling at the end.

PROMPT

Pick a situation that most Americans have or will go through—going to the grocery store, buying stamps at the post office, eating a sandwich at a local deli—and write a completely normal scene from that choice. Now add two or three details that are not overtly obscene or strange to the piece. Does the sandwich eater watch a person behind the counter do something small yet personal? Does a man at the post office do something odd with his hands? Or perhaps take a piece of dialogue from the scenario you have created, and change the syntax a bit to make the language feel slower.