This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Need an idea to help you get started writing this week? Look no further! Finish the scene or use it to start your own short story, and feel free to post your work in the comments for a little feedback.
Two whole weeks, Alice thought to herself with delight as she relaxed into the vinyl seats of her rented vintage convertible. Admittedly, the idea of a grand American road trip, which she had booked on a wine-fuelled whim after an entire Christmas of being introduced as ‘the routinely reliable one’ by her parents, had terrified her to begin with.
What if she got lost, she wondered in the weeks leading up to the trip, or ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere? What would she do if the only accommodation available to her was in a creepy motel on a deserted highway? What if the owner of said motel was named Norman? Norman Bates? Would she make her excuses and leave? Because that couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Norman Bates running a creepy motel on a deserted highway? Wasn’t he a fictional character though? Or was it one of those true crime deals? Had he got parole? How the hell would she know these things if she didn’t have a her iPhone to check?
But that was the point of the holiday, she reminded herself. To prove once and for all that she could switch off, take risks and be out-of-the-box adventurous. That she was more than ‘the routinely reliable one’, who synced her digital calendar with her doctor, dentist and gym, always balanced her chequebook and wore days of the week underwear.
Besides, once she was there, with miles and miles of open roads, the sun on her face and limitless possibilities stretching out before her, she suddenly felt incredibly brazen. After all, she couldn’t turn 30 without ever having done anything that could be considered risky. It was time to take a chance on something.Like picking up a sexy hitchhiker on the side of the road, for example, she thought looking back at the surfer type waving his thumb in her rearview mirror …