The Idea-smithy

The Corner Coffeeshop was open for business but its traffic was at a lull. It was too early in the evening for the post-work crowd, too late for the students and AC-enjoying unemployed to be hanging around.
Outside, the sun had gone down but that curious combination of atmospheric density and light’s acrobatic bending made it [...]

This is for Dee, the editor I’d like to have, who quite literally showed me the way.
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Where do stories come from? she wondered. Her editor had told her that her writing had a quality of finesse in it. But, he said, the spark was missing. She wanted to protest, it had been such an effort [...]

“And this is Kunal.”
“Are you on Twitter?”
“Yes, I’m @c00nal.”
“I don’t think I FOLLOW you.”
“I don’t follow you either.”
Kunal frowns as he turns to the Hot Dog stand.
“I think I hurt his ego a bit.”
“You just met!”
“Social boo-boo, telling someone you don’t follow them on Twitter.”
“What rubbish, nobody cares about these things.”
“Some people do. Maybe he’s [...]

Another writing exercise and this one I thought up myself! (Pat on the back…thank you, thank you). The challenge was to write a 140-word story about Twitter. Samir and I did this under a timer. And finished in close to 14 minutes. I call this a twory.
~O~O~O~O~O~

An 80s song went,
“The instant generation….Instant food, instant [...]

Vineet was an ordinary young man with one remarkable talent that came to fore only in his late teens in college. It all started with an inter-collegiate festival.
His college and the hosting campus had a long running feud and the annual festival was both, a new episode in the war as well as a chance [...]

I’ve just discovered a kink in my sexual make-up. I have a thing for gender role switching. That’s not men dressing in lingerie (eww, gross!). It’s a woman who’s sexy because she’s wearing a guy’s long tee-shirt that comes down to mid-thigh. It’s the breath-catching oomph of a rolled-up cuff revealing a slender arm. Or [...]

A re-telling of this 55-word tale as a writing exercise. Give me your thoughts.
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Luke walked out of the door and stretched. It had been awhile since he had gone outside. What next? he wondered. His eyes darted over to Guy lounging about, nearby.
Luke walked over and prodded his sibling with his toe to shake him [...]