My hat is better than this, but if you guys want to dress up as rats, I’m not going to stop you. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hello, new followers!* Welcome to the Bare Knuckle Army. Don’t worry, it doesn’t require any real service, though you will be receiving a complementary tinfoil hat in the mail so I can read your thoughts.**
The concept of a follower is an odd one. I picture a bunch of people hanging out in my living room while I write this: sitting on the couch, petting the cats, occasionally getting up to peruse my bookshelves. That one guy in the corner talking to himself. There is the nagging sensation that I should put out snacks.
Or I imagine a huge trail of people following me, in my comic book t-shirts and ripped up jeans, over a mountain range. Like a fucked up Pied Piper.*** We’re all heading to the same place: story land. But on the way there’s an awful lot of monsters. Some of them will come with us, too.
Well, I can’t promise I won’t lead you astray, but at least the trip will be an interesting one.
Down to brass tacks then: you’re here for a reason. Those of you new to this, every Monday I put up a writing challenge to get your week started off right. Sometimes it’s an idea, or a character exercise. Sometimes it’s whatever weird shit I find floating around in my brain when I stagger out of bed on Monday morning and have to remember how to act like a Qualified Adult. Give it a try and see what happens. And if there are any brave souls out there who would like to post their results in the comments, I’d love to read them. And I salute you.
In honour of all of you today, you Monday Challenge is this: write about someone being followed. Write from the point of view of the follower or the followed; write is as paranoid or as silly as you like.
And stay close. We’ve got a long way to go yet.
*Every time I get a new follower, I turn around, half expecting to see someone lurking behind the lamp in the corner. Watching. Waiting.
**It is very stylish, though. Tell your friends.
***Pied Piper Me also has a very stylish hat.
Bare Knuckle Writer 
Do we link our posts to this one for your prompts?
Sure, link away.
Cool. I had a friend who posted prompts all the time, and I was using them as an excuse to write “segments” all for the same story… But she hasn’t posted lately. Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Bareknuckle Follower – Monday Challenge
Topic: Write about someone being followed
He wasn’t sure he could take much more, eyes watched him with a canine concentration that was unsettling and he was starting to feel cornered. If only he didn’t have detention, if only he took the ride offered by Billy’s dad. He knows his Mom has told him what to do in this situation but his mind is blank, he can feel a knot in his throat starting and he is embarrassed that he might start crying.
He doesn’t want to panic, he doesn’t want to turn around to look, but he swears to God he can actually hear breathing now. It’s heavy and has a sense of hunger to it. He knows he is being stalked and the intensity of the situation makes him begin to sweat, the tears start, he feels hopeless. He doesn’t stop walking but picks up the pace and begins to look up and down the empty streets for someone, anyone who could help him get out. There is no one.
He knows his friends would be laughing at him, he can hear them know, “Fool, run, run all the way home, don’t look back, you know what he looks like, you can report it, just get your ass home, lock the door, close the curtains, and make the call.”
With a heavy sigh, he stops, his shoulders droop, he admits to the defeat he has felt since the very beginning. He turns bends down and picks up the puppy. “Mom’s going to shit.”
Hah! Awesome job, my friend.
I’m a new follower and looking forward to the arrival of my tinfoil hat. Yay!
It’s the perfect accessory for every outfit!
So true! Can I get mine with a Mohawk attachment or is that pushing it?
I’ll check with my tin foil hat guy.
Reblogged this on Miracle Zone.
Just following, not stalking! Monday’s challenge is a good one, but I’m reading this Wednesday…must get with the program.
You say you’re not stalking, but….*eyes you suspiciously*