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SCOTT (SCOOP) BUTKI

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A cynical idealist; To Read Me Is to Know Me (Mostly)
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Random Words Exercise, Sept/Oct/Nov 2009

Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:08 PM EDT
sbutki-fiction
By Scott (Scoop) Butki
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Time for another random words exercise. The words and instructions will follow

As with Writing Down the Bones - the latest of which is here and my latest perspective exercise (details here) the rule of common countesy is in effect, meaning if you post an entry and thus want polite feedback then you should read and comment on others who also do this exercise.

OK, this is that ever popular game where readers suggest words, names, and quotes and then I'll comb through the suggestions and assign which ones those brave souls who participate must turn into a story.

I am also publishing this to the writing advice group because this would be a good time for anyone with writing, grammar or editing questions to ask them - you can get immediate writing advice here and here.

As usual people can choose whether to just post the resulting stories below or post a link below to their story posted as their own article. Clip or publish that piece to Scott's Writing Assignments.

  • Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.

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Published to:

  • Scott (Scoop) Butki's Column, All of Newsvine
  • Groups: Fiction Writers, Scott's Writing Assignments, Writing and grammar advice
  • Regions: none
  • Public Discussion (51)
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Look here for an idea on how this works

Can I get people to start nominating:

words

names

objects

and quotes

thanks

  • 4 votes
Reply#1 - Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:11 PM EDT
Soovivers

Can I get people to start nominating:

..and make them reasonable please. I learned my lesson...lols

  • 3 votes
Reply#2 - Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:26 PM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

I usually reject words that someone who is not an anglophile would not know.

  • 4 votes
#2.1 - Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:43 PM EDT
Reply
Soovivers

anglophile

Well I would hope so Scott. lols But still.....easier would be good for me anyway .

  • 4 votes
Reply#3 - Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:48 PM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Perhaps I should have been more clear - I block picking words that most people couldn't define without having to look it up.

  • 2 votes
#3.1 - Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:09 PM EDT
Soovivers

anglophile - see Scott I even had to look that word up...easy is good. I see Tommy has written some good ones down for us this morning.

  • 4 votes
#3.2 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:08 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

i was leading by example,... of what not to do.

  • 3 votes
#3.3 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:05 PM EDT
Reply
Tommy-1025077

Extoll, persevere,crucible,queue,rabunctious,rancor,scoundrels,trifling,tirade,uncouth

Abigail

Ebenezer

Geraldine

Ethel

Otto

Leonardo

“And in the end, the love you take, Is equal to the love you make.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

Albert Einstein

  • 3 votes
Reply#4 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:44 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

good ones!

  • 3 votes
#4.1 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:06 PM EDT
Reply
USAF Vet-923294

Been awhile since I played this. So, here goes......

WORDS:

Obnoxious

Glock

Ecstatic

Shallow

Exuberant

Abysmal

NAMES:

Chester

Max

Bohdi

Christiona (Pronounced: Chris - shawna)

Dail

Morgan

Anthony

QUOTES:

"Friends are like roses...you have to look out for the pricks!" - author unknown

"Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace." - Martin Luther

"All men kill the thing they hate, too, unless, of course, it kills them first." - James Thurber

"You can close your eyes to things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't want to feel." - Author Unknown

  • 3 votes
Reply#5 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:27 PM EDT
Soovivers

Quotes

We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.

Winston Churchill

Odd how much it hurts when a friend moves away- and leaves behind only silence.

Pam Brown

I'm odd looking. Sometimes I think I look like a funny muppet.

Angelina Jolie

Words

splendid

excellent;

extravagant

Names

George Carlin

Eddie Murphy

Barbara Walters

  • 3 votes
Reply#6 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:20 PM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Great. I'll keep accepting nominations through Saturday

  • 3 votes
Reply#7 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:01 PM EDT
MoonCrow

People:

druids

Freemasons

John Singleton Mosby

Quote: "As I was walking up the stairs,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
dear God I wish he'd go away!"
--Author Unknown

Words:

scuttlebutt

discombobulated

ouija board

  • 4 votes
Reply#8 - Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:37 PM EDT
Soovivers

Ohhh Mooncrow I love that quote. Really! So meaningful yet not. lols

  • 4 votes
Reply#9 - Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:28 AM EDT
MoonCrow

:-)

  • 4 votes
#9.1 - Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:32 AM EDT
USAF Vet-923294

It reminds me of something I used to hear when I was a kid:

One dark day, in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight, back to back they faced each other, drew out swords and shot each other. If you don't believe this lie is true, ask the blind man, he saw it too.

  • 4 votes
#9.2 - Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:17 PM EDT
MoonCrow

Actually, I don't think the quote is attributed to an unknown. I poked around a bit and found that it is from the poem, Antigonish, that had 3 verses. It is by American educator and poet Hughes Mearns. I've always liked it.

  • 4 votes
#9.3 - Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:37 PM EDT
Reply
Scott (Scoop) Butki

The next writing down the bones exercise is now up. topic is screens

  • 2 votes
Reply#10 - Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:18 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

I'm choosing the words from above tomorrow at noon.

  • 2 votes
Reply#11 - Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:23 PM EDT
Soovivers

Scott - are the words up yet? Can't find them but there are a few links I may have missed. lols

  • 3 votes
Reply#12 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:14 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

No I got busy yesterday (first day subbing at the school for the blind and it was fascinating but exhausting and, of course, no net use while at work)

word choices coming in two minutes

can i get a drumroll please?

  • 2 votes
#12.1 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:06 AM EDT
Soovivers

That's ok - I thought maybe I was missing them. No hurry at all.....

Taaaa daaaaaa

  • 2 votes
#12.2 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:10 AM EDT
Reply
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Your mission, should you accept it, is to write, by the deadline of Oct. 31, a short story of at least 400 words which contain these names:

Albert Einstein

Chester

Max

George Carlin

Eddie Murphy

Barbara Walters

these words

Obnoxious

Glock

Ecstatic

splendid

excellent;

extravagant

scuttlebutt

discombobulated

ouija board

and these quotes

"Friends are like roses...you have to look out for the pricks!" - author unknown

And in the end, the love you take, Is equal to the love you make.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.”

Then you post a link in this article to your piece and a link from your piece back to here so we know you've done it and so we know to go read it. Also try to publish it to Scott's Writing Assignments and/or Fiction Writers

Good luck!

Any questions?

  • 2 votes
Reply#13 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:17 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

My entry:

So there I was, walking around with my buddy, Chester, and he was carrying his glock. He thought it made him look tough. This would all be well and good and made us look badass except for one problem. Well, two if include the fact my imaginary friend, Albert Einstein.Oh and did I mention Chester's a stuffed animal.

We were painting the town red - Chester, Albert and I - but then we ran into my archnemesis. Mad. Phhtt! (Yeah I spit whenever I say his name - sorry computer screen.)

Max things he's bad add like us but his imaginary friends, Barbara Walters and Eddie Murphy, well, I have no respect for either. And who carries around a stuffed animal with a name like George Carlin. Sure, Carlin was funny but to have him inside a stuffed ape (there's an evolution joke in there somewhere.) well, that's just plain weird.

Max pointed his finger at me and said,"Friends are like roses...you have to look out for the pricks!"

It is on! We were having us a good ol' fashion quote off and I came armed.

I said, “I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live"

He began to sing that prince song "I will die for you" and I sang back, "And in the end, the love you take, Is equal to the love you make"

I won - the beatles always win. He told me he had one quote left to use but it didnt really fit. He'd received it in the mail. He showed it to me: “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person."

Weird, could there be a third person in town who was into quoting? We both silently pondered this possibility briefly.

We made splendit plans for later - hey just because we're nemesis (nemeses?) didn't mean we couldn't do anything together - to use a ouija board later. Sure, Max may be obnoxious but sometimes we have fun that goes beyond ecstatic. It's usually nothing extravagant, just something excellent that - if alcohol is involved - leaves me a bit on the discombobulated. I can usually tell how bad off I am by how much I hear Albert talking. When I start to understand his equations I know i'm gone.

And THAT is the scuttlebutt on my life here in Minnesota.

  • 2 votes
#13.1 - Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:24 AM EST
Soovivers

Yay Scott you finished your random word story. See it was difficult huh? I think the glock and the prick joke were the worst to work in......Great job!

Oh and I just checked they were both from Ben (USAF). Let's not let him play anymore....lols

  • 3 votes
#13.2 - Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:56 AM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

I'll take that under consideration

In a few weeks I'll put up a new exercise for Dec and Jen.

  • 2 votes
#13.3 - Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:02 PM EST
Soovivers

I'll take that under consideration

Thank you - now will you tell him or do I have to? lols

  • 1 vote
#13.4 - Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:58 AM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

You can.. or you can await my decision.

  • 1 vote
#13.5 - Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:15 AM EST
Soovivers

Well I guess I should wait for your decision since you are in charge. Maybe we should chip in and get poor Ben a dictionary and a book of quotes that has normal 'words' in it? I think he is using of of those highfalutin books. lols

Ben, Oh Ben......

  • 2 votes
#13.6 - Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:23 AM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Now we're going to cause him agita! it's all good - no worries

  • 1 vote
#13.7 - Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:55 AM EST
Soovivers

agita

Ahhh - so you are using the same dictionary. lols Scott!

Ok - I'll leave you and Ben alone - until he shows up anyway.

  • 2 votes
#13.8 - Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:22 PM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

I thought I was safe using words of under ten letters:)

agita - short for agitate:)

  • 2 votes
#13.9 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:36 AM EST
Soovivers

agita - short for agitate

I knew what it meant Scott - well I did look it up though. lols

Some of the random words were under ten letters like Glock but they were still difficult to put into a story. Then I had people telling me the story would be better without that word. lols If they only knew how difficult it was to find a place to put it.

I'll work on turkey this week and see if I can somehow write about being a turkey without looking like one too.

  • 2 votes
#13.10 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:35 AM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

i'm sure you wont look like a turkey

  • 1 vote
#13.11 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:52 AM EST
USAF Vet-923294

Is Sooviviers gone? I understand she is upset with me. Little ole me. ;0 (

  • 4 votes
#13.12 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:40 PM EST
Soovivers

Is Sooviviers gone? I understand she is upset with me

Finally you show up Ben - it took forever for you to get here. You left me holding a Glock and a 'prick' word and then took off. lols.

I asked Scott not to let you play anymore because of your random words but he is 'considering' it. Did ya notice Scott is using your dictionary? He said 'agita' and I had to look it up.

I thought you would turn up sooner then you did but now you're here. I'll try to think of more things to say about ya. *smiles* I don't want to talk behind your back....

  • 3 votes
#13.13 - Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:54 AM EST
Reply
Soovivers

Here's a real drumroll Scott!

http://www.ilovewavs.com/Effects/Music/Sound%20Effect%20-%20Drum%20Roll%2002.wav

  • 3 votes
Reply#14 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:24 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

bookmarked for future use

  • 3 votes
#14.1 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:00 PM EDT
Reply
Tommy-1025077

My entry is here. I hope you like it.

  • 2 votes
Reply#15 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:55 PM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

Dang that was fast! I'll get to it tomorrow, ok?

  • 3 votes
#15.1 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:10 PM EDT
Tommy-1025077

Ok, I fixed it too. Take care.

A Small Town, Country Boy

  • 3 votes
#15.2 - Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:21 PM EDT
Reply
Scott (Scoop) Butki

How's everyone coming on this? Tommy I haven't forgotten yours - I just clipped it to my column to read after church

  • 3 votes
Reply#16 - Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:57 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

The next writing exercise from a different perspective is now up. Details here.

  • 3 votes
Reply#17 - Sat Oct 3, 2009 10:14 AM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

I lead four - up from the usual three - writing exercises. The fourth, a new photo challenge, will go up on Wednesday as part of Good News Wednesday.

The three are:
this monthly perspective exercise - this month candy, last month backpack - you can always do older ones - there's no expiration date on these.

random words exercise
and the
weekly writing down the bones exercise, the current one being rain

We are currently also doing a special extra one where we are writing a halloween story together here.

My backpack one is here, my rain one is here and I'll post my candy one as soon as I stop stalling by typing these links and start writing - i've been waiting for inspiration to strike and it hasnt yet.

  • 2 votes
Reply#18 - Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
USAF Vet-923294

Whew.......Finally got mine done. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

http://bad4.newsvine.com/_news/2009/10/16/3391810-taking-a-trip?threadId=703502&commentId=10132664#c10132664

  • 3 votes
Reply#19 - Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:51 PM EDT
Scott (Scoop) Butki

checking it out now

  • 3 votes
#19.1 - Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:05 PM EDT
Reply
Scott (Scoop) ButkiDeleted
Scott (Scoop) Butki

A new writing exercise - celebrity fiction - is up and another one, changing voices will go up tomorrow.

  • 1 vote
Reply#21 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:05 AM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

A new changing voices exercise is here

  • 1 vote
Reply#22 - Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:51 PM EST
Scott (Scoop) Butki

The new writing down the bones exercise is now up here

    Reply#23 - Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:22 PM EST
    Scott (Scoop) Butki

    I'm doing a new random words one here

      Reply#24 - Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:22 AM EST
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