The Moth, and New Prompt
Two nights ago, I had the good fortune to go to an event thrown by The Moth, New York City’s premier live-storytelling outfit.
The event was part of their StorySLAM series, in which ten brave individuals take to the stage to tell a true personal story, in under five minutes, to an audience of their peers. Three groups of judges hand out scores Olympic-figure-skating style.
The evening’s theme was revenge, and the stories were good. The one the judges finally settled on as the winner was my favorite too. Woman gets unceremoniously dumped by her first love. Woman launches on a years-long campaign to get over him, complete with voodoo exorcism. Woman succeeds. Years later, the ex calls. It’s the eve of his 30th birthday and his relationship has just tanked. He asks her to marry him. She turns him down, and it’s the sweetest moment of revenge she’s ever known—not to mention the sweetest revenge I vicariously experienced all night.
The event got me thinking that it’s time for a breath of fresh air here on 400 Words. I want to propose a new, experimental, web-only topic that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while. The assignment: “describe someone.”
Yep. Describe someone you know, as vividly & completely as you can, in 400 words or less. Take a stab, and I’ll print it here.
Also, in the comment thread, feel free to weigh in about what topics you’d like to see for upcoming issues of 400 Words. I had a friend sugggest “Breakups,” a while ago, and I like that because every breakup is a complete story in itself, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. (In fact, I published one piece about breakups a while back, and I’ll run more, if you send them.
More work stories coming up soon, too.
The Moth’s next StorySLAM takes place in NYC on Valentine’s Day Eve, February 13. The theme? “Love Hurts,” of course.
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