Person, Proximity, and Tense

Writing exercises can be fun.  I've been playing around with a few different techniques and what I'm learning is each prompt can be recycled and reworked over and over and the stories are so varied that literally a novel is just waiting to be developed.  Here are few fun beginnings. 

Event: Waiting at the bus stop in a winter storm.

Third Person, distant proximity

When temperatures drop and half-clad frozen people need to get home, impatience sets in during the long wait for a bus.  Cold temperatures lengthen minutes, until people are consumed with no other occupation but the attempt to hear the diesel engine, and the hope of fingers thawed.

 
Third Person, present tense, close proximity

The snow is steady now, with gusts of wind blowing flurries side-ways.  A mom wraps her arms around her small child, who is burying face into her chest.  Cars are slowly creeping through the thickening slush and the rev of the bus’ diesel engine calls from around the corner.

First Person, present tense, intimate

The burning sensation is consuming my hands, I set my groceries down out of self-preservation. I shrink into the smallest ball possible and gingerly slip my hands into my jacket, trying to absorb warmth from my tepid core.  Why didn’t I check the forecast this morning?  Bus, please hurry.

 Third Person, past tense, limited omniscience  (and just maybe the beginning of a story?)

The diesel engine settled as the screeching sound of breaks brought the bus to a halt.  Martha unveiled her hands from beneath her jacket and reached for the crisp-wet bag of groceries.  Rising carefully from the bench, she approached the bus door as it opened.

She caught her breath instantly at the sight of him, trying to steady her already uncertain footing.  His blue eyes were deep and penetrating, surrounded by chapped cheeks and disheveled brown hair.  She flushed as his eyes met hers.  He still elicited that response.  How long had it been?  Three years? Their marriage was brief and heated, four impassioned months of bliss and fire. 

Then, she had been green in the way of love, full of fancies.