Post Three

This week our class was asked to create a character description and portray it in some sort of creative fashion. I chose to write an obituary to show information about my character.

Troy McKinley passed away this Saturday. He died of natural causes and was found in the shed, sleeping with his dogs, as was common for him. His death was quite peaceful for a man who lived an extraordinary life. He was born in Glasgow Scotland in the year 1897. He grew up with his mother and father until the age of sixteen when they died tragically in a house fire.

 At the age of twenty one, a big burly young Troy decided to explore the world. He went on safari in Africa, backpacked in Europe and hiked in the Himalayas. What called to him the most was the beauty of the winter tundra. He loved dog sledding, hunting, camping and many other outdoorsy activities. Troy was most-well known for his shocking survival story. Troy managed to survive being lost in the tundra in the middle of a snow storm. It was his favorite adventure, if you consider losing a few toes to frostbite as an adventure.

 Troy eventually settled down into a quiet cabin in the woods. He called it his "sanctuary", a place him and his sled dogs could live peacefully. Even as an old man he couldn't be convinced to move inland where it was safer and closer to medical help. He insisted on staying in his quaint cabin, saying that he "rather die in the beauty of nature than live in a city of concrete."

Even with those mysterious green eyes and thick brown hair Troy never settled down with a wife and kids. Not to say women didn't try to nab him, but he already had a love, his one true love, the wild. He will be missed dearly by his friends and his sled dogs. Troy McKinley, the man with an extraordinary life.

My teacher instructed the class write a 55 word story or twister (140 characters including spaces & punctuation). Below you will notice that there are one of each written.

 Twister:

Her eyes, fantastic. That smile, dazzling. Everything about her was amazing. She will be mine. I think, as I hide in her bushes… Watching.

Fifty five word story:

Lucas squeezes his eyes shut, waiting dreadfully for the sharp, agonizing pain to pierce his flesh. Sweat drips down the back of his neck. Will this be the end? He thinks to himself. Something cool suddenly touches his skin."AHHHH!!!"  he screams in utter horror. Sir, that was only the cotton swab, the nurse explains.

I find my twister a little bit creepy but it is exactly 140 characters so I am proud of it. Although, I have to admit that I enjoy my fifty five word story much more. It makes me laugh and is not nearly as creepy as my twister. All in all this was a fun exercise.

At first, I found it very difficult to come up with a plot for the twister and the fifty five word story. I found this exercise a bit more challenging than the previous ones assigned to me. I am glad I had this experience, it was fun and different. I am curious to see what will come next.