Strange Bedfellows: A Writing Exercise!

[ElizaPeaks]

Hello friends!

Writing exercises are wonderful things, so I thought it would be fun to start a thread dedicated to Strange Bedfellows! This writing exercise involves picking a topic and theme that seem worlds apart and making them work as a story. I will provide a small list of both topics and themes, but feel free to use your own!

At random, pick a topic from the list below:
Houseplants // Dungeons and Dragons // The local diner // Anime // Girl Scouts // Photosynthesis // Dairy products // Harry Potter // Pirates // Unrealistic body expectations // Football // Meme culture // Space travel

At random, pick a theme from the list below:
Revenge // Loss of a Child // Sins of the Father // Technology is Evil // Alien Abduction // The Power of Friendship // Breaking Traditions // Equality // Falling in Love // Death and the Afterlife // The Apocalypse // Inner Beauty vs Outer Beauty // Man vs Nature

Set a timer for ten minutes - this is how long you have to come up with a synopsis involving both elements that you picked! (If they seem to work well together, then pick something else from the list! Challenge yourself!) Begin your post by listing your two elements!

Example post:

Girl Scouts x Technology is Evil

Girl Scout Troop 47 cookie sales are down, and it's all Troop 15's fault! Bekkie, the star salesman of Troop 15, has partnered with her father's transportation-by-dematerialization company to deliver cookies straight into the cabinets of Summerville citizens. Now, nobody bothers to look up from their phones to make in-person purchases. Troop 47 must fight to regain their cookie-selling territory or their troop could face retirement!

[elenabell]

Dairy products x Death and the Afterlife

John is a dairy farmer. His father was a dairy farmer, and his father's father was a dairy farmer, and his father's father's father was a dairy farmer. He has twelve cows, a good plot of land and not much to worry about. One dewy morning, he finds his best, strongest milking cow dead in the field. She hadn't seemed sick, she wasn't savaged by wild animals- she was just dead. And ever since he found her, John can't shake the eerie, unnerving feeling that he's being followed. Watched. Possibly...pursued? Sometimes at night, after locking the remaining cows in for the night, as he drifts off to sleep, he is roused and shaken by a sound, almost as if it's coming from outside his bedroom door; a low, ominous, but unmistakable....moooooo......

[DD129]

Space travel x Man vs Nature

The year is 2080. Only twenty years before, a machine had been invented that could traverse our known universe and beyond into other realms. Earth as humans knew it was falling apart and, with no hope for resources on their planet, they resolved to travel into others. The first tests had been stable and the practice of space travel quickly became common. However, it seems that nature has had enough of humans' tampering. When a capsule containing Earth's most experienced space jumpers disappears, it is up to the next generation of space jumpers to find them. With nothing but an ominous message, this mission promises to be their hardest yet.

[KDJ]

Houseplants x Sins of the Father

Jacob is an 11-year-old boy. His father was a Botanist before he was unfairly fired from his job only 2 months before retirement. Before this, his father loved teaching him about plants and flora and growing the trees and shrubs in their back yard. But now, he is not allowed in the back yard and he can only take care of the plants inside the house. His father doesn't know but, Jacob saw him dig the grave and place the body beneath the rose bushes. The police are investigating the missing person report of his fathers former boss and colleague. He's been missing the exact time it would take the rose bushes to bloom for fall.......

10 minutes is haaarrrddd!!!