I'll take the other thing.

[in_the_blue]

I miss the days when I used to host writing challenges right here in this very journal.

So. Now that the seventh Harry Potter book has been written... I think it's time for a different kind of writing challenge. I used to host the short-short ficlets, 300 words or less, open fandom.

Today, I'm going OC. And that doesn't stand for Orange County: it stands for original character.

Ready? 3, 2, 1, let's... get inspired to write original fiction, folks. The theme for the challenge is change: take 500 words to introduce an original character and demonstrate some measure of change for him, for her, for it.

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Rules:

• Fandom: original only


• Word count: 500 or less


• Main theme: change


• Ratings: No restrictions.


• Duration: Challenge opens now (August 30) and closes at 11:59 p.m. in whatever time zone you inhabit on Wednesday, September 5.

Post your ficlets as comments to this entry. Feel free to do as few or as many as you want, and if you see one you really like, be sure to leave a review or a comment. Remember, original fic only. I'll crack my knuckles and get going as soon as I get a few hours' sleep.

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NOTE: All ficlets in comments here are the property of their respective writers. Consider them copywritten with all rights reserved. If you want to quote, copy, or redistribute, please get the author's permission first. Otherwise, I'll have to lock this down. Thanks.

Comments

DOOO EEET!

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Lasso up, write 'em down, ride 'em out, move 'em up, tie 'em down... rawhide. *whipcrack*

Can't wait to see more!

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah *loves*

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is a cool challenge! I will take you up on it.

Must charge brain.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

*hugs* *loves back!*

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've got actually backstory kicking around here somewhere...it needs cleaning up...and ideas of where the story goes in the future. Maybe I'll write something up!

Re: 506 words: Original.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I loved the tension, it was really poignant.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Intrigueing! I want to know more of what's going on, the five w's, if you will. Nicely done!

Re: Well , here goes nothing, I just finished this last night!

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

This is very good. Disturbing, in a creepy, one of the characters is dead, kind of way, but very good. :)

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

This is really intriguing! Even though I don't know what the situation is exactly, you've characterized them so well that I can tell what their relationship must be like just from this bit. That's impressive!

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Please do write up some more! I really like where I think this is headed and your desriptions really nailed me to the setting. Love it!

Re: Well , here goes nothing, I just finished this last night!

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the compliment! I hope to make this into a full length novel and I am only 60000 words short! (there is more but it looks like a hoighschool outline for a term paper)

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Your comments motivated me, and I found the backstory and cleaned it up. Hee!

Part I: http://no2ticonderoga.livejournal.com/5756.html

Part II: http://no2ticonderoga.livejournal.com/5971.html

Re: 506 words: Original.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

You know, if you haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife yet, I think you'd really love it. Stylistically, this made me think of that work.

(And I really liked that book for the most part.)

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see what you come up with. You're so blasted CREATIVE.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, these are two somewhat minor characters in this novel I've been writing off and on for a while. Minor but pivotal. It's fun to explore the two of them. It's almost like writing fanfiction for my own stuff.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm all beaming and everything. I like these two characters and exploring them is kind of fun! Since they're part of a novel, the challenge for me is in working up shortfic for these guys. So I stuck to my 500 words exactly, and I'm all thrilled about that and everything.

Re: 506 words: Original.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Thanks G! I'll have to try that book out. ;)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

it seemd to come jsut atthe right moment too. i heard soemone sayign they had an outburst of liek 4000 words al lat once and i felt lie ki do whe nsomeoen says they jsut hada great piece of chocolate. lol.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Ok Part one IS MAGNIFICENT! I am going to do some work here and read part 2 later. It is hard not to jump right in though...You got me. I love there people and their mad dance.

The metaphor is luscious, and has me finding the rhythm in every scene. Wonderful. You pacing is dead on.

OH I Damnable work!

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Jeremiah didn't know what he had expected, but this certainly wasn't it. I guess evil intentions don't necessarily translate to villain's lair after all, he thought wryly as the henchmen shoved him roughly forward. The room, far from looking overtly sinister, in fact looked more like a country kitchen (though there was no stove in sight). It was warm and inviting, but Jeremiah dreaded the confrontation that was to come.



She appeared before him, and suddenly, inexplicably, he was reminded of June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver. Surely this couldn't be a woman intent on taking over the world. But she is, he reminded himself, looking up for strength. You have to stay firm, stick to the plan.



A laugh filled his ears, and his eyes were drawn back to her. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a braid, and her deep blue eyes seemed like bottomless pools. She laughed again. "I can tell what you're thinking, Jeremiah, and it won't work."



He panicked. "You…can read minds?" he asked warily, trying to think of anything but the plan.



A third laugh. "No, you silly boy, but I can read people. You have come here today," she said slowly, looking into his eyes as she spoke, "to try to…shall we say, persuade me to give up."



He shook his head. "No, you're wrong. I don't just want to persuade you. I want to change your mind. To help you see that what you're doing is all wrong, and it's just going to hurt people!"



The fourth laugh washed over him, and he felt fear course through him like a bolt of lighting.



***



"Change?" she asked, her calm smooth voice belying the fire that flashed in her eyes. "My dear, dear girl, that simply is not possible."



"But why not?" Abby asked defiantly. "You've seen, you know! Nothing is truly impossible."



The woman strode around her desk and grabbed Abby before her movement even registered. If she had thought the woman's eyes were fiery before, Abby had been wrong. Now they were an inferno.



"You don't know the meaning of the words possible and impossible," she said, hissing practically spitting out the last word. She took Abby's face in her hand, her long, red fingernails feeling sharp against Abby's cheek. "You are nothing but an impertinent child. If you knew what I have been through, if you had faced the same situation, you would understand why I am doing what I do." She dragged her index finger down Abby's cheek before pushing the girl's face aside. "But of course, you are one of them, so you're here trying to change me." Abby was nursing her cheek, but the sneer was evident in her voice. "Don't talk to me of change, for I have already changed more than you could ever know."



Abby dared to look up, and was stricken by what she saw. Underneath the enraged, calculating exterior, Abby could have sworn there was a glimmer of a wounded child, but then it was gone. Perhaps she had just imagined it, and perhaps she hadn't. Either way, the woman was right. Asking her to change her mind had been a futile attempt, the hope of a child. Asking wouldn't change anything. It was up to her, to her and to Jeremiah, to find a way out of this situation.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Wow. Talk about intriguing. This is like looking in through a hole in the fence and only getting to see the little overt bits and pieces. It makes me wonder what's going on here, who's who, what's what. And I have to say that the long red fingernail imagery is so classically bad-girl that it works really well in a short piece. Now I'd like to see more, get the scenario spelled out or illustrated, and try to sort out the various relationships these three people have.

(Also, I miss writing with you.)

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

ok....

Part two had me grinning ear to ear for the better part of an hour and then my eyes went glassy with aborted tears.

This here, should be a friggin book. FINISH IT! PLEASE! Now I am chomping at the damned bit to know what happens next.

That is why I could just feel the tension in the short peice you wrote. There is a beautiful and terrible tragedy behind them.
Love it. You had me at, "I'm being a brat."

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Selfishly, it's very gratifing to hear someone has enjoyed your work. I LOVE writing AJ and Beth, so there may be more. I'm really, really busy right now (I'm just starting my first year teaching), but I may tinker in my free time. Look for more over at that journal, that's where it'll be when it comes around.

Thanks again!

(And thanks to G for hosting the challenge! :) )

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Happy to offer my praise, especially since it is deserved. I'll be happy to see what you have when you have it!

Indeed thanks to G.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

My pleasure. And it's quite evident that you love writing AJ and Beth, and it always has been. All I want to do is give people an outlet for their creativity.