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.

---

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.

---

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

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

I don't know where this came from, but here it is:

Footsteps on the stairs meant someone was heading for their office. There was nothing else in the basement but the snack machine, and no one had used that since rats had moved into it last winter. The rats were gone now – like half the staff, they hadn’t stayed after Sierra had been named division chief – but nobody wanted to eat from a formerly-rat-infested vending machine. Gabriel said they shouldn’t tell the new staff. Clara would argue with him, but it was pointless. There wasn’t any new staff. And there wasn’t likely to be any. No one would send more people to an office that didn’t do anything. Clara had knit three pairs of cabled socks since July. Her feet would be warm this fall, if it ever got cold.

“The vending machine had rats last winter,” she yelled out the door, but the footsteps continued.

“What?” said a voice, and a man stood in the doorway. “Is that a code?”

Clara dropped her yarn. “Um, no. It’s rats.” He was wearing a badge. He had red hair and freckles and looked like that actor, the one who wore armor in all his movies. “I thought you were coming downstairs to get food because you didn’t know any better.”

“I was coming to find Captain Sierra,” he said. “I need to give him my transfer paperwork.” He held up a sheaf of papers and then looked around the office. He didn’t say, “What the hell?” but Clara could tell he was thinking it.

Clara looked guiltily around the room. It was large, but it was also where everyone in the building had put things they didn’t know what to do with for at least four decades. There was a manual typewriter on one of the desks. Gabriel freely scavenged everything that people left alone for more than half an hour, but that didn’t make the office look any neater. What with Gabriel’s tinkering and the general lack of any real work, it looked like a cross between a machine shop and a yarn store.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m Clara Lindgren. Gabriel went to get pizza. The Captain won’t be in until later.”

“Pizza,” he said, with the air of someone grasping at the one thing that made sense. “Because the vending machine had rats.”

“Right,” Clara said. “I’ll call him and tell him to get extra.”

“I’m Kieran,” he said. “Cavanaugh. Are you really Clara Lindgren? The Clara Lindgren?”

She was blushing, she knew it. She wished she could hide, but the only door besides the one he was standing in was the door to Sierra’s office. “Probably,” she said. “But whatever you heard probably isn’t true.”

He looked at her seriously. “I heard you destroyed an army of gargoyles single-handedly, refused promotion and ended up in, you’ll excuse me, some backwater dump.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, that’s true. Gargoyles have smaller armies than you would think, though. Their generals aren’t good at keeping them loyal. It was only about sixty-five.”

He was staring openly now, and only looked away when he seemed to realize he was being rude. He examined a wall calendar with an array of take-out coupons stapled to it. Clara pushed her bangs to the right, making sure they still hid the scar on her forehead.

They both turned at the sound of someone coming down the hall. Clara expected Gabriel, but it was Sierra. He grinned at her – he knew she was embarrassed, drat him – and then shook hands with Cavanaugh. “Glad you’re here,” he said. “If Gabriel ever gets back from stuffing his face, I need to talk to you all.” He looked at Clara. “You’ve got a case.”

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Woah, this is intense! I defintely know that a lot is at stake, and the villian's argument really ratchets up the suspense. I want to know what's going on!

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

ooh, interesting! Where do they work, is it army or police? I love the 500 word guideline, because there's just enough here to whet our appeties for more!

Very nice!

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Never mind that... the point is that there needs to be more! Because I want to see what happens next! :D

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Hee! The gargoyles were a great twist! I love the disreputable feel of the department, and would love to know more about Clara. How cool is she!

Oops...I didn't reply to you the first time...

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

ooh, interesting! Where do they work, is it army or police? I love the 500 word guideline, because there's just enough here to whet our appeties for more!

Very nice!

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad you could feel the tension, and that you enjoyed the (as yet unnamed) woman's response back. I had lots of fun writing this little snippet, and hopefully will have just as much fun writing the beginning part of it!

Re: I really should get back to my pile of Child Lit books....

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Wow! I love that it's such a good strong character in such a short space. And the way you use sailing to show us his thought processes - it's done with such a deft touch that I only gradually realized how much he was revealing about himself in the things he's thinking about sailing. So well written! You rock!

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! I'm glad you like her! I'm not sure what her background is myself, but I wanted to give her a kind of old-fashioned Grimms'-fairy-tale name. Maybe I'll write more!

Re: Oops...I didn't reply to you the first time...

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks, I'm glad you like it!

I think I'd call it "very weird police," but I'm still working that out myself. :)

[acusa-dora.livejournal.com]

I like the grimy feel of the setting. Rats! Eww! I also like the fact that Clara is famous. She's like the John McLane character in the Die Hard movies. Everyone knows what she did and likely expects magic from her or writes her off the way some people wrote off John in the subsequent films and were then proven wrong.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks, I'm really glad you like it! And now I'm picturing John McLane in my little office... :D

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

This is very... noir. It reminds me of police procedural animes. I like it!

And I tried to stretch my thoughts out and make them last longer, but that's all that wanted to be said about it.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Hee - I'm glad you like it! And I should mention that the rat-infested vending machine is the only true thing in the story. :) Of course, the actual rat-infested vending machine was out in the wilderness, rather than being in a gritty urban setting...

[siriusstar.livejournal.com]

I really have to thank you for posting this challenge. I had a good idea for it, but it is now over 1,000 words and growing. Anyway, the reason I have to thank you is it turns out my recent dissatisfaction with my prologue stemmed from starting it too late in my chronology. The idea I had for this challenge turned out to be the perfect place to begin my prologue! lol.

I'm not sure if I'll have anything fitting to put here, but the challenge was very inspirational!

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Are you going to write more?

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. See, I know a lot of fanfic writers. I think writing fanfiction is a fine and noble tradition; I cut my teeth on and got much better with fanfiction. But there came a point where I wanted to get rid of the crutch of someone else's environment, and I've always written my own fiction... though not always particularly well. With all the post-DH stories floating around out there, I thought it was time for something completely different and I know a lot of people who bemoaned needing a kick in the pants for their original stuff. So if I've inspired anything for anyone, then I feel like this little post did its job and did it very nicely.

I'm really glad you're having such success with your own stuff! Congratulations.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I think I have an idea for Gov's fic challenge with the same people, and then maybe I'll know enough to keep going!

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

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the nod! I like a creep in my intrigue *ba-doom chish*

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

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly! I am fleshing out the next bit should be ready soon I hope. Any specific questions you want answered? I will endeavor to find interesting and fun ways to answer them in the story.

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

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Well, I want to know why V's come back (obviously), and how she died. And why Jack? And why is Jack helping her?

leaving home

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

augh. i'm not sure how man ywords this is...
from my irleand story whic hissupposed to become a fatnas yseries but it's very much under construction now...
It was a wonderful feast. I had to admit that much, though I hated myself for it. Father had

passed away last week. I couldn't send my brother a note while he was still at sea. It

wasn't the right time for aparty. Everyone had decided to keep it as calm as possible,

to play slow airs and sing dad's favourite ballads. Of course, once we start making music we

feel the need for a change at some point, and one of my cousins got enough courage and

picked up the fiddle.
Now we were dancing and singing along, some of us laughing and crying at the same time. It

felt weird to know that this was arranged for me. It was hard to get used to the thoughtt of

leaving home. Still here I was, pulled into a circle of people, dancing along and listening

to their farewell song. From the steps of the house my aunt smiled at me. She was the only

person who knew where I was going. Everyone else was spreading the wildest rumours, but

no-one would ever guess the truth. As for me, i hardly believed it myself. I had to start

believing though, had to accept that my aunt was right. "She must be right," I thought,

looking at the house in the distance.

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

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I'll be posting some more by Friday on my journal once I clean it up a bit. At least one of your questions will be partially answered! YAY!!

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Strap me down and inject some more please.

It is sexy and has my head spinning waiting for the next scene GOOD STUFF!

Keep it comin!

Love it!

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Loverly. This is a tight, strong, tasty little scene. The connections between the elements of speech and action are dead on! Now for...some more!!! Please! Pretty PLEASE!