in_the_blue | I'll take the other thing.

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writing challenge

I'll take the other thing.

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.

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I got that cold feeling of excitment in my stomach! I felt the spray in my hair! Fingers are still tingly, I wanto to see where this goes!

This tenison and uncertainty is marvelous!

Please keep going.

I want to have a big gun and be a part of this squad. The setting is like summer rain on old cement great. Reminds me of Hellboy and Shadowrun.

This reminds me of Mercedes Lackey, and put me right in the Rennaissance Faire I used to work at. That sense of "home" and "not home" is evident! There is an old tune:

Here's a health to this company, and one to my lass, let us drink and be merry all out of one glass, let us drink and be merry all grief to refrain...for this company might never all meet here again.

Develop this! Don't stop!

holy crap!! i have never even read Mercedes lackey.
think i knwo that tune yo utalked about. Is that an irish one?
this is part of alogner story. it's the second snippet i wrote for it (the other one I did last year.) for now it's jsut fragments but you can be sure i started to reall yfeel it once i sat down to write this. Like i told in_the_blue, i got more ideas and notes afterwards...
oh adn renaissance fair..wel lit takes place in ireland but i'm not sure which t ime period exactly (i'm guessing oen fo the famines...)
thank you.

Strap me down and inject some more please.
Lol! Glad you liked it.

Unfortunately, the next scene is to go back and write the beginning scenes. This is from the middle/late part of a story idea I have...now I just have to find the time to work on the beginning!

Yvonne, I love this. I love the immediacy of the first-person narration and the way you have so much in such a short space! It's like peeking in on the closing paragraphs of a folk tale. I'd love to read more.

oh thanks. i'm surprised it hits so well. i' mso scared it still is clunky. you seem to alwasy getthat when you haven't written for months except i now finally believe for myself that it acutally flowed very well.
it is part of a longer work. i liek how yo usaid it wsa the closign of a folk tale. i want t osetthis in ireland, 19th century i think, and i have to first read a lot of mythology to besure i can make this authentic.
it's acontinuatio nof something from last year's challenge. i first wanted someoen toread that out of her gran's diary but tyhis weekend i jsut snapped those parts and this woman just started to tel lthe story. it's oen of the few tiemssomething literally tells me 'this has to be first person'.
so i don'tk now if your challenge was the flodogate, or the factthat I finally know how to tell this? I plan to use yoru challenge for more by way of explorign stuff. unless iget ideas for the thign i originlly wanted to go for. we'll see.

You were visited by the muse! I love when that happens.

She is a fun and fabulous fantasy/sci fi writer known for her Valdemar stories.

It feels like a mythical Ireland or a connection between real Ireland and a mythical one. You are welcome this is good stuff, I cannot wait to see where she is going and where she is from!

Aw poop. That was me!!

Work it where ya feel it I say! I'll read it from anywhere. Good stuff!

i knw her by name, i jstu never read any of her work.
you hit the nail right on the head. ittakes place in ireland. ican't say muc hmore because i don't know the whole structure yet, but i plan to play with myths and legends adn hope that no-one thinks i'm ripping off of Bradley...

apparently I was.
i' mdebatign to give more detaisl at all. i have a tentative title though .adn a main thread that has something to do wit hprecious stones (i will try m ybest not to palantiri or some other kidn of charm).
by the wa yfterwards i checked that zokutou wordcoutner or however it'sspelled. 239 words or so. pheeeews. i coudl have been muc hclearer and still be under the limit. mainly i tried to excersise to mind the ramble while writing and alsot otry notto puttoo much incomplete stuff intaht i woudlnt' be able to explain at once.

holy crap!!!

i am sososososoglad you quitwriting hp fiction. yo uare in for so much more than that. yeeesh i want to read more ofthis.
by the way you're great with the putting much info in less words without having us overwhelmed by the amoutn of info and untold backstory.
i don't knowwhy buti remember you once said somethign about negative space? about seeign a drawignand the most important part of it was what you coudln't see because it was there anyway? either that or i jsut wantto give this thing a name that makes me so much more drawn to what isn't told and still the reader gets to know it. wow.

holy crap!!!

auuuuuugh. i neglected looking at usernames and assumed i was reading in_the_blue's stuff. everything stillstands except the 'quit writing hp fic' bit. which was to G andals ostill stands. *facepalm*

just like i said in the wrong comment *hiss* i'm glad you quit writing hp fic. you'vebecome too good to play around there.
i think i want to read your books when i am big enough. i like this. it'sclear you've seen lots of scifi, space rocketship etc stuff and know how the crew works and the dynamics etc. notthat i know much about it but it feels good to read something and know the author is familiar enough with the stuff to make me feel sure it' soudns real. did that make sense? i just sometimes feel lke well i don't know neough to make sure someone is painting the right picture and so forth. And with you i don't need to wonder about that.
And it all sounds so easy. It just flows. Like that one story of yours i read that i forgot to beta because it was so good...well i don't want to be your editor. I'd forget my job and just get the book to printing without even asking you.
fuck. why is everyone on my flist so good withthis stuff.

thank you for making me feel all warm and cosy. I'm looking forward to see those two catch up for real. On the other hand this is in such away enough that i wouldn't mind if it jsut stayed stand-alone. there is no big enormosu need to narrate the whole 'what pappened next' or 'hw didit come to this'. tha's so coo lwhen you're able to fit everything that does need to be told in such a small bit.
Oy with the clunky reviews. it's been ages since i did this so i probably sound all fake and like i i nreality don't have a clue what to say. Well this was just nice and casual and intimate at the same time.

Thank you. Here's my little secret: I don't know how the ship works. I have no idea. I just made it up so it made sense to me, and that's what I'm going with. If I have confidence as an author that it makes sense (I know a fair few scifi writers/editors so I know what's expected in terms of explanation and workability), then it will make sense to the readers. Besides, I don't really give a rat's ass about the mechanics of space travel. I care about what the characters are doing; the backdrop of deep space is just the setting, the gravy, the little carrot I'm holding out.

The best compliment I've gotten on this story so far was from my husband, who's read almost all of it so far - some 88 pages - and he said "This is cool because it's set in the future but that almost doesn't matter. It could be anywhere or any time." And that's what I like to hear: the fine detailed mechanics of things don't matter but the scene I set does. Plus, you know me: the characters matter the most.

i meantthe crew, notthe ship itself .i meant what it's liek to be on a ship. to sort of knw how they interact etc. and your husband is right .for what it's worhtthey coudl be in a car oen fothem sayign 'e have to go back for that dog' adn it'd still work. and i dind'teven care when it'sset. it's just well.
i wnt t owrite liek that when i grow up. I'd liek to have peoel drawn to the chracters adn knowign instantly where the yare and jsut picturingthe thingin their head without me having to do a lot. adn with your stuff teh image doesn't matter so much. i'm hearing the dialogue in m hedaand i'm just paying attention t othe prose. heh. this is one o thoe styels whrey ou jsut need to read the words and real yread the words to gethe story.

Thank you. :)

With a crew of two, there's not much beyond pilot and copilot, and that can apply in an airplane or on a spaceship or in a car or on a cruise liner or walking down the street, really. And I love that it's all incidental.

I knew he woudl dl it. :)This made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Wow. Is this part of something longer? Or will this be? It's a bit confusing, it reads a bit like a fragment to me.

yay!!!

This is another one to cinvince me that romance and romanticcomedy works better with me if it's in books rather than films.

that is so wird. That we both saw this theme and then write somethign about someone who's leavign home. heh...I wonder where he's goingthough.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm working on rounding it out a little!

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I'll take the other thing.

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

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Re: leaving home

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

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Re: I ran over...sue me.

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Re: 506 words: Original.

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Re: I ran over...sue me.