in_the_blue | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

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!!

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...

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.

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.

I'll take the other thing.

leaving home

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