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

I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Characters created by Bernie orginally for RP at D*, but readapted for original cannon.

-------

There was faded Dr. Pepper sign on the side of the general store, and a lone hound dog panting in the heat on the store’s front porch. Across the dusty square was a white Baptist church. Next to the church, a squat wooden shack with a crooked sign said “Hector’s Junction Post Office, Town Hall, Police Station”. An ancient, dusty Ford Crown Victoria police car was parked out front. The whole place seemed asleep. It was like something out of a movie set.

Beth Newburg got out of her rental car and walked up to the general store. The hound dog just kind of raised its head and watched her as she crossed the porch and let the screen door slam shut behind her. There was a man sitting behind the counter, tobacco stains on his shirt and a Faulkner novel in his hand.

Flags in the Dust. How appropriate, she thought. “Excuse me?”

“Yessem?” the man said, sitting up. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for AJ Dawson,” she said. “Can you help me?” she asked.

“I think you found him,” a familiar voice said behind her. “But I’m not expecting anyone…”

She turned around, and there he was, wearing his white oxford shirt, kahki slacks and suspenders, just as she remembered him. His mouth dropped open an inch or two when he saw her.

“Jesus Christ and Gen’rl Jackson,” he breathed. “Beth.”

--

AJ came out of the store, the screen door slamming shut behind him, and handed her a glass bottle of coke, settling into the rocking chair next to her.

“Jesus, Beth, I never expected to see you here. What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

“Looking for you, what the hell do you think I was doing here?” she retorted back at him. Damnit, I’m not going to cry, she told her self. “Why did you think I came all the way out here, to the middle of bloody no where?” she asked him. “I wanted to see you for myself.” She hesitated. “I wasn’t quite sure what to believe anymore.”

“You could have called,” AJ pointed out. “Saved you the trip. We’ve got phones now. Telephone lines and everything,” AJ pointed at the poles out by the street, the aww shucks earnestness a joke in itself, floating across his tone of voice like the notes of a half forgotten song.

“Really now,” she said. “Come a long way then, haven’t you?”

AJ nodded, grinning. “Come a long way since the days when my great-great-great granpappy held off Grant’s damn bluebellies with a handful of local militia.”

“Are you people ever going to let that one go?” Beth asked. “The war’s been over for what…a hundred and fifty years?”

“A hundr’n n’forty, give’r’take,” AJ corrected.

“Fine. A hundred and forty years then.” She was annoyed now. He did that to her.

“Nothing ever changes, here, Beth,” AJ said, gently now, softly conciliating, as he always did.

“Nothing?” she asked, looking at him, searching those damn perfect blue eyes. “Does anything ever change?”

He looked back at her, this idiot man, who’d dropped out of her life nearly four years ago, and then dropped of the face of the world for a full year – everyone thought he’d died! – the man that she still loved, despite it all.

“Sometimes,” he said, finally, reaching out between the rockers and taking her hand. “Sometimes, we get big changes.”

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha, AJ and Beth! I should have known! They're so sweetly mismatched for one another in so many ways, but in other ways they're just perfect.

So here's my question: are you as curmudgeonly as AJ in real life, and Sara as sharp-tongued as Beth?

On another note, this reads like a poetic little scene out of some lazy slice-of-life sothren novella, and what kind of coke d'you want with your sweet potato pie, Mistah Dawson? I'll be curious to see what people who don't know these characters think of this piece.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Hee! This had been percolating, half finished, for months! Glad to have an excuse to make some sense of it!

Well, sometimes, I can be curmudgenonly as AJ, and Sara's always as quick witted as Beth. And sometimes we can both be curmudgenonly. ;) Seriously, though, I don't really know. I love writing AJ, simply because he's so...AJ. He's the "awww, shucks" kind of country boy that I partly am, and wish I was more of. He's so much fun to play with!

I'm looking forward to it to! I love the mental picture in this piece!

(And I've never actually read Faulkner...*hides in shame*)

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

No one has. They just pretend to have done so.

Actually, I like his short fiction. You might be able to guess that I'm kind of a short story fan. I think it's an exquisite craft. So if you ever want to read some of Faulkner's stuff, I'd recommend the short works as a good place to start.

Now I miss AJ and Beth.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Wunderbar! I do not know these characters at all and I must know what happened before and after now! (My reading list is growing by the second here) The opening hit me like Kerouac's Dr Sax. I was transported there, smelling that dog, and watching the condensation off the Coke bottle to the rocking chair. I could see the corner of her mouth twitch when fighting those tears. Oh... it is going to be a busy fall.

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: 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: 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: 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!

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.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah *loves*

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

*hugs* *loves back!*

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[proudofthefish.livejournal.com]

Beth and AJ Sweet tho it is weird with out magic, jut a bit. Was it weird writing them without it?

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

It wasn't for this, because I started without it. When I went back to the other piece, it was hard to take it out and make them muggles, because so many of the scenes relied on their ability to do magic (apparition, portkey, etc). But I think it came out good! :-)

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I miss AJ and Beth...and baby, lol! I take it this is meant to be the reunion that happened in DC, yes? Nice job adapting it.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

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.

Re: I ran over...sue me.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

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