Elves and Ghosts and Others...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 09:15:42 -0500

I'm indulging myself a little with some light fantasy... and here is something I stumbled over in it...

from "Bardic Voices" by Mercedes Lackey- "...something about elves...Try something--where a ruler makes a bargain with an elf, then breaks it. Make the retribution something original. No thunder and lightning, being turned into toad, or dragged off to hell. None of that nonsense; it's trite."

[you know, that almost sounds like an exercise for a writer.]

and if you feel up to it, here is a title that might help:

The Ghost That Drank Colors

let's see. a bit of a plot idea, a possible title...

oh, someone wants the first line? how about:

Where the wind turns off the road and wanders lost in ancient oak trees, elves and other eldritch beings are said to find their sport.

So, there you have it. A bit of plot, a taste of a title, and a line to start the dance. Now let the little neurons do their thing, dream and wince and make the keys bounce.

Quite write!

be reading you soon

What Do You Say?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 06:47:57 -0500

[not to rekindle anything, but...while I don't think we should debate this, we could write stories about it, eh?]

Dramatis Personae:

1. A five year old (you pick the sex, emotional/social/etc. finesses, and whatever else you would like to sauce your work with)

2. A dead mother (the original spec was a needle in her arm and a gun at her head -- the later may be hyperbole, or at least stressful. However, as usual, we will allow you the latitude of deciding the conditions...have imagination, will dream!)

3. Other characters (you may choose one or more, making any or all of them spokespersons for whatever beliefs and attitudes you prefer or defer or infer or whatever fer you may feel grows on the shoulders of that strange animule ambling towards a stable under an uneasy star shining down so long ago...:)

The Plot:

Up to you. The basics, though, should include setting up the scene/background (what's happening here ain't exactly clear...stop, children, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down...) and then working us (your readers!) through some development, some change, some enlightenment on the road to dis illusion?

[oh, isn't that a notion? what kind of lamps do they have on the road to dis illusion? and what of the lamplighters, carefully tending what strange flames that enlighten that path? are there ruts in that road or is it cobbled with stone hearts, islands, and other rocks without pain? sigh...just imagine what trees grow in that dry soil, lacking the water of care or the ground of being...this cul-de-sac brought to you by irrelevancies magnanimous:-)

For those of you who prefer it, try the Job gimmick -- the helpful friends, each representing one interpretation of what has happened, and the stiff-necked central figure refusing to accept those easy answers and socially acceptable rationales, insisting on sticking to their own beliefs...

Please note that religious tones, overtones, and insights are optional. I.e., while such backdrops, depths, and social-cultural twists are often brought to bear (and sometimes felt to be lacking) during such times of crisis and trouble, don't drag them in unless they are really a part of the tale. Don't avoid them, either.

In any case, make us feel that story, the pain, the agony, the groping, the tears and fears and bouncing beers (well, it rhymes, even if it doesn't fit). Let us gasp with the shock of having a five year old jump on our stomach, make us smell the grimy grit in the air, let our eyes water and open wide to look with unwavering fortitude at what life and death really mean...or at least the view that a short suspension of disbelief might give us?

Story, poem, essay, more exotic entwining of words and little marks of punctuation, do what you like but don't forget to keep your readers engaged and delighted, wondering and excited...suspense, romance, and other little teasers and taunts to make us read along.

For anyone who wants a one sentence kicker:

"Where's my mother?" the boy said, knuckling one red-rimmed eye while the other blinked rapidly.

You are welcome to use this sentence to start your work, to end it, or whatever. You can even discard it!

write...