Unlikely Partners: Your main character is left in the forest to die, as the annual sacrifice to the god of the forest. The god shows up, but this year he is not interested in the death of his sacrifice. He is looking for a new servant and/or sidekick. Claudia kicked and strained at the bonds …
Leila and Marya walked home together, laughing over everything and nothing. They were stopped just outside the gate by a stone-faced soldier. “What is your business on the Governor’s estate?” Marya looked him up and down. “We live here.” “You’re not staff, please turn around and leave.” She spoke a little slower. “No. We live …
I needed to deal with the ghost. She’d been in the spirit jar quite long enough and would hopefully be open to a little discussion on appropriate behaviour and how she found herself as a ghost in the first place. I took the jar into the back larder and laid it in a ward ring …
Marya dashed from the bakery, skipping across the road to where Leila was waiting. "Did you hear? It IS going to be the Prince. We're going to have a royal governor." Leila replied. "Lady Oren told us when she came into the shop today. She's decided to leave the island, something about old ways and …
The Snow Dragon: You are in the mountain forest when you come face to face with the snow dragon: an adorable, furry, and surprisingly tiny creature who breathes fire. I’m up in the forest above my town, one of my usual foraging expeditions. My garden’s herbs and other harvests are good, but wild-grown is better …
“I just don’t like the idea of you keeping secrets from me.” she looked up at him with huge, sad eyes. “And you’re not keeping any from me?” Mira gaped at Roman. How on earth could he even think that? She loved him, she’d never hide anything from him. Except for maybe that little splurge …
Another of the Steering the Craft exercises: The untold event: Give us a glimpse of the mood and nature of some event or deed by describing the place—room, rooftop, street, park, landscape, whatever—where it happened or is about to happen. The room was ready. Crisp, white cloths on the round tables, polished silverware and cut …
A New Order Raoul sat back in his chair and surveyed his office with pride. It was exactly as it should be; a wall of bookshelves with important-looking tomes covering every inch, a sideboard along the opposite wall for when he needed refreshments for his important visitors and his desk in the middle of the …
Another exercise from Steering the Craft. This time to write, then rewrite, the same basic scene, including transitions between the present and the past, but each time use a different Point of View and set of tenses. I find it fascinating how the voice changes, and different details become more important. Version 1 – All …
The rain had been and come and gone through the late afternoon and evening and I woke to a clear day, with a brisk breeze carrying hints of the chill expected at this time of year. After the usual chores, I decided to spend the morning in the forest, a mix of foraging and of …
The DNA of Stories 