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 …
From a '100 Themes' prompt list. Juliana woke to the soft encouragement of the sun through a gap in the curtains. She settled back into the cocoon of bedclothes and relaxed into a doze. There was time. There were no deadlines. There was Mark. She jerked awake. Mark. Was he alright? Would it be too …
Prompt: A character adopts a dog (I made it a cat) from a shelter and unbeknownst to them (yeah, not so unbeknownst in this case), they have taken home an ancient and judgmental mythical creature (in this case, a pooka). Who takes someone on a date to an animal shelter and then gets huffy when …
They had reached the little stone wall separating the cottage's front garden from the path, now little more than a walking track, and found the place pleasantly busy with people cleaning, building, and planting. Leila was enchanted. She’d never seen a place quite like this little stone cottage, sitting alongside two others in a fold …
Prompted by this photo, I just wish I could remember where I found it... Marie clutched the folds of her new cloak close as she wandered the neatly paved paths of the castle gardens. While the stones were in good order, none missing or raised to catch an unwary foot, the bushes on either side …
The DNA of Stories 