Leila waved Marya off on her errands from behind a small mountain of assorted vegetables. She settled into a rhythm of chopping and scooping, from pile, to board, to pot; soothed by the easy repetition and the quiet, comfortable noises of the kitchen, punctuated by bursts of conversation from the public eating room as the …
Isobel smiled sweetly at the maid holding her morning dress out for approval, “No.” The maid darted a scared look between the princess and her disapproving governess. “Your Highness, you must be suitably outfitted for your first meeting with your fiancé.” “And I will be, but since he’s not arriving until mid-afternoon and I’m not …
Anaria thought she’d never sleep the night before her wedding, but older heads conferred and had her busy enough in the days before that she fell straight into her bed in the lovely blue room and knew nothing more until the sun peeked in on her the next morning. She lay for a minute, simply …
This is an exercise taken from Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft. To write a piece with no punctuation. It's a terrifying thing to do, but the result is unexpectedly interesting... The air is filled with the sounds of people calling to each other and calling to get out of the way and berating those …
I woke to unexpected heat. The weather had decided to take a turn back to mid-summer and I had to dig out something cooler to wear to visit one of my forest neighbours as planned. The unseasonal weather was not something she’d welcome. As a mushroom sprite, Amanita prefers the darker, cooler weather we’d been …
A rich laugh came from the doorway, both Liam and Anaria looked around, startled. “You put him on the floor easily enough but he got back up again far too quickly.” Liam smiled, “Anaria, I know you’ve met her before, but I would like you to properly meet my mother, and that may even be …
Leila woke slowly. She was in a bed, it wasn’t moving. Had the whole thing been a dream? She opened her eyes. No. This bed was much larger than her one in Carra, the whole room was larger, and had a wooden door rather than a curtain. This was Port Watch. There were voices outside …
Exercise using a single word prompt Simeon opened his eyes to darkness. He was lying on what seemed to be a bed, quite a comfortable one, and his surroundings held the soft hush of fabric and wealth. There were no drips or draughts or strange creaks to be heard. While this was welcome in one …
I woke one morning with no plans other than a consultation with a new client. Someone had seen fit to turn the town mayor into a badger and he’d asked for my assistance. For no other reason than to hear the story behind it, I agreed and further agreed to wait on him at his …
Millie stood in Edda’s study, shifting from one foot to the other as Edda dialled Millie’s mother’s phone number. It started to ring, the sound echoing tinnily through the speaker, Edda handed Millie the phone. Her mother answered. “Hello?” “Hi Mum. It’s me. Edda says it would be nice to call you once a week …
The DNA of Stories 