The very first section was drawn from an exercise to write without punctuation. It'll need some added in the edit, but I like the breathlessness it gives the paragraph. Memories People were running everywhere scattering and screaming and crying and bleeding as he watched in helpless terror while his arm continued to move the leaden …
They began walking slowly down the path running beside the wall. Isobel paused and turned to the maid. “Oh, please take my sewing back to my sitting room, I don’t think I’ll be doing any more this morning, and my guardians will be here soon enough to chaperone us.” Duncan added, “And if anyone takes …
As Sarah moved across the room to help with arranging Anaria’s hair, someone knocked at the door. Gwen went to answer it, standing to one side as her little brother slipped through the door, wide-eyed. “Mum, you look like a princess.” He flushed at the smiles and chuckles this brought and Sarah gave him a …
An exercise from Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guinn that looks at the same scene from a bunch of different points of view... Rose bent for one final check in the dressing table mirror, adjusted an earring that had somehow twisted, then joined her godmother, Mariana, at the door. Mariana gave her a fond …
It was another three days before Captain Saros's ship, and its passengers, left port. Leila spent the days helping in the kitchen and getting to know the curious locals brought in by Timon and Marya's excursions. Her lap loom was past repair she'd heard, but a master carpenter was willing to try creating a new …
A very silly story based on a randomly drawn Storyteller card and three picture dice. The image on the card determines the character and some of the setting. The images on the dice are supposed to be incorporated into the story at some point but I got a bit carried away after the crab and …
Another exercise from Ursula Le Guinn's Steering the Craft book. This time, to write something gorgeous. To play with the language and not worry about getting too ornate. Calypso arrived at Bondi as the early morning exercise crowds left for work, while the backpackers were still in their bunks after another night of beers and …
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 …
The DNA of Stories 