Write Something Fun

7/9/2017

I'm on vacation this week, so I'm going to write something just for fun.

I always do that--it usually leaves me with half a story and a huge outline for a cool new world that gets my juices flowing. Helps me get refreshed and excited for writing when I return.

This year, I thought I'd open it up to you guys: what's a weird, out-of-the-box story I could work on for the next couple of days? (Just to relax, you understand. Every one of you that suggests I spend this time working on my books gets a Karate Chop of Justice.)

Some examples of what I'm talking about:
--When I took a break in the middle of The Crimson Vault, I wrote a scene from the perspective of a powerful dark wizard who personally obliterated any village where a prophesied child was said to be born. He heard a rumor, and he just went out and fireballed it to the ground. No sense taking chances. As a result, he enjoyed a long and productive tyrannical reign.

--One year (I don't remember when, tbh), I wrote about a woman traveling through a forest as one of her trials to become a magic-user in this world. She ends up meeting and befriending a traveling companion, a seemingly insane young man. In the end, it turned out that he was the founder of her order in disguise, and he was coming along to see what the trial was like from the perspective of someone who wasn't a genius.

--Last year, I took extensive notes for a travelogue/journal in the style of The Martian, but on an ocean planet. And not sci-fi, because science requires research and magic requires invention. So this person was a magical space explorer stranded on an ocean planet, trying to survive while adapting to the world's unique magic.

That sort of thing.

It won't likely result in a real short story, but I could at least share something on the blog. A detailed description of what I worked on, if nothing else.

So...you have any thoughts? I can't promise I'll use any of them, but maybe I will! Maybe I'll combine two!

Regardless, should be fun to talk about! At least until my nose is pressed against the grindstone once again.

-Will

99 Comments

Sir Wolpertinger

7/9/2017 08:58:02 pm

Ooo this sounds so freaking cool!
Okay, how about a hero that has just woken up from a stasis spell type thing, and when he goes out to fight the evil tyrannical lord he learns that a thousand years have passed and that evil lord is long dead and is a great hero in the history books.

Chris

7/11/2017 05:58:46 am

That actually sounds like the coolest thing

7/14/2017 08:22:09 pm

Thanks! Even if he doesn't write this you totally just made my day! :D

Will link

7/19/2017 02:09:10 pm

Have you read Dragon Maken War on WuxiaWorld? It starts with a very similar premise, so I think you'd enjoy it.

And I like it because it's got a very technical magic system.

Yosef

7/9/2017 09:13:37 pm

A man made of glass, a talking griffin and the ever present voice known as the narrator (who has already read the story and causes the heroes to lose focus in battles by saying miss placed jokes and enthusiasm such as saying ooh this a good bit) will stop at nothing in their quest for a nice cup of tea.

Jacob

7/9/2017 09:14:43 pm

What about some kind of story (adventure, battle, etc) where it's the world of a D&D game, but the players don't know anything about what their characters can do (the DM gave them partially filled sheets and they start with amnesia?) So as they go along they have to figure out what they can or can't do

Mick

7/9/2017 09:23:26 pm

A story from the perspective of a janitor that works at a secret enclave of magic users. He knows some of the darkest secrets of the order but thinks this knowledge is ordinary until he has a beer with a mate he grew up with.

7/9/2017 09:28:17 pm

The janitor's name is Charles Broomsworth and he has an obsession with finding the best pie maker in town. This is, incidentally, how he ran into his mate who is the second best pie maker in town. Oh, and the town is quite large, so large you could probably call it a city.

daednettle

7/9/2017 10:06:17 pm

I second the janitor story! My suggestion though is that the janitor is a better wizard than most of the mages (though he doesn't really realize how gifted he is) and will occasionally fix a magic circle or script on a chalkboard that has stumped people for generations while he cleans up.

Jay W

7/10/2017 10:00:48 am

This story sounds awesome.

I really like the add on by, Daednettle.

Having the janitor unknowingly be a better wizard than the other mages could lend itself to some funny situations.

Janior
"Wow, this circle is such a mess. Here let me clean it us a bit."

Different Mage
"It works! It finally works!!! Who did this????"

Janitor
Oblivious and humming along with his headphones, just mopping up the other side of the floor.

wthidden

7/10/2017 12:35:38 pm

So this would be the good Will Hunting of the magical realm?

Dustin

7/10/2017 10:24:44 pm

This seems like a story Pratchett would have written.

deadnettle

7/11/2017 12:45:49 pm

That's what makes it fit his criteria so well! Pratchett wrote such fun and funny stories that it feels like they would be a joy both to read and write! Regardless of what will chooses to do, I hope that he has fun doing it. Journey before destination.

David W

7/9/2017 10:25:02 pm

I'd like to see a story set from the point of view of Simons dolls. Show a bit conflicting personalities. I'd like them to have some minor "quest" they need to accomplish inside valinhall without getting caught, something that might tip the balance of power away from eldest ni a little bit and back towards the humans living there.

Diego link

7/9/2017 10:26:13 pm

O.o I've always loved a story with a tragic start , a difficult inner journey of self and whether to let by gones be or struggle for revenge as well as some love thrown in. (preferably platonic like brothers or close friends and sacrifice) How the journey ends? Who cares really? What makes a story interesting is the telling not the end. ( Though most people like a happy ending I settle for good, bittersweet or tragic) I especially like the Greek Classics with Odysseus as well as the battle of Troy and the trails of Heracles.

7/9/2017 10:29:45 pm

Recently I also loved the general story of a Thousand and one nights with how the Vizers daughter managed to trick/convince her husband (I think he was the Sultan) not to kill her after his previous wife was unfaithful to him.

kaden

7/9/2017 11:06:00 pm

A story of a hero just your average mage apprentice is forced into a hero's quest on the threat of his family's life to find the author. One who wields the pen of ultimate power the pen that this universe out of its ink and the canvas of life or something like that you where always better at names then me. But he finds that the author is desperately trying to save the universe and is in a conundrum because his family would die either way he leans.

Garbagiel the Raccoon

7/9/2017 11:09:22 pm

The story of a dashing young raccoon as he embarks on a quest to sack the city of Corinth.

A FAMILY OF RACCOONS ON THE RUN FROM JANGO FET WHILE DRINKING LARGE AMOUNTS OF VODKA WHILE FIGHTING THE OTHER FAMILY OF RACCOONS WHO WANT TO FIGHT THE ROMAN LEGIONS

7/25/2017 07:22:10 pm

You have seen the Corinth raccoons??? Where are they! They got away once, never again.

Jordan

7/27/2017 03:02:53 am

That's an awfully long name there.

Lindon's Right Brain

7/9/2017 11:30:54 pm

Jasper Fforde says most of his works stem from a very improbable and possibly silly situation/event he comes up with and then writes a book or story to fullfill that foolish scenario plausibly.

Such as "how grandma's old gingham cloak saved the world" or "why we need to bring back dodo birds" or "caste system where the least "powered full" are on the top" or "we're being invaded by toddlers on giraffe'ish mounts with salad forks".

Sean K

7/10/2017 04:40:42 am

A story of a prince of an air kingdom (basically people who live on clouds and can fly) who's magic is the strongest born in the last thousand years, capable of creating tornadoes and lightning to devastate anything his people face.

Then one day he is tricked by a peddler on the ground who "sells" him these magic bracers, which completely ground out his magic including his ability to fly and he can't take them off. He then has to travel across the ground of these "Commoners" who have no magic to try and get these bracers removed so the he can fly again an return home to prevent the peddler from destroying all that he holds dear!

7/10/2017 04:43:01 am

The reason I'd like to see Will write something like this is that is it basically the opposite of his normal stories. Instead of someone with nothing, this is someone with EVERYTHING, that has it taken away from him and has to learn how to do without.

Nathanial

7/10/2017 06:42:57 am

Good idea

7/10/2017 09:49:16 am

I like it:

Perhaps the peddler can be wearing a matching set of bracers, and while he or she wears it gets the powers of the prince. Thus giving the villain the prince's powers plus whatever other goodies they may have.

Prince obviously learns humility as he walks the world.

The prince beats the peddler at the end by using non magical skills learned while among the people.

tyler v

7/10/2017 04:58:39 am

I would love to see your spin on urban fantasy in a present day weird setting with an off the walls story...

Torian

7/10/2017 05:58:44 am

A story of a prophesied hero, who goes to kill the evil king secure it his moral right. Only to find out after he has done the deed that the people who raised him were a small group of dissidents and he is actually the villain.

Madeline

7/15/2017 06:27:46 am

Isn't that like... the entire plot of House of Blades?

Joe

7/10/2017 06:00:49 am

What about a story from the standpoint of a Cradle sacred beast?
It'd be interesting to see the difference in thinking between a human and a sacred beast that is still dealing with animal instincts and all that good jazz.

7/10/2017 06:48:54 am

Good idea but that made me think of something else. Remember in Blackflame where it talked about the rogue Blackflame user that the turtle had expended all his energy and corrupted his channels to defeat. What if he did the story of that. Unless he already added it in Skysworn. That would be AMAZING!!!!!

7/10/2017 10:07:45 am

I agree that would be amazing, but that sounds like it would just be one of his normal short stories more so than a break into something more random.

Coldsteel

7/10/2017 06:16:55 am

Okay, here's my idea. Years ago I had an idea for a story about a young man that is lucky enough to become apprenticed to a very renowned and very powerful sorcerer. The young apprentice is ecstatic because he's always dreamed of a life of magic and power but little does he know that the (apparently kindly) old sorcerer has ulterior motives for taking him on.

You see, he's finally reaching the end of a very long lifespan (even for a wizard) but he wants still more life. He thinks he's worked out a spell that will grant him true immortality but it's rough around the edges (to say the least), so he's been taking on apprentices and using them as guinea pigs. It hasn't been going well for the apprentices, since they've all died so far as a result.

And so our hero (the apprentice lad) spends an exciting and happy few months learning spells and the principals of magic before the sorcerer enlists his aid helping complete a powerful and important spell. The lad is flattered and eager to help with such a major magical effort.

After an elaborate setup the spell is underway and the lad realizes at last to his great dismay that he's the actual focus of the thing. He tries to move but he can't budge. He watches in horror as all his flesh bubbles away from his bones and his blood pools on the floor. He expects that the wizard had killed him for some reason, but he doesn't die. He's not in pain. In fact, he doesn't feel anything. He looks down and sees that he's no longer a living man at all. Instead he's now just a polished gleaming skeleton of black bone.

The Sorcerer is thrilled. His immortality spell has finally worked. Sure it still has a few minor imperfections to be worked out, but, on the whole, it's a resounding success. He begins to tell the lad how happy he is with the spell but the apprentice had gone out of his mind with horror and anger. He rushes his master and begins strangling him. He wizard is startled and alarmed because his spells to prevent such occurrences aren't working. Apparently they were designed to work on both the living and the supernatural but it seems the lad now fits into an entirely new category. Desperately the wizard pulls out all the stops, firing spells everywhere, but the apprentice's new forms seems highly spell resistant.

As a final result, the master sorcerer lies dead. The apprentice comes to his senses and realizes what he's done. He's just killed the only wizard that could possibly reverse the spell and restore his humanity.

So, the rest of the story involves the skeleton mage's struggle to adapt to his new circumstances. First, he must become a powerful mage himself if he ever wants to restore his human flesh. He has the wizard's books and notes, he's going to have to teach himself. A tough task, but he's got all the time in the world to do it. Second, he's going to need to find a way to interact normally with people in the world. He may be nothing but bones now but, thanks to the complexity and subtlety of his master's spell, he still feels completely human. He still has human thoughts, emotions and desires and is lonely for the human experience. So, he works hard to master spells of disguise. He eventually becomes pretty adept at moving among normal humans and interacting with them, thanks to his spells (after some hilarious failures).

Then one day, after years of aching loneliness, he meets a lovely, charming and intelligent young woman of station. And he falls completely in love. Horror, comedy, pathos and tragedy all directly ensue. Yes, I envisioned this story as containing plenty of black humor.

I was going to name the story "Blackbone"

7/11/2017 12:51:49 pm

This sounds like a very fun story to read, but seems like it would suit a longer format than what Will likely has in mind for a one week story. I'd love to read something like this though, are you a writer by any chance?

7/12/2017 11:33:36 am

Nah, I'm not a writer. I started out wanting to be one back in college all those decades ago. My 2nd major was focused on creative writing and my writing professors did encourage me to give it a go. But this was way, way before Amazon and the dawn of self publishing. To get published back then you had to mail out a manuscript and get it accepted by a publisher. That was super hard to do if you hadn't been published before. Ultimately, I decided I would rather have a regular career and not starve so I became a software developer instead. It's very similar to writing in a lot of ways and satisfied some of the same creative urges. Sometimes I do wish I'd given writing a shot but then I read something by Will, Sanderson, Butcher, etc. and realize that I made the right decision. Those guys are GOOD. I do occasionally still get story ideas though, like the one above.

Deadnettle

7/12/2017 04:53:29 pm

If you ever do write something, I'd love to read it.

7/19/2017 02:08:12 pm

Coldsteel, there's a story on Kindle called "I, Minion" that used to be a dollar. It's very similar to what you're describing, and I really enjoyed it (unfortunately, I think the would-be series fizzled out somewhere along the way, but the first story stands alone fairly well).

Maahn

7/10/2017 06:28:58 am

Hmm..a protagonist who develops the magical ability to speak to all animals. But it turns out that every animal is a complete asshole, and they all do nothing but shout abuse and talk shit about people all day. The plot chronicles his slow slide into insanity, on a sadly doomed quest to find at least one animal that isn't an utter bastard.

Micah

7/14/2017 10:53:30 pm

I support this idea wholeheartedly.

Normal family of racoons

7/28/2017 01:36:43 pm

That's basically reality

7/10/2017 06:44:44 am

Guys, guys, calm down. If he writes detailed long stories like those he will never have time to do the books we like, like Skysworn

7/10/2017 06:53:11 am

I'' resubmitting this comment in case people only look at the new ones on the bottom
Remember in Blackflame where it talked about the rogue Blackflame user that the turtle had expended all his energy and corrupted his channels to defeat. What if he did the story of that. Unless he already added it in Skysworn. That would be AMAZING!!!!!

7/10/2017 06:53:47 am

Oops I'm

Azqa

7/10/2017 06:56:22 am

A young junior Queen, along with a retinue of soldiers and general workers, sets out with true pioneer spirit to establish a new colony and expand her family's territory. She has to leave the lands that her people know and venture into the unknown, amidst dangers like the giants that spew horrific poison at her people on sight.

Unfortunately for them, this Queen is different than any that have come before her - she has powers she has never fully tapped into, and the giants' home looks like it would suit her people just fine...

(Yes, I'm suggesting writing a short story about a magic-using bee.)

Raccoon in the trench for trying to sneak onto a plane and being held by the police

7/10/2017 09:26:24 am

A story about an author named Wil Wight ( no relation to Will Wight ) who does not work on a book called skysworn and recieves a second plague of frogs.

OR

An ice rink janitor wins a bloodhound in a raffle and becomes a detective, breaking up a world famous crime ring, all in one hour while on hallucinatory shrooms.

Lightsyde

7/10/2017 10:52:53 am

A man with supernatural ankle, whose legs are so strong he uses them to fight and fly feet first?

Zeke

7/10/2017 11:29:01 am

A magicians rabbit.

The rabbit is the actual powerful wizard, but in the world where magic "doesn't" exist, the rabbit has to use a proxy aka a magician at a Vegas show in order to bring in money to continue living its lavish life style.

we need to know about how the interdeminisonal travel to get to that hat works
and what ever happens if said wizard goes to the wrong hat!

7/10/2017 12:18:17 pm

A man who is kind and compassionate has a problem where whenever he sneezes, his boogers come to malevolent life and begin eating people and getting bigger. He has to hunt them down to prevent them from eating all life on Earth...

Reddan

7/10/2017 01:37:26 pm

A man who is perhaps allergic to something that causes even more sneezing, to raise the stakes.

I'm picturing a wandering preacher-type that says "bless you" after each kill. (y'know, like you would say to someone after they sneezed)

Stephanie

7/10/2017 01:30:46 pm

An assassin is hired to kill an immortal man but discovers that only a prophecized hero can strike the killing blow. Unfortunately, the kid hasn't even hit puberty and is safely guarded. So now, he's got to come up with a plan to somehow take the immortal down with the kid's help.

7/10/2017 01:45:23 pm

A couple of little ideas, fragments really, that might wander around and connect up with something else:

(1) Involuntary powers, things that are not active or controlled abilities, and people don't know about them. This guy makes plants grow faster just by being near them, this woman fixes broken machinery just by fiddling with it, and so on.

(2) I knew someone who once mispronounced "inventory" as "invent-ery" and it sounded interesting - like a warehouse where all sorts of crazy things get invented.

Liam

7/10/2017 02:39:51 pm

I always like the idea of group of maybe kids who return home after disappearing inexplicably for a indeterminate amount of time. Maybe they were on a plane for a school trip and it crashed near a deserted island. Maybe six months or a year later they are rescued. Everybody thinks they are just dealing with trauma from the experience. In reality they have acquired abilities and more importantly a killer instinct. Kinda like hardened veterans and have been gone longer than it seems. Not everybody made it home. And not everyone was killed by whatever they were dealing with on the isalnd.
They return to save the world from some insidious threat that people are unaware of. And they have to hide what they've become while trying to save everyone and making what they've been through matter. Kinda like Animorphs meets Arrow.

7/10/2017 07:42:04 pm

Not exactly what you're describing, but have you ever read the Freakangels webcomic?

Jurak

7/10/2017 02:43:17 pm

So if this gets read; wauw dedication.

Why not a story about a person that has 3 wishes but for every wish he/she makes a monster will appear to try and kill them. The monster appearing correlates its strength with the grandness of the wish. There are more people with wishes and those monsters only disappear again after they got two wish holders. Other than that ye can probably improvise a good story surrounding it.

Or if you want something more light hearted;
Hm........ is actually rather hard...
What about a person who lives the live of a random (maybe fictional) celebrity every time they fall asleep.

Lum

7/10/2017 02:48:57 pm

1) A story from the perspective of a remnant.

2) A story about whoever is responsible for stocking up on the ingredients for godly disasters. I.e. Frogs for a plague of frogs, tons of brimstone and napalm for a rain of fire and brimstone, salt, etc

Dillon

7/10/2017 03:34:02 pm

A powerful warrior (or whatever your fancy; possible evil) waits for powerful foes to come and attempt to destroy them. However, after many years of waiting since the last attempt on their life this powerful warrior has grown quite bored and so leaves in order to find out what is going on and why no one had come to challenge them for such a long time.

The rest is up to you!

Enjoy your vacation!

Wells

7/10/2017 04:13:11 pm

I think our special operations forces are bad ass. When I was a kid I was fascinated by the navy seal bud/s training. Their die before giving up & team before self mentality are extremely cool and unique. What could you concoct if you put a close night elite team into a fictional world with a magic system.. or the reward for completing training being some sort of magical power.

XD gives me chills

7/10/2017 06:34:50 pm

If you haven't read The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley, you should. One of the storylines is exactly that: a guy training as part of a fantasy special ops team.

7/11/2017 09:02:16 am

Roger that!!

Adarsh

7/10/2017 04:59:17 pm

As an accidental result of some techno-magical experimentation and the interference of an Abidan Judge and a rare chaos storm, several of the characters from you books (Simon, The Emperor from Asylum, Shera, Lindon and perhaps others) all wind up in a world that looks very much like _______________(Insert world of another book series you enjoy reading, like Brandon Sanderson's Roshar from The Stormlight Archives). The have no idea what is going on and proceed to interfere with events going on and end up accidentally screwing everything up/fixing all the problems before The Abidan locate them and return everything to normal.

*Spoler Alert for The Way of Kings*

I could see Simon getting dropped on the battlefield just as Dalinar's army gets surrounded and decides to aid the humans by putting on his mask and decimating all of the Parshendi, therefore eliminating Kaladin's need to turn back and preventing all of book 2 from occurring.

7/15/2017 06:35:08 am

Ehhh. It wouldn't eliminate his need to turn back cause they'd still be trapped on the Tower with no bridges but it would change him from the person who trained his bridgemen to fight and went to save Dalinar to simply the person who was willing to get Dalinar to safety, in Dalinar's eyes. Unless you had like... someone from another Territory who could make a bridge along with Simon.

SinnerSaint

7/10/2017 05:29:09 pm

A wizard with world making/ world breaking power that has to learn how to be subtle with his power lest he kill everyone.
...again.

LeGrand

7/10/2017 05:37:44 pm

In a futuristic society, an amorphous malevolent force (think Ruin from Mistborn) grants people mind powers (psychokinesis, telepathy, ESP, ect) in exchange for their emotions/senses. The thing granting powers is slowing gaining a physical form from these trades so that it can finally destroy the world.

Cheese Doodle

7/10/2017 09:16:10 pm

This is off topic.. but I just read "Sufficiently Advanced Magic" by Andrew Rowe and he briefly describes a random masked swordsman with a doll in his pocket that has a powder blue dress!

So maybe you can write a short story about one of your characters having a misadventure in someone else's fantasy world.

7/10/2017 10:11:39 pm

He would need the other authors permission for that and it sounds like abit of a headache for a short story.

7/11/2017 07:59:32 am

Andrew Rowe actually invited me to write a crossover story with SAM, so in this particular case, I have authorial permission if I wanted to do it.

However, I'm writing this for fun, so I don't really need permission at all. I'm not publishing it.

7/11/2017 11:36:40 am

O.o thats pretty cool. I wonder how it would turn out. Like a mutated crossbreed demonic dragon. I bet it would be pretty cool.

George

7/10/2017 10:11:46 pm

Interactions between people in a world with two societies. One society is magical which interferes with any technology and the other has advanced technology but are incapable of using magic. While both groups appear the same and have similar capabilities, albeit through different means, they don't really get along as they are appear incapable of understanding each other.

7/10/2017 10:14:36 pm

I just had an idea how bout a story about people within a world fragment and how they are slowly changed by not being tethered to the way. Maybe even describe the World shattering makes for a really crazy action packed and bittersweet story. I'd love it.

Jay W.

7/12/2017 07:23:33 am

This makes me think of the Nye from Valinhall. They were in a fragment that I believe had been untethered for a while. I would love to learn a bit more back story.

Perhaps they were "normal" people prior to their original world breaking apart. Cut off from the Way they changed into shadow beings.

7/19/2017 12:31:05 pm

I know and while I'm curious about it seeing the Nye I'd still like a random one. Somehow your comment made me think about what if powers develop or evolve while not tethered to the way and Chaos is the prime cause of the vast variety of powers today.

7/25/2017 07:33:45 pm

What if the Nye are actually minions of an elder who were separated from their elder? They are then tethered to valinhall and the Eldest is the equivalent of the handmaiden? Just brainstorming.

April

7/10/2017 10:57:40 pm

I like the thought of a world/society where everyone is born with a magical gift, but not every gift is equally useful. Those with the least useful gifts (the ability to draw a perfect circle, change salt to sugar, know ahead of time what joke someone is about to tell, etc) are sequestered in a distant village.

A crisis arises that requires them to use their abilities to save the world.

7/11/2017 12:56:56 pm

Have you read Graceling by Kristin Cashore, if its not exactly what you're asking for its very close.

7/11/2017 04:06:55 pm

I will have to check that out

Alo

7/11/2017 04:17:40 am

A writer gets trapped in his own book, but he has to write the ending or the unwritten ending will put him out of reality. He starts writing crazier and crazier things as panic and word blocks set in, but then has to live through them.

April I

7/11/2017 04:07:57 pm

I like this. Definitely something I would want to read.

7/15/2017 06:41:06 am

Have you read Inkdeath?

7/25/2017 07:36:29 pm

I have though long ago. I could totally imagine the dad writing in a massive army of raccoons( ALL OF US) led by our one true lord, Garbagiel. They then proceed to take over both worlds!

Tacroy

7/11/2017 05:53:15 am

One a them fancy fictional full immersion MMOs with AI characters that seem like real people got decomissioned but not turned off. This made the underlying gestalt AI that controls the characters go a bit nutty. Now some vidya archaeologists go spelunking to see what's what.

Zhuang Zhou is pitted against Descartes. Lovecraft ensues.

The comatose rat

7/11/2017 10:06:20 am

You know what would be great? If you finished skysworn!😉

7/11/2017 12:58:43 pm

Karate chop of justice!

Alex

7/11/2017 04:13:54 pm

A genre-savvy dark lord, who has defeated many stereotypical heroes with his knowledge, meets a hero who has done the same thing to his many enemies. They keep trying to subvert or deconstruct tropes to win, only to have their battle of wits and might stalemate out.

7/11/2017 07:05:37 pm

Have you read the webserial A Practical Guide to Evil? If not, I think you'd find it interesting.

8/3/2017 07:46:41 pm

You're not Alex I'm Alex IM ALEX

bakon

7/11/2017 04:32:00 pm

I'd like to see how a non-fantasy story from you would turn out. Maybe about an author who writes for a living and is trying to figure out what to write? :)

crihavoc

7/11/2017 06:23:43 pm

The story of a man with a Celtic cruit, an heirloom of great and inconsistent magic.

Twenty one wires of silver stretch across a frame carved from ancient alder. The twenty second and last wire, however, was removed by an eccentric ancestor - that wire MUST be replaced for the artifact and its vibrational magic to touch the land of the Sidhe and ultimately yield up riches, and wonders outside of imagination.

The man, however, has discovered that the last strand is special - as a part of druidic necessity, the twenty second wire is not silver: it must be gold twined with unbroken nose hair - a full ciem (62.5 cm) of both, braided together and stretched until the taut blended string thrums correctly when plucked.

The nose hair must be from the person hoping to use the ancient harp. The man must, while keeping his day job as a nightly news anchor, find ways to cultivate and yet mask his critical crop of vibrissae - so that one lengthy and unbroken nasal whisker may be woven with gold.

R Battle

7/12/2017 03:47:40 am

How about a superhero with schizophrenic powers that change at random while he or she is fighting crime.

7/13/2017 04:33:25 am

I would like to read about something from the chaos perspective.

I'll use Star wars as an example. Is the dark side/empire bad or is it just the perspective we were given? I think in all conflict parties think their way is good and the other is evil. So Will, take an opportunity to play devil's advocate

Mathew

7/13/2017 07:56:52 am

00Wight, are you going to use a poll to decide for which story you will write a short story?
I'm not referring to Weebly's, though, as it is, and I quote you, "incredibly crappy ", but the ones that's been suggested to you, like, Straw Poll or redditpoll.

Jeffthecalderfan

7/13/2017 11:52:09 am

A story about a person who spends all day with a sign about the apocalypse, who is happy to see the Reaper show up to end his iteration because he is finally right.

Anil

7/14/2017 06:32:20 am

How about a hero who turns away from his destiny at the critical time.

7/14/2017 11:18:04 pm

Little red riding hood's grandmother has been eaten/consumed/disappeared by a wolf (or evil wizard) whose ultimate goal is to consume little red riding hood's heart and therefore soul, as it has some exceptional magic/power-granting ability due to her bloodline.

Little red riding hood is obnoxiously stupid and oblivious, destined to spend her life doing everything in as unnecessarily idiotic and irritating a way as possible. Think people who slowly double-click every web link or stop to sniff a wasp hive because it looks pretty.

Little red riding hood, true to form, is completely unaware that her lovely grandmother has been replaced by an evil wizard (wolf?), and waltzes right into the perfectly-laid trap. And promptly manages to unintentionally avoid everything the wizard does to catch her, with the wizard's frustration rising into a towering inferno of fury (which he can't let on to her, naturally) as she does. Perhaps the wizard is constrained by the old body he finds himself in, or perhaps his ego won't let him do the simple thing and blast her to pieces; who knows?

Only time will tell how this story ends. But hopefully hilariously.

Rhys

7/15/2017 04:19:07 am

Irrelevant to the topic at hand but will I've got a new phone and none of your short stories on it. Could you send me the combined set please?

Joseph

7/15/2017 01:00:59 pm

Same here, please!

Enkidu

7/15/2017 08:13:34 pm

My two cent story: A swarm of insect like invaders run by a "Queen." A young and brilliant philosophy student has to verbally spar with her about the morals and values of an individual based society vs. a hive. If he fails to convince her, she'll eat everyone. In the end, it turns out he's just some average Joe, and everyone else was too scared to meet the Queen face to face but using everyday logic he convinces her that her swarm is detrimental to the future of the world.

7/17/2017 10:31:42 am

It would be fun to see a story (it doesn't matter the setting) with a protagonist whose most frequently used saying is "I swear I usually know what I'm doing" and the hilarity that ensues

7/27/2017 03:20:50 am

If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend the show "The Finder". Based on your answer, I think you'd like it.

Pixie

7/23/2017 03:34:54 am

Most likely too late but,
a man died and has to relive his life and the longer he is alive the more he remembers about his previous life so he can make changes to it. Cannot remember how he dies till right as it is about to happen with little chance of preventing it. Story never tells you how he dies, you have to solve that yourself.
Your welcome folks!

7/27/2017 03:18:55 am

I always had this idea in my head of a world like earth, except it's divided into four equal areas by two impenetrable, immovable, and infinite lines. The kitty-corner areas are aligned with each other(Void and Light)(I should specify here that neither is good or evil, it's their abilities and some beliefs). In this world there are people born with the ability to control a certain element(Air, water, fire, earth, void, and light (Ik it's avataresque, but I loved that show as a kid). So each of these elements has a monastery-like home along the lines, and they each hold the secret to passing through them(unique to each element). The story would follow an apprentice of each monastery, starting off on the worst day of their lives-someone kills all of the masters and other wielders except them. Each master manages to send the kids(16-18ish) to one place and the story would evolve from there. The thing besides the dividers and the extra elements differentiating this from Avatar is that I always imagine this one as more real. People die, like the first fire wielder(it needs a better name than wielder) dies in an ambush after the light girl can't create a shield of her element fast enough. On a unrelated note, I also imagined each one getting a pet (but closer to sentience bc obv) that somehow relates or opposes their element. Like the second fire guy(they find a guy who ran away a long time ago after the first one dies) gets a panda that's super chill-which is contradictory to his attitude and element-but the water guy gets a turtle/tortoise like thing which matches both. I don't want to write it, but I do want it to be a story, so yeah.

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.