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Archive for the ‘Writing Process’ Category

How We Write – Life Like the Movies

We had two sets of prompts for this story, the ones we normally get from Orion’s Writer’s Kickstart group (If you want time, The end of the bridge, Jinxed) and the ones from the writing group she started in her apartment building (Historian, Identifiable face in the clouds). While we don’t usually have this abundance of prompts, the combination dovetailed into a story quite nicely.

We also employed the stricture of making the story exactly 500 words. Many of our stories fall pretty close to that, though few come in exactly at 500 words. These days, it seems hard to get them under a thousand! Editing short stories to 500 words proved to be an excellent way to learn to edit your own writing and to learn to see what is and isn’t necessary for a good short story. It also teaches you to cheat on the total! For example, you can use contractions to take the word count down.

We set this story in Peru because Kyros has always had a love for the Incan culture and knows a bit of their history. That country provided lots of chasms, bridges, and mist-shrouded valleys to play with.

LIFE LIKE THE MOVIES

“C’mon, Carlton. I just need a couple of weeks off. My sources say that last earthquake in Peru uncovered new Inca ruins. If I leave right away, I can be the first person on site. Think of the prestige Stockwell College gets if I discovered something new.”

Dean Carlton Whitmore looked down his long aquiline nose at me. “Wash, finals are in three weeks. There’s no way you could get there, find anything interesting, and get back here before that. I’d have to find someone to sub for you for the rest of the term. Do you know how expensive that would be?” (more…)

How We Write – The Doctor Will See You Now

This is probably the shortest piece we’ve ever written! And from only one prompt, too: Spring. While the other writers in the group went with the season of spring, we went elsewhere. Just a sweet old lady going to the doctor…

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

“The doctor will see you now, Mrs. Tobor.”

“Thank you, dear.” Eyes twinkling, she smiled at the nurse. “You’re always so helpful when I come in with a little problem.”

“Please wait here in exam room three. Dr. Stein will be right with you.”

(more…)

How We Write – A Ridge and a Rug

Orion doesn’t think there even were any prompts for this story. She says it just came to her after she tripped over a perpetual bump in the area rug in her living room. The story evolved from there. And yes, before you ask, she does indeed talk to and command obedience from inanimate objects. While they usually obey her, they don’t ordinarily talk back. Except for her cat, who isn’t an inanimate object, but has opinions about everything, and, of course, insists on sharing them with her.

A RIDGE AND A RUG

I was tired and my feet were dragging when I got home tonight. Even with the streetlights filtering through the living room curtains, I could barely see my way. Feeling about for the light switch, I tripped, sprawling spread- eagle across the large Oriental rug.

Shaking my head, I climbed to my knees. I’d tripped, yet again, over the damned two-inch permanent wrinkle in the rug. A long day, combined with work problems and lack of supper overwhelmed me. Irritated, I ground out, “Now look, rug. I’ve had it with your constant ridge, right where I’m trying to walk.”

(more…)

How We Write – Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus!

When these prompts, Cavemen with computers; A dynasty of dinosaurs; Pools of light, rivulets of shadow, deserts of dark, came up, we struggled to figure out how to have cavemen with computers. Outside of some very weird Geico commercials, that’s not something you encounter every day. But drawing on our shared history of working for large companies in so-called cubicle farms, we hit upon the idea that morphed into the story you are about to read. Kyros had way too much fun crafting the spell they used. Orion wishes there was a video of him reading it. You would probably all laugh just as loud as she did. Maybe next time she’ll sneak a recording and share it with all of you.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNOSAURUS!

 

A fierce roar rattled the office windows.

“Arroh, get in here!”

Oh, crap, what did I do now? I mentally went over the checklist of my duties. I already filed the meeting reports, contacted the affiliates, and ordered his lunch. The budget isn’t due until next week. What could he want? Another roar jostled me out of my thoughts. I tiptoed into my boss’s office.

Behind the vast expanse of desk, Mr. Rex Saurus sprawled on his office couch, an ever-present snarl contorting his long face. I used to envy all those sharp teeth, that is, until I caught a glimpse of his dental bill.

“Y…yes, sir?” Dammit, why did I stutter? Not a good way to impress the boss.

His short arms jerkily waved a sheet of paper at me.

“This report on the Stegosaurus Housing Project is incomplete and the numbers don’t add up!” He frowned down at me. “Do I need to replace you with someone more…precise?”

“No, no, sir. I’ll…I’ll fix it, sir. Right away. Sir.” (more…)

How We Write – Alphabet Murder: One Prompt, Two Results

The Alphabet Murder poem was a challenge to write a poem where each line begins with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet. That’s way harder than it sounds, especially, of course, for the letters Q, X, and Z! In Orion’s, the first stanza was the crime itself and was relatively easy, with multiple words per line. The second stanza, about the aftermath of the murder, trying to use shorter lines, was way more difficult!

When Orion asked Kyros to help edit the Alphabet Murder poems, he couldn’t resist trying his hand at the same challenge, so now there are two sets of poems instead of just the original one. He set his first poem where Orion did, a boathouse, but the second poems go in very different directions. Oddly enough, the poems turned out relatively the same length, too.

See what you think.

ALPHABET MURDER,

BY THE LETTERS

by Orion T. Hunter 

 

As everyone knows,

Benny was no good.

Come morning’s light

Down at the dock,

(more…)

How We Write – Carta Mundi

Our prompt was: Here Be Dragons. To Orion, who loves maps, especially old ones and fantasy ones, the subject was obvious. She was also influenced by the poetry of Dave the Poet. A fellow member of the Kickstart Writers group, his poetry is often literate and humorous. Carta Mundi was the result.

CARTA MUNDI

 

When cartographers of old unfurled

Their atlases, charts, and maps

They had only parts of the world

Told them by sailors, and other chaps.

(more…)

How We Write – Life Savings

Our prompts were: A new kind of murder, Wells Fargo, That’s it then.

No, don’t ask me where our collective writers’ minds go when making up these prompts! Sometimes, we just look around the food court where we meet for the Kickstart Writers bi-weekly meetups. Sometimes the prompts come from our own writing. I think that’s what happened here. Kyros connected the concept of a bank with a new kind of murder and immediately thought of a killer bank vault. The question was, how was it killing people? Rogue AI, of course. It’s always a rogue AI. Ever since the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The rest of the story followed quickly from there. But, because of what happens in the story, we thought we’d best alter the name of the bank. Don’t want any lawyers to send us unhappy letters, after all.

LIFE SAVINGS

The archeologist carefully brushed away the last of the dust and dirt covering the monolith. He sat back with a gasp.

“Look! That logo! I remember it from several other digs. It’s…uh,” The man pondered for a moment. “Bells Wargo, that was the name. It represented a…a currency place of some kind. They didn’t have universal credit implants like we do.”

His partner leaned closer, a frown of distaste on her face as she looked at the mummified body half in and half out of the closed door.

“Well, I think it’s my turn to ‘dig’ into this mystery.” She pulled off the heavy gloves she always wore and extended one bare finger to touch the huge square shape. “As the team psychometrist, it’s time I earned my pay.”

The world dissolved around her.

(more…)

How We Write – Tea With Mary Jane

It’s said that you should never piss off a writer, or they will kill you off in their next book. But writing can be a good way to express other feelings too. In this story, I thinly disguise real people in my life and put them in a humorous situation.

The prompts we had to work with were: tea bag, blue moon, leap year, and pot. The connection between the tea bag and the pot was too obvious, so of course, Kyros had to put a spin on the word pot and interpret it as marijuana.

Orion based the characters, very thinly disguised, mind you, on her friends, who spend most afternoons huddled around the puzzle table. Without the pot, of course! After we had the characters and the marijuana, the story just fell into place. Let us know what you think in the comments. Enjoy!

Tea With Mary Jane

“You okay, June?” Karla asked as the white-haired woman came into the commons and approached their table. “You look a little green around the gills.”

Three sets of eyes swung up from the thousand piece puzzle in front of them. Even Karla’s cocker spaniel, Lady, raised her head, hoping no doubt for either food or a man’s attention. Food disappeared as if by magic, while any man would set her golden coat aquiver until she had been thoroughly petted.

June giggled. “Oh, yes. Perfectly fine.”

Olive gave her a concerned look before placing a seemingly random piece into the puzzle. Selma, sitting in a comfy chair observing the action, clapped her hands quietly, a smile on her face.

(more…)

How We Write – Moving Down South

The prompts we had this time jogged one of Kyros’ memories, so that became the framework for this story. Our prompts were: The view out of my window, muddy shoes everywhere, and UPS truck (which we ended up interpreting as Universal Package Service because of the location). In another life, Kyros was the cable guy. One day he pulled up to a home in a new development area that had a sea of mud for a front yard because they hadn’t laid the sod yet. Shortly after he arrived, the homeowner’s kids barreled past him and into the house, leaving a trail of muddy footprints. The mother’s reaction was priceless and left an indelible mark in Kyros’ memory.

The decision to set the story on Mars came about because we had both recently seen the movie The Martian. So with Mars firmly in the forefront of our minds, figuring out what view was out the window was a snap. Olympus Mons is the largest mountain in the solar system. How tall? Would you believe that it is so broad and the slopes are so gradual that from the edge of the caldera, the base of the volcano would be beyond the horizon. It’s a volcano so big that it curves with the surface of the planet. Why wouldn’t you move someplace where that was your view?

Moving Down South

Half-buried amid towering stacks of boxes, Janet Parsons glanced up sharply as her kids thundered in the side door.

“Stop! Both of you!” she shrieked. “Look at your shoes!”

The two boys skidded to a halt and inspected their red-mud-covered sneakers. Ralph twisted around, his eyes following their crimson footprints back to the door.

His little brother, Cecil, gulped out, “We are sooo busted.”

“What did I say before you went outside?” she asked ominously.

(more…)

New short story collection coming soon!

We’ve been hard at work on a new anthology entitled The Other Realms Brewpub (ORB for short).

This anthology contains stories from our new Modern Magic Universe series about a place where magical creatures co-exist with the modern world.

The idea for this world came from a Facebook post where someone complained that they wanted a magical universe where you get a shot of confidence in your espresso before you go on a blind date. Kyros thought that would be a fun place to play and shared the idea with Orion and off we went.

There will be twelve stories in the first collection, all centered around a magical brewpub located in the middle of nowhere Kansas. We’ll introduce you to the pooka who owns the bar and is also the cook. The bartender who is a centuries-old banshee. Along the way, you’ll also meet leprechauns, fairies, witches, gods, and a multitude of other magical creatures. Oh, and it’s also a favorite hangout for the Prince of Darkness! Everyone has a hell of a good time!