War Games

Prompt:  Put a character in an abandoned building or space

This was a great prompt for me this week. I was already sending one set of characters into an abandoned temple (although they have only just found the entrance) and I started a new story the revolves around this idea. I will share the beginning of that with you below. It was originally going to be Halloween themed, but the story changed on me.

Favourite writing from this week: 

Attn: Agents currently enrolled in M265: History of Spycraft and MI6

Field trip to Churchill’s War Rooms has been scheduled for March 18th. Meet Agent Simmons outside the entrance at 2100. Modern technology is forbidden on this excursion, please leave your technology at home or be prepared to surrender it upon arrival. Notepads and pencils are encouraged. Attendance is mandatory.

Agent Simmons lead the agents in training down the stairs into the long hallway that lead to the war rooms. Tommy was right beside her, pompously explaining all the history that the others could easily read on the walls as they walked. Agent Simmons let him continue, but it didn’t take Zoey long to tell him to shut up. They had all done the reading and they had all covered the same material in primary school. Tommy started to snap back at her, but Eden cut him off with a question.

“Why are we here so late at night?” she asked.

“Simply because it is far less busy when it is closed,” their instructor replied, stopping in front of the door at the end of the hall and pulling out a key. “No crowds and no one to stop us from crossing to the other side of the roped off area.”

The new agents perked up at that. Many of them had visited the museum in the past on school trips or family outings to the city, but being allowed on the other side was unheard of. The museum boasted that nothing had been moved since the end of the war, the maps on the walls still reflecting the last known placements of troops and the memos of urgent business lying on Churchill's desk.

In the back of the group, Lillian and Shay exchanged quiet smiles of excitement. It had been a while since Shay felt excited about spycraft, but this felt like stepping back in time, into one of his books.

“Now I know some of you have visited before, but in case it had been a while, I will give you a brief tour before letting you explore more fully on your own.” He straightened and skillfully his the grimace and the twinge of pain shooting across his lower back. Turning, he lead his group of six on an abridged tour of the bunker. Even before the end, he knew where each would go when he let them loose. Tommy would go straight to Churchill’s desk, wanting to see for himself what sitting in a position of power would feel like.

Zoey would go to the dormitories and snoop in their closets to learn about the people who had stayed here. Lillian would follow her, sticking together and making sure everything was left the way they found it.

Eden and Shay would head straight for the control room. Eden was the car girl, but she was the one who first brought Shay to Q branch and she would have made a fine engineer if her mind wasn’t so set on being an agent. The increased opportunities to wear even fancier clothes out in the field or at parties while an agent was probably a point of consideration as well.

It was Emerson who was the toss up of the group. After reminding them that if they touched anything, they must put it back exactly as they found it, she watched him slowly walk to the large conference table and sit along one edge. He sat and observed.

A Damaged Reputation

Prompt: Something gets broken beyond repair

First things first, my Merlin fanfic is complete and posted! So far the feed back has been positive and I am relieved. I loved the story, but now it is time to move on.

I was so excited when I saw this prompt. I love breaking things in my stories and providing challenges for my characters. But as I wrote this week, I discovered a dilemma: I was at a point in the story where things were being fixed and information was coming together to give a more complete picture. The opposite of being broken. Then I remembered that sometimes, it doesn't have to be anything physical that is broken. And so just this afternoon I have arrived at the following.

Favourite writing from this week: 

With the lack of other readable text, they decided to leave the book with the doctor to study. They continued to fill her in on their mission and she updated them on some of the worldwide news.

Miraculously, other portals that had been dismissed as dormant were now showing signs of activity. Nothing had come through, however. Those in her field were still puzzled.

The news update earlier that morning had spoke about the Pertinax Scandal. Many scientists had returned home late two night ago after being missing for years, some only a few months, other nearly eight Gidea years. They were all saying that they had been imprisoned and made to work for the company. Currently the government was investigating and already more rooms of unwilling researchers had been found, nearly all had been reported as missing from a variety of different planets.

The investigation was still ongoing, but the reputation of the company had been damaged. Only time would tell how much.

Writing Mary Sues is Important

Prompt: What is something you’re embarrassed to admit you’ve written?

I tend to pretty proud of my writing. There are some stories that I hope people don't find anymore, but I can easily see that all of my writing has been slowly shaping me to be a much better writer. Is it a bit embarrassing to look back at a fic and realise that it is basically a self-insert Mary-Sue fic? Sure. Is it worse to know you did another two years later? Yes. But even looking between those two I am proud to see how much my writing has improved. And bits of the first one has still stayed with me in ways I hadn't predicted.

What I refuse to let anyone see, however, is a reflective piece on my feelings regarding my best friend. It's almost like a diary entry as I try to sort out what my heart wants and what my brain thinks is ridiculous. As I read it back today, I almost wish to obliterate it completely, delete it from my drive and never look back. Yet it remains there, hidden.

My writing this week is the beginning of a short story to celebrate some of the women in the James Bond universe.

Favourite writing from this week: 

With the sun on their backs, their toes happily buried in the sand, and big hats protecting their necks, Tracy and Kissy could not be happier. The sound of the waves gently lapping the Japanese shoreline in front of Kissy’s home relaxed them and melted away any stress better than a masseur could even with the most skilled hands.

It had been less than a year since these two met, entirely by chance, on a flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo. In the short flight, they had come to understand just how similar they were and they continued to spend time together once they landed. Once the background checks were complete, the real friendship began.

Now both of their fathers were delighted by the impending permanent alliance between the Japanese Secret Service and the Union Corse. It was an important connection to mainland Europe for Tanaka and better control of shipping for Draco.

As for the women, they were delighted that they had another female who shared their love of danger and with whom they could trade secrets of their craft. There was spycraft. And then there was female spycraft. The men knew nothing of the code in perfumes or the true skill in hiding weapons beneath a cocktail dress. They did not know how to recognise a poison by the colour of lipstick or spot a barbed braid by the way it lay on the woman’s back.

But for now, that was all pushed out of their minds. Just the sand, and the sun, and the beeping noise. They simultaneously rolled to their sides and grabbed their phones. In sync once again, they swore in their native languages. “Not again.”

#Name of Castle

Prompt: What is your favorite word? Write a scene around that word.

I was going to talk about my extensive planning this weekend and connect it to the word "therefore" since that is how we planned, x must happen, therefore y must happen first, and I'm not lying when I say therefore is a great word (it makes you sound intelligent and there are so many ways to stress it), but then I realized I could use a different word: harmony. A word invoking thoughts of peace, but also of music. Specifically all my happy memories as one of the Second Soprano Smoothie Sisters. As a bonus, I had actually already written this into my story this week. So what follows is a longer section of my writing this week because I am super proud of it.

But first a quick background. It takes place in the far future. They are on a quest to restore these temples across the star system. Spades is highly keyed into nature magic and is fiercely defending this place.

You will also notice a couple #'s in the text. I do this a lot for this I want to come back to since it is easily searchable. That being said, if you have any ideas for castle names leave them in the comments below!

Favourite writing from this week: 

   It was an unusual sight to be sure. Spinning columns of flame nearly seven feet high in a small range of warm colours surrounded the group. A deep blue flame was directly in front of them and seemed to be slightly taller than the others. Remarkably, the flames were not nearly as hot as they had assumed. Spades took one quick glance around them and decided she was not going to be intimidated.
   “What in the mustquaed do you think you are doing?” she demanded, marching right up to the blue one and stabbing her spoon in its direction.
   “Spades get away!” Nadir called frantically. “You are going to combust.”
   She paid him no mind. “You were charged with protecting this place. And look at it! No one takes care of it, there are holes in the roof, and now there are workers at this very moment setting explosives to decimate this temple. I had to activate the Doomsday protection. And where we you?”
   There was silence in the forest as Spades waited for an answer.
   “Spades,” Dr. Kear said hesitantly. “Those are just flames; I don’t think they can--”
   “We were watching.” It was a harmony of three voices that sounded in their minds. “We brought you here.” A major chord spread across three different octaves, it wasn’t hard to tell this was no mortal creature speaking. “We are but elementals, servants of the Great Mother. Our physical bodies died long ago. No mortal form has been strong enough to contain us.”
   “But you can move into any form?” Spades asked.
   “Yes. You would not survive though.”
   “I’m not thinking of myself.” She smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pouch. “These were given to me by the Goddess Kim. I believe they were meant for you.” She untied the string and flung the seeds out in front of her. As if time meant nothing, the seeds shot through early life stages before their eyes and transformed into strong birch trees.


   The elementals said nothing but one of the bright yellow flames zipped towards the closest tree and disappeared inside. The white bark faded to become the same bright yellow, but nothing else changed until it moved.
   The branches shivered and began waving about, testing their limits of motion. “It is stable.” A different chord, only in one octave, for this new speaker. “It will last.”
   The other flames now also merged into trees, creating a colourful and dynamic forest like none of them had seen before. Branches swayed and twisted, the trunks uprooted themselves and seemed to glide through the ground as if it were a liquid. The forest of flames began moving back towards the temple.
   “We thank you for the gift, Lady Spades of #name of castle.” The blue flame infused tree bent low and extended a thin branch towards her. It had a single vibrant cerulean leaf. “Take this leaf and use it to call my kin if you ever have need.”
   Spades plucked the leaf and carefully slipped it between two pages of a book in her bag. #does she even have a bag? I know Hannah and Ari do#
   The Seekers and Dr. Kear watched the leader move off to join his kin in chasing off the scientists and undoing the damage they had wrought.
   A round of yawns reminded them all that they had hardly slept since the morning and there was no reason for them to remain out here. Dr. Kear set off in the direction of her old home, hoping to see her parents, and the others begged Hannah to portal them back to the hotel as soon as they were alone. She rolled her eyes but was too tired to deny that a shortcut seemed best. She spread the paper on the forest floor, they all linked hands, and on the count of three they jumped.

Magical Security System

Prompt: There is a door. It is closed.

Did not leave my notebook behind this week! Actually, I did, but I did all my in-class writing on my phone so that it would be saved on google docs so it wasn't even an issue to begin with. So I will be posting my next chapter of a fanfic this Monday, even if it is a week late. I think there is only one more chapter to go and I'm kinda excited. Both to be able to mark it as complete and for some of the ideas I have for the last chapter.

This week's prompt lead to Merlin disguised as a woman in France during the Sun King's reign. The story had a perfect transition into it and I couldn't resit a magical palm reader as security to fit with the prompt.

Favourite writing from this week: 
   Merlin sighed. He had really forgotten how exhausting all this protocol was. But a spy is a spy and a spy tries their best not to stick out. That was the whole reason Merlin was acting as Maria. She squared her shoulders and strode down the hallway, heels clicking on the polished floors. It wasn’t too long before she reached her rooms. Thankfully this door was warded with magic so that only she could open it. No protocol nonsense here.
   Merlin pressed her hand against the door and, oh, it didn't open. Darn transfiguration charms. ‘Maria’s’ handprint is not the same as Merlin’s. A small trickle of her magic unlocked it and she made a note to change the key. But for now, she had reports to write and deliver back to England. Thankfully, Merlin had plenty of practice being a spy.

If you write in the same notebook, you won't forget it places

Prompt: A character writes a secret message somewhere

I wrote nearly a thousand words this week in my nano story. This prompt really helped get the characters moving into the forest. The woman they have to guide them used to play in the forest as a child and had marked a symbol on a tree to mark the secret entrance into the temple.

I also forgot my notebook at the office in which I started the next chapter of a story which I had wanted to post today. Makes it a bit difficult.

It was hard to decide on a favourite bit of writing, but I am going for the bit of foreshadowing I planted in a spur of the moment decision.

Favourite writing from this week: Kalath’ka walked over but discovered that a force field of some kind gently steered her away from the book. ... Spades followed reluctantly behind, her fingers stroking the spine of the book as she walked past.

Starting a blog

I have a science blog, I have a tumblr blog, and I have a youtube channel, but I never thought about doing a text based personal blog. It had never appealed to me as much. But at the end of last year, Kristina Horner, a youtuber I have been following for ages, made a video talking about wanting to write more, not just during NaNoWriMo. She started this Wordbound challenge and I think it is a good thing to take part in. Basically, she posts a prompt, and you respond within a week. So let's begin.

Prompt: What are your personal writing goals for 2017, and what does #wordbound means to you?

Writing goals:

1. Write every week. It doesn't have to be much, but getting something down on the page is a good habit to get into. 
2. Finish my NaNoWriMo novel. It's called Restoring Faith and I had a blast writing (and winning) with this story in November. But the tale is not yet fully told and this is one that I think could get published. 
3. Win NaNoWriMo 2017. I'm worried I will still be working on the previous one, but let's do this again. 
4. Publish a paper. This one is a little more career oriented, but it would be nice to have another published paper out by the end of the year. 

To me, #wordbound is a commitment to make room for writing all year round. Making it something you do every week. I've learned from doing a year of weekly youtube videos, that when you have to make something new each week, you are forced to be very creative. You have to push yourself to think outside the box and explore things you previously would have dismissed. Because now anything will do. You just need to write something. So #wordbound to me is about pushing the bounds of what I can do with my words.

So I encourage you to join us in this adventure. I will be posting some of the favourite things I write each week and sometimes a video as well. I look forward to next week.



"Real writers don't write. They write anyway. Nothing made writing easy today. I wrote anyway." - Patrick Ness