lines from unwritten stories

[hermetic]

There's a meme going around that I quite like, and that I posted to Facebook to some success. Naturally, I'd like to see what you all will do with it, my darlings.

Tell me about a story I haven’t written, and I’ll give you one sentence from that story.

(I may, in fact, give you more than one.)

Comments

[diatryma]

I liked the story with the show chickens. They weren't a big part of the plot, or really any part, but they did a good job of lightening the mood throughout.

[hermetic]

"Aunt Sassy's old white girl, oh what was her name? Gemma? Elsa? Geraldine! That's it," Sadie beamed, her deep red-brown face splitting apart in a flashing white smile at remembering the maid's name. "Anyway, Geraldine raised fancy chickens, claimed they made the best pets, and you could compost the mess for your garden--yes, yes, the poor dear was a spinster, now don't interrupt--and one time when Aunt Sassy called Geraldine to come in on a Saturday, Geraldine showed up with her prize hen, Penny. Apparently, Geraldine had been on her way out the door to go to a fair or something to put Penny in competition, but you know how Auntie can be, so Geraldine knew she had to show up to Aunt Sassy's house tout de suite, chicken in tow, to fix something special for Auntie and then run off in a hurry in order to make it to the fair on time. What possessed her to bring that bird into the house with her instead of leaving it in the car, knowing that Uncle Regis had just bought two Bluetick pups, I will never know." Sadie paused and took a sip of

[kateelliott]

[hermetic]

Thanks!

[kateelliott]

[hermetic]

The people had stories of a great king of kings who stole them away from their home far beyond the farthest west, and about dwelling under the snowy pillars of heaven, of emperors dressed in rich clothes who gave them a home for a time, and tales of being carried across the morning and past the home of the sun on the backs of winged turtles, and stories of wandering. Always wandering.

But the people stayed together. And now Abi had convinced everyone that they had found a true home, she'd seen it in a dream. Led by hummingbirds and hired guides, they had come to petition the Cazonci for a place, a quiet green place next to a lake and in return they'd share the knowledge they'd kept hidden and safe down the long years.

[towersofgrey]

You know I always loved your story about the boy who bargained with the forest's shadow.

[hermetic]

"What will it cost?" Gwillem asked, tea-brown hands pressed against his temples, a vain effort to contain a multitude of emotions.

Your heart, your heart, your heart. The oak leaves rustled their reply, shadows swimming across the forest's floor.

"Fair enough." He didn't say how little use he had for it.

[towersofgrey]

Oh, I just want it to keep going. Thanks for this, it's beautiful.

[hermetic]

One of the best things about this exercise is all the sparks the lines I've written have given off. It's like the Fourth of July inside my head. I'm pretty sure a few are going to catch fire.

Once I'm done with finals, anyway.

[corinneduyvis]

The one with the dead cat. Did that one ever get published?

[hermetic]

"Schrödinger's Postscript"? Nope, it's trunked. Someday, maybe. Anyway, here's a line:

Six hours after arriving in Copenhagen, Marcia found the box hidden in the back of upstairs linen closet in her old house. She didn't dare open it.

Yet.