Short and Sweet

Short and Sweet

The day this goes live, my little brother will have just finished saying his vows. I will be fresh back from a whirlwind trip to the states (probably and hopefully deeply asleep). I’m sure it was a lovely wedding (though I’m writing in this in the past, so I don’t yet have details). In any case, congrats to my little brother and his new wife on the beginning of the next stage of your journey together. I wish you both the best of luck!

I would be remiss if I did not also mention that the day this goes live is my littlest brother’s birthday so happy birthday (not so) littlest brother! I’m still hoping you will come give our mountains a visit one day!

Speaking of visits, the reason for this notice of hiatus is that the aforementioned newlyweds are visiting this week and I’m hoping to spend most of my time showing them why we love this place. After the mad tidal wave of writing I’ve been up to the past two months, it will be nice to take a small break.

If you follow me elsewhere on social media, you’ll know that I’ve been working on a 52 week six word story challenge. The idea is to write a different six word story every week based on the prompt provided. Because I like pain (apparently), I’ve decided to do four different six word stories every week, based on a selected set of characters. This makes it a little extra challenging because I’m tailoring each story to their personality, drawing on little bits and pieces of their stories. The characters I chose for this exercise are Domerin, Rose, Cazella and Silkfoot (two characters I write fairly often and two characters I thought could use a little extra love). Their personalities and perspectives are vastly different, which has made this exercise both challenging and fun.

While I’m away this week, I figured I’d leave you with the first five weeks of results:

Week 1: “Write a six word story that reads from left to right and right to left and still have it make sense!”
For an added challenge this week, I decided that I also wanted to invert the meaning of each story (holy crap did that make it extra hard!) (Side note, I wasn’t entirely happy with what I came up with for Cazella so I wrote a second one I wasn’t entirely happy with. So I just decided to keep both).

Domerin:
Always running from memories with whiskey.
Whiskey with memories from running always.

Rose:
Abdicating desires she fulfiled all obligations.
Obligations all fulfilled she desires abdicating.

Cazella:
Truly? I am desire without obscurity.
Obscurity without desire am I? Truly.

Love impossible for lust traded Lady.
Lady traded lust for impossible love.

Silkfoot:
Naturally, does he value great exploits?
Exploits great value he does, naturally.

Week 2: “Write a story involving one specific colour without mentioning the actual colour.”

Domerin:
The blood lingers. He scrubs anyway.

Rose:
Cloudless midnight reflects in her eyes.

Cazella:
Removing the makeup reveals milky flesh.

Silkfoot:
Fine filigree disappeared as he passed.

Week 3: “Write a story in which the first letter of all six words (of the story) formulates a word.”
For a slightly added challenge this week, I chose the word based on each character’s personality and then wrote the story on the letters it gave me (which is harder than it sounds).

Domerin: “Confirmed orders; mobilize battalion at twilight.”
(Combat)

Rose: “Trade honest resources or negotiations end.”
(Throne)

Cazella: My atrocities seem to entertain ruffians.
(Master)

Silkfoot: “Silence ensures cruelty. Relate everything truthfully.”
(Secret)

Week 4: “Write a six word story in the form of a rhyming couplet.”

Domerin: His bloodlust devours
all that cowers

Rose: Different Sight
by day and night

Cazella: I’m required
to fulfill your desires

Silkfoot: Truth I’ve obscured
has always endured

Week 5: “Retell a famous story (or part of one). (Reference the story in author’s comments).”
I wasn’t sure how to handle this challenge at first. Then I decided to make each story relevant to the world the character lives in (which is why the comments were so long). I actually really ended up enjoying this exercise as it led to a bit of world building.

Domerin: A clandestine wedding ended the war.*

*Domerin’s story references the secret marriage between the Faerie Queen and her mortal lover, who just so happened to be king of a nearby kingdom. The two had been meeting in secret for years while relations between their kingdoms steadily devolved into war. In the end, they revealed their love for each other and their willingness to die for a chance to be together and, as happens so often in old tales, the strength of their love was enough to overcome the hatred and end the war, uniting the kingdoms instead. There is supposed to be some historical basis in this, since the current ruling family of the kingdom in which Domerin lives obviously possess Fae blood, due to their great magical ability and longevity, but Domerin believes that most of the tale is fictitious aside from marriage joining the more magical realm of his people (elves) to the less magical human kingdom that once neighbored it.

Rose: The Energy Channeler dispersed the storm.*

*The subject of this story is actually Domerin, who was asked by Rose, his queen, to help her redirect or otherwise protect the kingdom against a devastating mage storm. Realizing that they were both likely to die in the attempt, Domerin knocked Rose unconscious and used his unique channeling abilities to dispel the storm alone. The effort nearly killed him, but the queen regained consciousness in time to save his life (though he was in a coma for a month afterwards as a result of the damage to his body). The storm was powerful enough it could have destroyed a large portion of the kingdom, so Domerin became a quite well-known hero afterwards (much to his chagrin).

Cazella: Together, we destroyed the shadow army.*

*I’ve always had this vision of Cazella telling her (7!) children a bedtime story which starts “This is what happens when a shadow and a demon go to war…” Perhaps not famous on the large scale, but famous to her star-eyed brood. The story goes that the first time their father, the infamous mage known only as The Warden, went to war against his nemesis, the shadow elemental Greymard, the battle ended in a draw. The Warden spent the next several hundred years pursuing his nemesis across several different dimensions until at last the shadow had gathered enough of an army to devote to the second battle. The Warden brought with him only Cazella, his devoted servant, and together they claimed a grand victory.

Silkfoot: His cunning soundly outwitted a goddess.*

*This is a story that Silkfoot invented which has gained wide popularity in certain circles. Though he keeps it ambiguous in the telling, the subject is himself. The truth of the tale is anyone’s guess.

That’s it for this round of the six word story challenge. I’ll be back next week!

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