Friday Fictioneers-The Bend

Here’s the photo prompt for Friday Fictioneers courtesy of Madison Woods. Thanks Madison, for starting and continuing this wonderful writing prompt. Please visit her site and check out all the other Friday Fictioneers:

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He stood staring up the path

Unable to move

Frozen

Because he knew

Under the canopy of trees

Darkness fell early

And it waited around the bend

Always

Just

Around

That

Bend

Lucky Seven

Lucky Seven!

A friend and fellow writer, Danita Cahill has tagged me in the Lucky Seven.

The challenge: Post seven lines from an unpublished work of fiction.

The Golden Rules:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Post on your blog or Facebook page the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
Tag 7 other authors to do the same.

Here’s the lines from my Urban Fantasy WIP

Tonight her mom drove into the darkness, down to the local tavern. “Stay here Jess.” She said, getting out, going inside. A few moments later, the van’s back doors opened. Her father hung limp, carried between two men. They heaved him up onto the mattress, before slamming the doors closed again. Her mom got in the front and started the engine to drive back home.

Here are my nominee’s:

M. Pax

Marie Harte

Rich at BrainSnorts

Karen Duvall

Madison Woods

Melania

Craig Towsley

The Sunshine, Lovely Blog & Commentator Awards

Wow! This past week has been crazy. For the first time I couldn’t do Friday Fictioneers. 😦

And then there’s all those wonderful people out there nominating me for awards…a huge very tardy thank you to all. Here’s all my late acknowledgements.

Thank you Stacey over at Plowright for The Commentator Award

I know reading comments others, like yourself, leave on my blog is what makes my day. I’m glad to return the favor. And Stacey my dear, you deserve every positive comment I send your way.

Thank you Jeff Whelan for the Lovely Blog Award

Thanks Jeff! One can never have too many awards, and every gal wants to hear the word ‘lovely’ applied to something they do. Thanks for thinking my blog is lovely.

Kate Policani for the Sunshine Award

Any award comparing my blog to sunshine is greatly appreciated. Sometimes I don’t feel very sunny and my writing swings towards the dark naturally, so for me to be nominated for this award is truly something. Thank you Kate!

Okay, so here are some things about me:

1. My name is not Tes. It’s something much older and stranger.
2. I love trying new things. Change is exciting, embrace it.
3. I have two Weimaraners
4. Sometimes I get in my car and have this urge to just drive, head off in a random direction and never come back. No my life doesn’t suck that bad, but wow…the freedom. Until of course you couldn’t pay for gas, food, hotel… Yeah, that’s why I don’t do it.
5. I am a nerd. I love RPG’s. Yes I am a woman over the age of thirty…

Okay, considering that my life right now is one big time suck and I really, really do need to actually write to make money, I’m going to nominate just one blog for each award.

The Others1 for The Commentator Award. No one is more consistent on leaving comments on my blog! I love to see those flip-flops in my comments section. Thanks.

Mike over at MyShorts for the Lovely Blog award. His shorts may be…well, um…short, but man are they good!

Melania over at NWFantasyWriter gets the Sunshine Award, because a more sunny person I’ve never met.

Friday Fictioneers—Worse

Photo credit belongs to Douglas McIlroy

Here’s the photo prompt for Friday Fictioneers courtesy of Madison Woods. Thanks Madison, for starting and continuing this wonderful writing prompt. Please visit her site and check out all the other Friday Fictioneers. This one gave me fits, but here’s what I finally came up with:

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Out of breath, he reached the summit. The trek had taken him over desolate rock fields with no visible life.

“Snow, at least I’ll have fresh water.”

Turning in a circle, he spied his surroundings, an island. Unfortunately, the other side showed more of the same.

No vegetation. No food. Perhaps the tide pools would contain some edible life forms? Although, without access to fire, he’d be doing sushi.

Curse his luck. First his ship malfunctions, next his life pod crashes in the ocean, now land with no food. Could it get any worse?

The ground shakes, the smell of sulfur stings his nose. “Well hell.”

Friday Fictioneer-Perspective

Here’s the photo prompt for Friday Fictioneers courtesy of Madison Woods. Thanks Madison, for starting and continuing this wonderful writing prompt. Please visit her site and check out all the other Friday Fictioneers. Here’s my 100 word take on the photo:

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The scent of Big Macs and fries drew them, although only he was sentient. The years of training at the monastery having paid off, so to speak.

A moth, really? He flapped his brown wings, and guessed it could be worse. He could have come back as a germ or an amoeba. At least he’d been prepared. She however, not so much. Did she see this as heaven or hell? Or was she just a moth, drawn to the light of the window, totally unaware of having been more?

He remembered the suicide vest, trigger in her hand. Speaking about her god before sending them both into the great beyond.

Suddenly a bird swooped in, grabbing her in its beak before flying off.

Karma’s a bitch.

…I’d like seconds please. Award number two.

When it rains it pours, in a good way. I’ve received a second award, the Versatile Blogger, kindly bestowed on my by Jeff Whelan. Go check out his site.

This is a pass it on type of award, so the five blogs I’m awarding are in no particular order:

1. M. Pax 
2. Marie Harte
3. Karen Duvall
4. Madison Woods
5. Paty Jager

Tell me about yourself, an award.

Who doesn’t like to get an award? Especially one with easy requirements like this…

Thank the person that nominated you and link back to their blog.

1. Thank you, jmmcdowell!

Tell the world 7 things about yourself that you have not shared, yet.

1. I’m a dyslexic writer. Is it a p? A q? Who the hell knows?
2. If given the choice of taking a half hour flight or a three-hour drive, I’d choose the drive. No, I’m not afraid of flying, just enjoy driving. It’s all about the journey after all.
3. As a child I owned a pet rat.
4. I’ve taken wilderness survival classes. Bugs and bark? They’re not just for dinner.
5. I have a deathly fear of heights…
6. …but I”m also a roller coaster junkie. Go figure.
7. I keep my nails painted not because it’s fashionable, but because otherwise I’d have no nails. I’m a thinking chewer, polish does not taste good.

3. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers and let them know.

1. Brainsnorts inc ><
2. miracahills
3. Ironwoodwind
4. Michaelsfishbowl
5. Garybaileywriting
6. thebradeleychronicles
7. notforallmarkes

Friday Fictioneers-Luck of the?

Here’s the photo prompt for #Friday Fictioneers courtesy of Madison Woods. Thanks Madison, for starting and continuing this wonderful writing prompt. Please visit her site and check out all the other Friday Fictioneers. Here’s my 100 word take on the photo:

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Unsuspecting.

An innocuous word, many more suitable ones existed, but none as succinct.

He gazed at the once innocent beauty of the rainbow. Bile rose in his throat.  Of all the things to use as a dimensional portal, why that?

Unsuspecting.

He kicked a dirt clod. Damn sneaky aliens, time someone turned the tables.

The rainbow flashed out of existence, signaling the arrival of  more little green men. Leprechauns, legend spawning from truth, yeah right.

He slung his AK47 over his shoulder motioning for his team to follow. “Let’s go get us a pot of gold.”

Friday Fictioneers-ET wannabe

Here’s the photo prompt for #Friday Fictioneers courtesy of Madison Woods. Thanks Madison, for starting and continuing this wonderful writing prompt. Please visit her site and check out all the other Friday Fictioneers. Here’s my 100 word take on the photo:

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“Set up the satellite…” Jim turned in a circle while looking up at the moon. It made her dizzy just watching. “…here.”

Char unpacked the tech, glad to finally have a site. Jim, a brilliant scientist, was just a touch scatterbrained, a fact allowing Char’s subtle sabotage to go unnoticed. Pinging the Chinese moon base? Yeah, not going to happen.

Jim fiddled with the controls, adjusting.

“Here let me.” Char reached down, setting the dial to her preset coördinates.

“Hey! What do you…?” The com squawked with clicks and clacks, her native tongue unrecognizable to humans.

Char gazed up, her ship’s outline visible in the moon’s corona. She pulled out the bag of candy pieces, thankful she hadn’t had to resort to making her finger glow. Phone home, yeah right.

So much great information. I love this blog, check it out!

San Diego Professional Writer's Group

Each time you have the same character show up in the main plot, add another detail. Nothing is worse than rehashing the same description over and over. You don’t have to have your character change outfits. It’s not a fashion show. Your goal is to deepen the knowledge and mystery about that characters.

Not all layers are superficial. Your character will already be defined in the reader’s mind by the actions he took in previous scenes. Honor that, but also surprise us. Have him take a different tact. Novels are not sitcoms or comic books. We like characters that evolve and change. Even the secondary characters. This is how you create a journey for your character. One where he’s not the same at the other end.

A fellow writer (I’m looking at you Lee Polevoi) slipped me this gem the other day. I plucked it. Try it out for yourself…

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