Archive | August 27, 2018

What The Rent?

Aug27

Written to Eseme’s prompt to my new “WTF?” Prompt Call.  Dragons Next Door ‘Verse, definition(s) at bottom. 

You heard things about this city, moving in.

People from nearby cities would whisper about the dragons and the ogres and other, darker creatures.

They’d talk about the pixies dive-bombing cars, or something their mother’s cousin’s wife told them about living near harpies.

All cities had some magical-creature presence.  But in most places, it was completely distinct from the human presence.

Sure, this city had Smokey Knoll, but there was no wall.  There was no dividing line, even, keeping the races separate.  There was just a hill you went up and then there were dragons.

Violet  hadn’t been worried. She’d never had a problem with magical beings – her best friend in high school had been half-dweomer, after all. She’d done her thesis on the integration of the magical with the mundane.  And the job paid really well. Continue reading →

What The… Doll?

Aug27

Written to Del’s prompt to my new “WTF?” Prompt Call.  This Miiiiiight be Science! or Dragons Next Door universes – what do you think?

I suppose I had nobody to blame but myself.

I’m one of those compulsive “clickers” that likes to play with online dollies, you know ‘dress up Soldier Sapphire!  Make a Fashion Doll!”

It’s not a habit I really admit to people in real life, but the online world has always been different.

So when “make your mini-mi!” came up in the advertisements for one of the sites I like a lot – they have wings!  And some pretty funky skin colors! – I couldn’t resist clicking.

And then I spent an hour playing – maybe two hours – it could have been three.  All I know is that when I was done, I had a nice little character that looked “just like me.”

I mean, if me had blue hair.  Continue reading →

What The Spell?

Aug27

Written to Victoria’s prompt to my new “WTF?” Prompt Call.  Set in the same world as Parts and Points, which itself is the same world as a cyberpunk-ish novel I’m working on. 

The book was old – ancient –  the sort of thing that people hoard and pass on to their descendants in their wills, and Jenivere had found it in the back of a flea market booth, hiding in a bargain bin.

She’d felt a little guilty about what she’d paid for it, so she’d done a little spell around the booth, one of her favorite easy ones that just made everything a little fresher without ruining the quality of something old or antique (although it sometimes had unfortunate effects on ‘shabby chic’ sorts of things).

Now that she’d read the whole thing three times, she was ready to start one of the spells in it.  It was a shield spell – it was listed as ‘defend and protect’ – and the ingredients were almost all supermarket-easy. Continue reading →

Giraffe Call: “WTF?!?”

Aug27

Short version:

The theme is “WTF??!??”.

Leave as many prompts as you want.

If you tip $3 or more, are a Patreon at the $3 or higher level, or if another prompter tells me they came here from your signal booster, I WILL write to at least 1 of your prompts.

All others will be written as mood, time, and inspiration permit.

In addition: for every $3 you tip, I will write 200-400 words continuing the prompt-call story of your choice.

The WTF?!? Prompt Call

Here at House Thorne, we are in the middle of renovations to the second floor (“attic”) of our cape cod-style farmhouse.

We’re turning what was two knee-walled attic spaces (unfinished) and two separate “rooms” into one large room, ripping out all of the insulation, and replacing it with blown-in closed-cell foam.

Which, because our house is 150 or so years old, will require adding in framing at almost every step!

This is looking – framing, insulation, drywall, and flooring –  to be approximately a $12,000 project.

My goal is to pay for 5% of that from Patreon funds and 5% from this prompt call.

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To that end, I am asking you to leave prompts to the theme “WTF”, and, if like what you read, to leave a little money in the WTF jar.

You don’t need to tip!  All prompts are welcome.  But tipping will guarantee that I write your prompt, AND get you more words.

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In addition:. The more tips we get, the more things EVERYONE gets:

$50 – Cat Picture, probably with dirty paws.

$75 – 1/8 of the way there! – I will post a picture of the author in her first home renovation project (age 5)

$100 — and every hundred thereafter — Mr. Thorne will write a piece on some portion of the “wtf” in the house.

$150 – 1/4 there! –  I will post a photo essay of some particular “wtf” area of the home & its renovation

$225 3/8 there! – I will find one more photo of the author in her first home renovation!

$300 – halfway there!  I will pick three tipping/Patreon readers to receive one 100-300-word continuation of their choice.

more rewards to come!

For “what is a prompt call?” or “Why Giraffe?” see here.