365 Challenge ~ Week 1

This entry is part 1 of 52 in the series 365 Challenge

365 pieces of poetry and fiction to prompts. Poetry, songs, colors, favorite lines, etc. I want to write original work, but knowing me, the occasional bit of fandomness will sneak in. This is more exciting to me than I can say for some reason, and I’m hoping you will all help me as I reach out to create an average of one piece a day.

So, 2013 opened on a Tuesday, which means I'll be updating each Tuesday on where I'm at in this ambitious challenge. This first week, I finished 4 out of 7 pieces and am hip-deep in number 5, a ficlet that became a monstrosity, my longest short story to date. "Dowse and Bleed" promises to weigh in around 8000 words when all's said and done, and I'd previously maxed out on 6500, which was big for me at the time.

Letting go of strictly flash fiction is a relief in a way. I can relax and take my time, let the characters be random, then sharply bring it all into focus for me and have me scrambling for my computer to hack away at it while I still know what they're telling me.

I decided to do something different with this challenge also. I'm pushing through to the end of each piece. No skipping and coming back to it. I want to force myself to finish before moving on, and I'm highly motivated to move on. There's an average to be struck, and I've never liked being behind.

That said, this week, I wrote in 3 original worlds, 1 fandom. Prompts were from Jocelyn Aitkin, Gwynne Jackson, and Percy O'Leary. All but the last (unless she's been holding out on me) are published and write amazing stuff, so check out their work.

Prompts in progress are from Jocelyn Aitkin and Rabia Gale, another published author with amazing stuff.

And here's the roundup.

4/365 entries. 1.1% done.

Tenderness

Canon: Vardin
Characters: Renaiven Gravois de Calai
Pairings:
Prompt: tenderness
Rating: K+
Notes:

Technically, these prompts are freely available from in_the_blue, but since she’s my beta and one of my dearest online writer friends, the community counts for my 365 Challenge. A double-drabble of 200 words.

Renaiven was known as a harsh man, but almost no one knew why.

A Letter to Fellow Historical Intern, Whom I Named Huerél

Canon: Vardin
Characters: Shilehs Calaié and Sarah Lanning
Pairings:
Prompt: sending my regards and winter
Rating: K
Notes:

Another for the 365 Challenge. I chose prompts from the 100 Word Stories community because it always pleases in_the_blue to have activity on the community, but the letter simply could not be 100 words. I let it grow. Eventually it will join a story called The Academy Letters. Until then, I hope you like it.

Vardin is not the same without you here to taste the rain.

A letter from one Academy Library intern to another, asking for a return to Vardin and an opinion on a proposed law by the new Queen.