Hoo boy, this has been a weird week, schedule-wise. I had engagements Thursday all day, Friday night and Saturday afternoon/evening. I took Monday evening and early Tuesday afternoon off from writing, to boot. Which, all in all, left me with a tiny amount of writing time available!
All that aside I think I did pretty well.
What Has Been Done
This week we got an idea building assignment. Three diverse pictures, culled from the lands of internet. We were to brainstorm ideas on each picture, moving through, and past cliches to find three original ideas for each prompt.
The prospect of using pictures to form ideas is not new to me. My story A Kind of Death, which earned an honorable mention from the WotF contest, was prompted by a picture I found on DeviantArt. But using a picture cold like this was different. I’ve always used pictures that have prompted ideas, as opposed to using pictures in order to prompt ideas, so the process was kind of turned on its head. And, using pictures I would not have normally been attracted to, I had to stretch myself a bit to make the good ideas come.
Always good to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. I’ll include the pictures and my favorite idea from each one at the end of this post.
As far as writing this week goes…well, like I mentioned I didn’t give myself much time. I really like my story, and where its going. And I managed to find a reasonable breaking point today, so that I can feel okay going away from it for a while. It definitely is not an unfinished story, necessarily, but I do want to expand upon it. I’ve learned that I need to give myself more time to work with. A couple nights and one morning are not enough.
Also, I learned what a beekeeper is called! An apiculturist. One of my characters is an apiculturist, in a fun turn of events. And he loves Dickinson. He’s a sweetie, I’ll tell you what. No wonder my main character is in love with him.
What is to Come
Merrilee just posted about organization, and I have had my short story file box pulled out and ready to be sorted for nearly two weeks now. Time to get on top of that.
Also, I desperately need to do some edits on *Mystery Project* and get it ready to submit. Seriously, I can’t believe I’ve let it flounder for so long. It needs to be mailed by the 30th!
And story the second is on my plate now. My interest is still dystopian settings, and I will be focusing where education choices are made by the government. I noticed this last week that my focus really ended up being more of a prompt, and I’m betting that theme will continue. The focus of this last story certainly wasn’t on the fact that romantic expression is limited, but it did influence the tone of the story. Maybe I’ll write something with a teacher as the main character…I think that would be an interesting angle. And an angry parent as the antagonist? Or maybe she is an underground textbook trafficker, and a fellow teacher (or student!) is the antagonist.
Ah, time to brainstorm!
Lastly…
Here are the pictures, followed by my favorite story idea for each.
Great picture, huh? Terribly expressive, even if they do both end up looking like twits.
I got a couple of favorites for this. Hard to choose, so I won’t bother. 
Both are pretty stream of consciousness.
1. The woman has just received the news that she is being excommunicated from her church because the casserole she brought to the potluck had the face of satan cooked into the cheese. She has devoted a lot of time to this church, but the new pastor makes his own way. He’s been looking for a reason to get rid of her anyway, and with the climate of the times being as fearful as it is, he found a good opportunity. Without the protection of the church, she doesn’t know what to do. It is organizations like churches and support groups like AA that keep people safe. Without those mini communities individuals are only prey for–what?
2. He’s dating her much younger daughter–who is he? The mother’s boss. Met the daughter and fell into lust. He’s married, and unapologetic about the whole thing. Mom is furious, because she wants her daughter to marry a doctor and there is no way that’s going to happen if she runs around with this jerk. She keeps her job, and creates an escalating scale of blackmail, eventually culminating in murder. Of who? the boss? Mom? The daughter? The man mom wants her to marry?
This was my favorite picture of the three, and my imagination really took off.
1. These houses serve only as drying houses for a massive marijuana crop. They are far away from most civilization, and while the sea air can be a detriment, many customers have said they can practically taste the ocean in the pot. The houses are a secret, and the crew takes turns living there throughout the year, while they all live there through the winter tending small individual use plants. They have a pact, and a comfortable lifestyle within these limits. Until one of them falls in love. With the daughter of a woman running for president, who vows to legalize marijuana. In the current age, her vote looks good, and she is squeaky clean. The boy truly believes in her cause, that’s how he met the daughter. But if the press pry into his life, and find out that he does something that is still currently illegal, her hopes of being elected will be crushed. And the rotten contender will rush into office.
This one gave me fits. I’m not a real abstract kind of person, so it was difficult getting into this piece. But I managed!
1. A woman who works in a battered woman’s shelter begins to wake up with bruises. At first they aren’t so bad, but they get worse and worse. Who? Woman- abused in a previous relationship, and he got killed in a car accident under dubious circumstances. New boyfriend is a super gentle pushover, who never pressures her into anything she doesn’t practically beg for. She’s missing the excitement of her old boyfriend, the thrill of it. What- her intense desire for the old boyfriend, as well as the guilt that goes along with it, manifests in either a ghost, or a psychological issue where she bruises herself.
