It’s always fascinating to me to see how two people can take the same idea and end up in two completely different places. I see this in most art forms, but writing and visual arts (painting, drawing, etc.) most often. It’s one of the basic things that make humans amazing. Our life experiences, things we have seen, heard, felt, and been through will shape everything we do. It is, essentially, how we get such a variety of books and stories to read and enjoy. No two people are ever the same.
So how does that get us to this writing prompt? Glad you asked. Not a lot of people know, but before I wrote, read, loved, and swam in all things romance, I was an uber fan of fantasy. Yes, I just said uber. No, I’ve never said it before. Yes, I might try it again. Anyway, dragons, elves, magic, all things Merlin, other worlds, swords, arrows, rings, you get where this is going, high fantasy all the way. Fantasy and Arthurian literature ruled my world for many years.
My top two favorite reads of all time actually come from this genre, and not romance like most assume. Christopher Paolini’s, The Inheritance Cycle, and Mary Stewart’s, The Merlin Trilogy; if you have not read them, well, I’m just not sure we can be friends. Please go correct your mistake now.
When I started writing I wrote strictly fantasy. No sex at all. Can you believe it? How does one go from writing things that read like Dungeons and Dragons, to things that have no dragons but a few BDSM dungeons? We can talk about that later. I wrote a book that was high fantasy and then wrote several short story prequels for many of the characters. Obviously at some point I abandon this project and got so lost in the world of romance that I can’t find my way out now.
I was looking back through my files for that long lost project and I found a short story that I started, just barely, and then did nothing with. When I say just barley that is what I mean. It is a few short paragraphs that gives you a character, his relative location, and what action he is taking in that moment. So here is what I’m doing. I am giving it to you. All of you, any of you, whoever wants it, here you go. I am hoping that you will finish it and then let me read what you wrote.
I am thinking I will probably finish it too, but since it has been so long since I first started it there is no way it would take the same shape I had originally intended it to. After reading some other pieces of short fiction I am thinking of taking my version in a completely different direction now.
So the prompt: finish this story. Short, long, poetic, whatever you feel, start writing and see where it goes. If you feel up to it, send it back to me. I would love to read all the places people end up with this character. If you don’t mind me seeing what you came up with you can email it to me at maybbooks@yahoo.com , just put “writing prompt, Cassius” in the subject so I know you’re not spam. If you would like, I am also happy to post what you send to my stories tab here.
So take this and pass it around to all of your friends, post it on your blog, page, whatever. I think this could be fun. Cassius Link
May B.B. (The, has the hots for Merlin, romance writer)
As always, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook or shoot me an email via the contact page on this site. I love to hear from you.
May B. Bridges 