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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8268-Taking-ideas-from-whats-around-you.html
Fantasy: May 03, 2017 Issue [#8268]

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Fantasy


 This week: Taking ideas from whats around you.
  Edited by: ember_rain
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The first fantasy story I ever wrote was also the first story I ever wrote. It was about some kids that explored a cave only to find a hidden chamber with cave drawings that lead them to a different world. It wasn't all that original but, it was the first thing I ever did that someone praised instead of saying I hadn't applied myself. I was hooked. Today, I write about everything from ancient primordial spirits, to the Fae, to vampires and werewolves. Mine don't hate each other so much as that they have a lot in common.

My goal for this newsletter is to make you think. Help you get outside your box and do something new and original. After all, fantasy is everywhere. Virtual Reality is all about putting people both into their own fantasies but about creating worlds we can all spend time in to exercise our imaginations. One could even argue that there is no such thing as reality as that our impression of life is just our own fantasy.


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Letter from the editor

So, Saturday, my husband, 17-year-old daughter and I got up and went flea marketing. Nothing out of the ordinary there. He was looking for old tools. You know the rusted kinds that are several decades old that he can restore because good tools are like good cast iron unless it's rusted through, they should never be thrown out. She just wanted to get out of the house and the youngest two just wanted to be home alone. I had forgotten that my oldest son had said he might bring his fiance up to see us. So they were waiting for us for over an hour. We got home and spent some time with them. Nothing out of the ordinary there. They left around 6 our time to head home. A half hour later they called from the side of the interstate. Her car had died while driving and it wouldn't start back up. So we went to see if we could help. She thought it was the battery. It wasn't. Bear finally decided that it most likely had jumped time and we spent another hour and a half getting a tow truck and having it brought back to our house, while we took them home. Home is three hours away from our house. So from where we were, we had about a two and a half hour drive and it was already around 9.

That wouldn't have been a big deal but we don't know the roads down there very well and Bear ended up taking the long way around to where we needed to be. We finally make it to Conway around 1:30 in the morning and what should have been a fifteen-minute drive turned into a thirty minute panic for me. Now, I knew it was supposed to storm and I knew it was lightning a lot. We were behind it on the way to the kids and moving away from it when we took them home. Coming through Conway though we saw that the soccer field was flooded as well as several roads being closed and I started to panic. I had three teenagers at home in the middle of the night. They had called to say that the car had arrived without a problem but they said nothing about the storm. Did they have power? Was the road to the house washed out? Could we even get across the Toad Suck Dam to get to them?

Sure enough, there was a road block on our side of the dam. Our wonderful Sherriff, whom I just adore as a person in general, was there asking us where we were going. When we told him he shook his head. "I'll let you go through. Pine valley might still be open but the highway is washed out at the S curves and Mountain Valley is washed out at Lotta Rock."

He was right. There was no way through on the highway. The little creek that ran under the s-curves was up over the guard rail. Pine Valley was not only flooded where the chat turned into gravel but there was a tree across it. We only had one way home and I was praying to any power that would listen that we would get through. Mountain valley was washed out at Lotta Rock but despite the standing water Bear thought it looked as though it had stopped actually flowing across it. So we took a deep breath and dove in. The wash out was only about a foot wide so we made it and went on home.

When we got to the driveway, my blackberries that grow in our wet weather creek were flattened. The tall grasses and pussy willows were all flat too. We couldn't see any running water over the driveway but we could tell that some of the gravel had washed down the ditch. We were home and the kids were okay.

The next day we went out to inspect the damage and they had the half of the wash out we didn't cross at the point we did cross blocked off. The chat was gone. All that remained of the road was the gravel under the chat on the side we came in on. The culvert was all but exposed and it was just a bit bigger than our tires. We could have crushed the culvert and gotten stuck breaking the axle on the van, we could have done a lot of things that wouldn't have been good but we made it home in one piece.

When I started thinking on this newsletter I realized there was a story in there. Yeah, okay, so we aren't supposed to start a story with "It was a dark and stormy night," but we can start them with, "The carriage wheel lodged itself deep in the muck as the lightning flashed, brightening the night sky."

I haven't worked out the story yet but you know, I think that sentence is a pretty good start.



Editor's Picks

 
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Her Guardians Open in new Window. (13+)
They did their best to protect her. For the Pink, Fluffy Unicorn Contest.
#2120184 by Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline Author IconMail Icon


 
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International Delight Open in new Window. (E)
Of unicorns and coffee
#2120210 by tucknits Author IconMail Icon


The Heart of Zealous Open in new Window. (ASR)
A young hero goes in a quest to restore a once enchanted land now in ruins.
#2113287 by brom21 Author IconMail Icon


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This item number is not valid.
#2117508 by Not Available.


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Lynn's Enchanting Nighttime Visitors Open in new Window. (E)
A little girl makes a wish upon a star. Who hears her plea?
#1796673 by Jeannie's Jingle Bells☃️ Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

So what have you experienced that inspired a story?

What others said to my last newsletter

brom21 Author Icon: I ran into a fellow WdC member who basically had the same plot that I had. The like premise was spiritual beings invading the physical realm. Of course the occurrences are different but it may be cliche in essence. But hey, we all start from somewhere. I started writing when I was 27-a bit late, I know. It may be years until I am published but I write everyday. I believe it is just a a matter of patience and time. Thanks for your advice!

Breach Author Icon: I think it's fine to change things. Maybe not the gender of superheroes, as that seems unnecessary, but yes, a dwarf can use a bow if he wants. As a reader of fantasy I'm tired of seeing things always be the same. Can't people get away from the cliche's that Tolkien started? (If he did start them.)


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