Mash Up – Teera + Onrey + Whittling

This post features the following characters from my books:
Teera from Sisters, a Sorceress, Curses, and Songs
Onrey from The Bard’s Choice
Scenelette Type: Crossover (Click Here if confused)

Greetings, friends! Here is another of my Two Character Mash Ups (two characters and a random word from the dictionary.) This one features:
Teera x Onrey x “Whittle”

---

Overnight trips were always exciting for Teera. If the job was far enough away that they had to get lodgings for the night, that meant once they were done performing, she had a few hours to wander the streets of a new city.

It was a hobby she indulged in alone. Emilin liked cities because that was where the wealthier clients lived, but the subtle differences in culture, wares, architecture, or clothing held no fascination for her. For Teera, this was the best part of traveling.

She found her way to the market street, browsing tents and booths, sampling foods, running her fingers over fabrics – until she heard the scream. Or, maybe ‘scream’ was a poor way of describing it. It was more of a yelp, a muffled grunt, but whatever you wanted to call it, it sounded like someone nearby was in pain, and Teera went looking for them.

She searched a couple of shaded side street before she saw the boy crouched against a wall. He was curled up tightly, shoulders heaving with strained breaths. “Excuse me?” Teera called to him. “Is everything okay?”

He whipped around to look at her. She guessed from his tattered clothes that he was probably homeless. And right now, those clothes had blood on them. At first, she thought it was a stomach wound, but then she saw that he was just using that area of the shirt to staunch the bleeding from his hand.

She took a step forward, and he instinctively flinched back. “Stay away,” he warned, fumbling for a small knife and pointing it at her.

The boy was maybe ten, but Teera didn’t doubt that he would win against her in physical combat. Fortunately, that wasn’t what she was here for. “It’s okay,” she said. “I just want to help. I can take you to a doctor—”

He shook his head. “No doctors.”

“They’re nice people,” Teera said.

“They’re expensive people,” he countered, and Teera couldn’t really argue with that.

“Maybe I can help you, then,” she offered. “My name’s Teera of Stormsdale. Who are you?”

“Onrey,” he replied, glaring at her. “Of ‘this alley.’ And I have it under control.” But even as he said it, he winced with pain and pressed the hand back against his shirt.

“Look, just stay here, okay? Just for a minute? I’ll be right back.” She ran back to the market and picked up some cloth remnants, a jar of water, and a small bit of alcohol. She also bought a couple of vegetable pasties, because the kid looked hungry.

She got back to the alley and at first thought Onrey had run away, but he was just hiding around the corner to make sure that she came back alone. She sat down, holding the supplies on her lap, and waited for him to come over. He ate the pasties with his free hand while she worked on the injured one.

“So, are you training to be a doctor or something?” Onrey guessed, wincing as she blotted the cut with alcohol so it wouldn’t get infected.

“Actually, I’m a musician,” she said. “But my mother taught me some basic stuff. I still think you ought to get this looked at by a real doctor.”

Onrey shook his head, mouth full. “It’s not that bad.”

And it actually wasn’t. It had looked much worse because of the blood. “How did it happen?” Teera asked, carefully winding the cloth bandage around his hand.

“Accident,” Onrey mumbled, sounding embarrassed. He held up the small knife he’d threatened her with earlier, along with small piece of wood. “I’m teaching myself how to whittle, and the knife slipped.”

“Sounds like a dangerous hobby,” Teera said.

Onrey shrugged off the warning. “I just thought maybe if I had a skill or something…” He didn’t finish the thought. He just put the knife and wood back in his pocket and started fishing for something else. “Thanks for wrapping the hand,” he said. “And the food. I don’t really have money, but—”

“Oh, you don’t have to give my anything,” Teera said quickly.

Undeterred, Onrey pulled out another piece of wood, though this one he’d obviously worked on for longer. He held it out to her on an open palm. “It was supposed to be a horse,” he explained. “See, that’s the head, and those are the legs?”

“Yes! It’s beautiful,” Teera said. It was rough, but she probably could have guessed what it was without him telling her. When he continued holding it insistently out to her, Teera took it, folding it carefully in her fingers. “Thank you, Onrey. I love it.”

“So, we’re even, right?” he said.

“Yes, totally even,” she agreed, and stood up. “I should be going. Here, take the rest of the fabric. You should change those bandages any time they get dirty, okay? And if it starts feeling hot or looking slimy, please go to a real doctor.” As she folded up the cloth scraps, she sneakily palmed a few extra coins into them. Onrey wouldn’t discover them until later, and thus wouldn’t be able to return them to her.

“Thanks,” he said again, putting the bandages in his pocket. He looked up at her like he felt like he ought to say more, but couldn’t think of the right words, so instead he just took off at a sprint. He darted around the corner and out of sight, and Teera went back to the market, keeping a tight hold on the toy horse as she walked.

---

If you’re curious about
Teera’s original story,
you can find it here.
And here is Onrey’s.

Scenelette: Zabby at School

Here’s a little scenelette I wrote for Zabby, from A Book Without Dragons. A huge part of her emotional baggage is that she tried going to college and then dropped out because it was too overwhelming. So, this is me peeking into her past to see what a typical late-night looked like for her…

---

The vending machine ate her dollar again. Zabby stared at the little blinking lights for a few moments longer before finally surrendering and allowing the large box to enjoy her money. Yawning, she trudged back to her dorm, candy-less. If she was the type to believe in omens, she would have called it quits hours before the lack of candy bar. This was not the night to be studying.

But at the same time, she had to study. There was no excuse for not studying. If she studied and failed, she’d be disappointed in herself. If she didn’t study and failed, she’d be furious.

It was her English Lit class, one of the required core classes. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to make The Time Machine stop melding together in a blob of classical arrogance. Yes, she was sure it was brilliant like everyone said, but honestly it was just so boring. She couldn’t get two sentences through it before her mind was distracted by something more interesting. Like cleaning lint from her keyboard.

She looked down at her outline, choking with little doodles in the margins. It wasn’t the factual part of the test she dreaded: it was the essay portion. Essays made her cringe when she had weeks to line up her words. The thought of just spitting one out made her sick.

Just get past this class, she kept telling herself. Once you’re past this one, it’ll be easier. But the words meant less and less the more often she summoned them. So many of these classes were downright impossible. It was more probable than not that she would be struggling for a C average by the end of the semester. It made her wonder why she bothered. Even if she somehow graduated, no one would hire someone with a GPA like hers.

And it wasn’t going to get easier, no matter how adamantly she chose to lie to herself.

---

As a side note – I actually like The Time Machine, but do not judge Zabby for hating it. Really, I think we need to see an end to the idea that disliking a classic novel makes you a ‘bad reader.’ It’s fine. Read what brings you joy ^_^

 

Scenelette: Another Orientation

Hey everyone! Here’s a little scenelette I wrote as I was investigating Chief Snowiks (from A Book Without Dragons) and how he feels about his job. I felt like there was a lot there, and I wanted his struggle to be more than a one-dimensional “I’m burned out” kind of thing. I also decided to write it in first person, since that’s his POV style in the book.

***

I glanced in the mirror and straightened his already perfect uniform. These used to be my favorite days, and they still were, but now they were simultaneously my least favorite as well. I was glad that I don’t need to justify this dichotomy to a therapist.

There were three new recruits this time, all eager and ready to begin their careers. Every time I see recruits they seem younger, but I know this is just because I’m getting older; older and delivering the same speech over and over again.

As much as I hate this landmark of another year having passed, I don’t know how I could continue without his periodic reminder of what genuine excitement looked liked.

He saw it in each of the young men and woman as they joined the force; that true and unhindered belief that they were about to perform a desperately needed service to the world. And maybe they would, how should I know?

When I entered the room, the three recruits were sitting at the table with blank notebooks and fresh pens and uniforms so new I could smell the plastic that had previously hugged them. They weren’t talking when I entered, but that didn’t stop them from being quieter when they saw me.

Their mouths twitched like they wanted to smile, but not nearly as much as they wanted me think of them as serious and worthy. Silly children; I already thought that without them trying.

“Good morning.”

They tripped over each other in voices that would have sounded magnificent if they had been speaking the same thing. I think one of them said, “Yes, sir.” And other said, “Good morning, Chief.” The third also started to say good morning, but stalled because he didn’t seem sure what to call me.

“I’d like to start off by congratulating you on graduating at the top of your class,” I began. I tried some years to move the wording of the speech around, but ended slipping back into this one anyway, every time. “I cannot emphasize enough what a great service you are doing by pursuing a career in upholding the law.

“This role in society is not always an easy one, or a safe one, and you will not always be well loved. But whether they appreciate it or not, these people will come to owe their way of life to men and women like you. You will be challenged daily with making decisions that effect lives – sometimes hundreds of lives, and sometimes only one.”

They watched me, drinking in my words and storing them as camels might. I knew the speech so well that I hardly heard myself giving it anymore. I didn’t notice until their faces turned from attentive to concerned that I had stopped speaking.

“Chief Snowiks?” The boldest one asked. “Is something wrong, sir?”

I smiled for him, and sat down at the table instead of standing at the head. After all, who was I kidding, really? “No. Nothing’s wrong. But I don’t want to start off your career by building it up to be something it’s not.”

They glanced at each other, only the barest flicker of the eyes beneath eyelashes, and then they were watching me again.

“Here’s what being a cop is really like,” I told them. “It’s filling out parking tickets, and writing fines when you catch someone urinating on a public building. It’s paperwork, and reports, and patrolling. It’s not glamorous and it’s very seldom heroic.” I shrugged. “Honestly? Being a cop is a job. And there are going to be things you like about it, and things you don’t.

“There will be times when you are bored out of your wits. You’re going to wake up some mornings wishing you could just stay in bed, and afternoons where you can’t stop counting the minutes until quitting time. Yes: it’ll happen. And it’s okay.

“You probably won’t feel like you saved the world. But it’s a job, and it’s as useful and necessary as any other. No more, and no less. As long as you keep that in mind, you’re going to be fine.”

But, of course, that isn’t want I said to them. That’s only what I wanted to say; what I wished someone had said to me so very long ago. No, these three were too happy, and I wasn’t going to be the one to take that moment from that. Let them at least have this, and maybe they’ll have something more than I did. I wanted that for them.

“Chief Snowiks? Is something wrong?”

I cleared my throat and smiled. “Not at all. As I was saying…”

***

Thanks for reading! I really enjoyed this piece because it let me see a softer side of him, and a glimpse of his well-buried optimism.

As a side note – I just wanted to say that I don’t mean this in any way to be a commentary on police officers in general. This is just one specific character and his personal journey as it relates to the job.

Happy new year to all!

 

Halloween Party with my Characters!

Happy Halloween, friends!!

Each Halloween, I like to play dress up with my characters, throw them in a room together, and see what happens. Here’s a snippet of this year:

The box had arrived outside Zabby’s door a week ago, wrapped in bright orange paper with a black satin ribbon. The card instructed her, as always, to wait until Halloween to open it (though Zabby doubted many people actually followed this rule.)

She set it on her dresser and wondered throughout the week which costume the author had chosen for her this year, but none of her guesses were correct. When she opened it, she found a crisp policewoman uniform, and a note from the author’s alter-ego.

 

We’re trying something different this year. Each of you is dressing up in the profession of another character. Have fun!

~ Hannah

Drabble: A Fear of Formality

This post features Willow and Troy
from A Book Without Dragons
Drabble Type: Canon (Click Here if confused)
Timeline: Before the book, when the Unitime project was just getting started 
No Spoilers

Willow picked at his stiff collar and tie, wishing not for the first time that Troy would have agreed to apply for the grant alone. Troy was so much better at this sort of thing.

Troy was charismatic and had a kind of trustworthy voice that made people sure that he was smart enough to accomplish exactly what he said he wanted to do. Willow had the kind of voice that made people wonder how he had managed to graduate at all. If they didn’t get the grant, it would be Willow’s fault. He was sure of it.

Troy emerged from the washroom and joined Willow on the bench. “I have a great feeling about this, Will,” he said, leaning against the wall with both hands tucked behind his head. Willow wondered how he managed to still have such a range of movement available to him when dressed formally. Willow felt like he was in a body cast.

Scenelette: Even my Characters get Writers Block

This post features Bethany and Ralph
from A Book Without Dragons
Drabble Type: Canon
Timeline: After the book
Spoilers

 Ralph stepped into the kitchen and found his wife sitting at the table, eyes pinched shut, hunched over a piece of paper. This wouldn’t have been especially odd, except that it was the middle of the night, and she hadn’t even turned on the lights in the room.

“Bethany? What are you…?”

She groaned and slapped the pen she’d been holding down on the table. “I can’t remember.”

Ralph sat down at the table as well, peering at her in the darkness. “You mean you were sleepwalking?”

“No,” she said. “The story idea. I had a dream, and thought it might be a good story, so I came down here to make notes and then… nothing.”

Scenelette: The Dorm Room at 4 AM

 

This post features Willow and Jasper
from A Book Without Dragons
Drabble Type: Canon (Click Here if confused)
Timeline: Before the book, when Willow and Jasper were college roommates
No Spoilers

“I’ll tell you, dude, you missed an awesome party,” Jasper announced when he finally returned to the room that night. It happened that Willow was still awake, but he got the impression that Jasper would have delivered his statement whether or not anyone was alert enough to hear it.

“Yeah, I’ll cry about it later,” Willow grumbled, blinking rapidly and trying to refocus on the book he was holding.

“Seriously,” Jasper went on. “Crazy good.”

Willow looked up with suspicion-narrowed eyes. He was just noticing how much Jasper was using phrases like ‘awesome’ and ‘crazy good.’ It was an infrequent day that Jasper used words like that, and when he did, he normally reserved them for something a little more worthy than a dance party. “Something wrong?” Willow asked.

Scenelette: Valentine’s Day with Lester and Ellsie

This post features characters from
The World That Forgot How to Dance
Drabble type – Canon
Timeline – after the book
Contains Spoilers

I’ve had a few people contact me after reading The World That Forgot How to Dance, to tell me that they were curious about what happened to Ellsie and Lester after the book. So, since it’s February, here is a drabble of the two of them sharing their first Valentine’s Day together. Enjoy!

~*~

As soon as they saw how lovely the party room was, Ellsie gave a short laugh and skipped inside. Lester lingered at the door, smiling. He loved moments like this, where Ellsie got so excited about something that her feet forgot the process of walking and could only remember how to dance.

She spun around twice, and then looked back at Lester and gestured widely to make sure he noticed that the room was, indeed, pretty.

“I see,” he said. “It’s perfect.” Internally, he was directing the compliment at his girlfriend rather than the room they were standing in, but couldn’t find a way to tell her this without feeling really cheesy, so he let it go.

Scenelette: My Characters Interacting with Cats

This post contains characters from A Book Without Dragons
Drabble type – Pseudo canon
Minor Spoilers

Remember Five Tales of a Lost Teddy? This is very similar, except I have my characters all interacting with cats.

Willow

Cats didn’t like Willow nearly as much as he wanted to like them. They were so universally considered mystical and secretive, and anyone loved by cats tended to have something unique about them. Given that, Willow couldn’t be particularly surprised that he didn’t easily attract feline companions. But it made him sad all the same.

This particular one was scraggly and thin, and Willow just happened to have a cheese stick in his pocket, so his odds were much better than the average day as he approached the cat. She paused in her fitful attempts to wash her face and stared at Willow indecisively.

With the minimum amount of crinkling, he stripped the plastic packaging from the cheese and separated a segment. Then he knelt, held it out, and waited.

Mash Up – Willow, Lester, and a magical tiara

This post contains the following characters:
Willow from A Book Without Dragons
Lester from The World That Forgot How to Dance
Drabble type: Crossover / Two Character Mash Up
No Spoilers

Welcome to another of my Two Character Mash Ups! (Yeah, I really didn’t need to capitalize that… but it makes me feel all important and stuff…) This story is the product of Willow x Lester x Disneyland. Enjoy!

~*~

“Hey, buddy, did you see a bunch of kids go by here?”

Willow looked up at the owner of the question, wondering how he could possible word his response so as not to hurt the guy’s feelings. After all, they were literally surrounded by children. “Can you be more specific?”

“Kids. You know…” Lester held a hand at his thigh to indicate the approximate height of those he was so frantically seeking. His other hand clutched a plastic tiara.

Scenelette: Snowiks and the Post Office

 

This post features Snowiks from A Book Without Dragons.
No Spoilers
Drabble Type: Canon (aka – Events that really happened to the characters)
Timeline: After the events of the book 

~*~

Snowiks opened his e-mail with the daily sense of defeat. He didn’t know why he still checked it, really. It was considered antiquated. (People these days were using voice-snaps, which Snowiks refused to send simply because the name sounded stupid.) This time, though, his routine wasn’t for the sake of warming up the keyboard – he had a message.

And what’s more: the message was from the post office. Paper mail hadn’t been delivered for the past decade, but the establishment still existed. The e-mail concisely informed him that he had something waiting for him and could he please pick it up before next Thursday?

No need to wait that long. After his shift ended, he didn’t even swing by his home before heading towards the local post branch. (‘Local’ takes on the meaning of ‘a two hour drive’ when one lives in a town as small as Chagrin Heights.)

Scenelette: Pumpkin Spice Day

This post features Jasper and Snowiks from A Book Without Dragons.
No Spoilers
Drabble Type: Meta (aka – characters know they are characters)

~*~

Chief Snowiks saw a brief shadow on the door only moments before it swung open—Jasper, apparently, didn’t feel the need to knock.

He also didn’t feel obliged to ask Snowiks if he was busy. “Chief! It’s Pumpkin Spice Day! Where were you?”

Snowiks flipped over the top paper on the pile, though it was purely a reflex. Jasper technically had security clearance to look at anything that might pass over his desk. “I was right here,” he said. “And what is…?”

“Pumpkin Spice Day,” Jasper repeated, holding out a to-go cup of coffee as if that explained everything.

Willow – Chapter 0

Here is the final installment of my Chapter 0 series for A Book Without Dragons. (Which hits the shelves in less than a week, can you believe it?? Have you been keeping up with your clues for the coupon code? By the way, it is precisely 7:55. Click Here if you’re not sure what I’m talking about)

Let’s take a look at what Willow was doing just before the book begins…

~*~

Jasper told him to keep the windows covered at all times, but it was a rule that Willow broke at least once a day. It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic or even all that unhappy about being in the hotel suite every day—he was never particularly “outdoorsy”—but he did enjoy seeing the sky.

Willow sat on the floor and eased the heavy curtains away until he saw sunlight. Without meaning to, his mind did some quick calculations to determine if any of his satellites were currently over Chagrin Heights. They weren’t, but one would be orbiting in another hour. He’d have to remember to look out the window again then.

Zabby – Chapter 0

“Wow, is it 4:26 already?!” (Confused? Click Here)

Here is the fourth in my Chapter 0 series. Let’s check out what Zabby was doing right before the start of the book…

~*~

Finally, I’m allowed to leave the diner. This has been the worst waitressing shift ever. (Except not really, because we all know that’s a pretty tough category to win.)

I get outside, and I just want to go home and take a nap, but then I see them: that group of boys who were hitting on me. Fantastic. I duck behind a car like a criminal or something and slink away from the street. I’m not dealing with those guys again. Nope.

I guess taking the long way home isn’t that terrible. Chagrin Heights is so tiny it’s nearly impossible to be far away from anything. I’ll just cut through this residential block and be home in—

“Oh, hello, Zabby! How are you dear?”

Cider – Chapter 0

“By the way, you might want to fix that clock. It’s 8:44.” (Confused? Click Here)

~*~

Cider is chewing on his squeaky toy when he smells something that isn’t part of the normal house smells. It smells exciting! Perhaps it’s even more exciting than the squeaky toy, so Cider goes to find out.

Daddy is out of the house, and Mommy is asleep, or else he would go find them so they could discover the smell together. But that is okay; Cider will find it on his own, and then when Daddy gets back he will be proud.

Ah, here it is!

Bethany – Chapter 0

Hi, everyone! Here is the second of my Chapter 0 series. Let’s check out what Bethany was doing right before the start of A Book Without Dragons…

 ~*~

You stand at the checkout line in the grocery store, listening to the methodical beeping of the items as the sweet, young girl scans them. You don’t look at her. You’d really rather be invisible.

All the same, you imagine her expression—shock, perhaps a touch of disgust—when she sees what you are buying. A pregnancy test? At your age?!

How old was this girl, anyway? Maybe not even 18. Half your age.

To that girl, a pregnancy test is reason for panic rather than hope. You wonder if she’s ever purchased one; even watched it with stalled breath, begging it to be negative.

Meanwhile, you’d give anything for it to be positive.

Five Tales of a Lost Teddy

Remember how I said each of my five main characters for A Book Without Dragons is written in their own unique writing style? (No? Never fear, I’ll get you up to speed – Click Here).

Well, I thought it would be fun to write a post where I put each of them in the same situation and then write a micro-scene of their reactions in their individual writing style. So, here is what my five characters did when they found a lost teddy bear in the park…

~*~

Bethany (2^nd Person, Present Tense)

It looks like a balled-up sweater from a distance, but when you get closer you realize it’s a stuffed bear, and just like that, you are having a terrible day.

Snowiks – Chapter 0

Welcome to my first ‘Chapter 0’ post for A Book Without Dragons! Let’s check out what Snowiks was up to right before the book starts… 

~*~

I scanned and submitted that last of my paperwork, and then stared intently at the phone wishing it would ring. It probably wouldn’t, though. Officer Grayson was no longer a rookie; he no longer called with questions unless something went wrong.

It wasn’t that I particularly wanted anything to go wrong. I just knew that the remaining two hours of my day would feel like ten if I spent them rearranging paperweights. I have four paperweights on my desk: all thank you gifts from the same middle school teacher. Our station was a popular field trip spot with her for a few years, but then she got permission to bring them to a bigger (and probably more exciting) police station in Boise, so that was the end of that.

Drabble: Ellsie and Lester Carving Pumpkins

This short story features characters from my novelette The World That Forgot How to Dance.
No Spoilers

~*~

“Ellsie, will you leave it alone? The pumpkin looks fine.”

Lester’s voice poked a hole in Ellsie’s concentration, so she stopped dancing before she could call the magic into her movements. She gave Lester the stink-eye, which would have been much more effective if he’d been looking at her. Lester, however, was dedicatedly working on carving a jack-o-lantern and couldn’t be bothered.

Sighing, Ellsie frowned at her own pumpkin, which hadn’t even been hollowed out yet. “It’s not fine,” she insisted. “It has this giant lump on it.”

“And it’s a fine lump,” he said. “A glorious lump. The best lump in the whole world.”

Drabble: Derryl has a bad dream

The release of the Coven anthology is almost upon us!! In honor of that, here is a little snippet of the characters in my story, “Across Silence and Darkness.” Unlike my usual drabbles, this one takes place in the character’s own world. This is just me peeking in on what they were doing before the story came along. Enjoy!

Any questions about the story, the characters, or the (almost here!) anthology: drop me a comment 🙂

~*~

After what felt like years of combating the nightmare holding him prisoner, Derryl finally fought his way back to consciousness. He sat up in bed, kicking the blankets away as if they contained the disease of bad dreams and just touching them might be enough to infect him again.

Once this foolishness was completed, Derryl faced a familiar problem: should he go back to bed or not?

Scenelette: It’s Just a Pattern

This post contains the following original characters:
Lester – from The World That Forgot How to Dance
Harold Snowiks – from A Book Without Dragons

Normally when I write two-character mash ups I try to incorporate a couple of extra elements, but when I started off with Lester and Snowiks the scene just seemed too perfect to add anything else.

Snowiks is from my new project, A Book Without Dragons, and he’s an old and somewhat jaded police officer. Lester is from The World That Forgot How to Dance and is the sort of person who has frequent run-ins with the Law.

So, consider this an alternate timeline of Lester’s earlier dancing days, if Snowiks had been born into Lester’s world. Let the fun commence.

Scenelette: Zen’s Hens

This post features my character Zen
His story appears in the No More Heroes anthology
No Spoilers

Once while writing, I accidentally rhymed within a sentence. (I want to say the sentence was discussing ‘Bill’s skills.’) I was amused. I giggled. And then I proceeded to find words to rhyme all of my character’s names.

I am an expert in procrastination.

Anyway, if the image is particularly intriguing to me, I’ll write it out. So, here’s one for my grumpy mathematician, Zen.

~*~

Zen’s morning began with dropping his coffee on the way to his office, and he was convinced that there was no possible event that could make him put the loss of much-needed caffeine out of his mind. This was before he opened the door and saw the chickens.

Deleted Scenes: The World That Forgot How to Dance

You know the fantasy web serial I’m running? The drafting phase of this story definitely took the scenic rout. In the end, there were many scenes that didn’t make the final cut. Most of them were scenes I wrote early on of Ellsie dancing, back when I was still trying to get my head around her as a character.

In the end, these scenes were replaced by other dancing sequences that were actually moving the plot along, but I just wanted to share this one because I really liked the way it turned out.

~*~

Reverently, Ellsie lifted the wine glass from her bag, setting it on the grass and taking a moment to admire the way the transparent surface caught the starlight. The grass rose to tickle the underside of the glass, like it knew that this was something unnatural and exotic and wanted to unlock its secrets as to how it could capture the light of the moon which the humble plants could only distantly admire.

My Characters Hunting for Eggs

This post features the following characters from my stories
Matt from The TimeWarp Bill
Trevor from School Spirit
Janice from Across Silence and Darkness (To be published in the Anthology Coven!)

Happy Easter, everyone! Just for funsies I decided to send my characters out on an Easter egg hunt. The eggs are all labeled with their names and contain the candies they like best. Have a great holiday everyone! I will be enjoying the sunshine and keeping myself from eating too much candy.

 ~*~

Matt reached the top of the hill, and then referenced the ratty slip of paper in his pocket before heading towards the birdbath surrounded by daffodils. He extracted the blue plastic egg from the flowers and popped it open to get at the candy inside.

Beep

Matt paused mid-Butterfinger at the sound. It wasn’t the right pitch to be any of his electronic devices complaining of a low battery. In fact, it was so quiet that he thought he might have imagined it entirely. Well, whatever, then. He checked his list again and walked off towards the picturesque little cottage on the egg hunting field.

Talking to my Alter-Ego: 2015 Goals

 I was feeling excited for the upcoming new year, so I went ahead and created my 2015 goals (with a little unsolicited help from my alter-ego, Hannah.) I hope everyone has a safe and inspiring start to a brand new year! Also, if anyone wants to add their goals to the comments, I’d love to see what 2015 has in store.

~*~

I was rudely distracted from the nearly blank index card by a cheap noisemaker as Hannah joined me in my corner of solitude. She was wearing a conical hat and carrying a sparkler in one hand, and a champagne glass in the other.

“Starting early, aren’t you?” I asked. “New Years is still a few days off.”

“Hey, you’re the one doing goal setting,” Hannah said, gesturing at the card with her sparkler and sitting across from me. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the new year for us literary types.” She giggled in a way that made me think this wasn’t her first glass of champagne. “So, what do you have so far? Anything?”

“Um, well, the normal stuff—”

Hannah snorted at this. “Normal. You totally just started this thing with the cards last year.”

Drabble: What does a dragon do for Christmas?

This post features characters from School Spirit
No Spoilers

I have a little Christmas story for you this week 🙂 I was actually really happy with the way this cavity-inducing tale turned out. Unlike some of my other drabbles, this one is In-World, taking place after the events in Trevor and Rodney’s original story. I hope you enjoy it!

 ~*~

“Are you sure that’s the way it was before?” Rodney called from the top of the enormous pine tree.

Trevor squinted up at the sky, and was far more concerned with the likelihood of snow than he was in the placement of the star. “It’s great. It’s perfect,” he told the dragon for the fifth time.

“And you’re sure nothing else fell off?”

“Positive. Just come down.”

My Characters being Thankful

This post features characters from my stories
No Spoilers

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

In the spirit of the Holiday, I asked all of my characters what they were thankful for. The little interjections inside the square brackets are from my Alter-Ego, Hannah, keeping my people honest.

 ~*~

Matt from The TimeWarp Bill

“Man, I don’t know… Is it corny if I put down the stuff that happened in my story?”

[Hannah: very corny, but please go on.]

“Well, it sort of changed my mind about some things. So that’s good and all. So quit making fun of me.”

[Hannah: Not making fun of you, Sweetie. I like corny.]

Talking to my Alter-Ego: Kaleb’s Story

I’m struggling with something. Hannah (my alter-ego) and I have been chatting about it for a while, but no real conclusions, so I thought I’d post the conversation and see if anyone out there had any thoughts.

If you’ve been following for a while, you might have met Kaleb, my main character from a story called “Loved by Numbers.” This was originally published in 2009 by Deadman’s Tome (then called Demonic Tome). The magazine has since taken down their archives, so the story is no longer available on the web.

I’ve been thinking about trying to get it reprinted elsewhere, but here’s the problem: I wrote the story six years ago. I’ve grown as a writer since then. If I wrote the story today, I probably wouldn’t submit it because it wouldn’t be up to my current standards. But at the same time, I was really proud of the story originally, and I like Kaleb as a character. I want to give people the chance to meet him in his home story. 

I don’t know. Anyway, here are Hannah’s thoughts on the matter. If anyone has any advice, I’d appreciate it 🙂

~*~

“So, what’s your problem with the story?” Hannah asked.

I flinched at her language choice. “I don’t have a problem with it…”

My Characters Complaining about Halloween Costumes

This Post features the following characters from my stories
Kaleb from Loved by Numbers
Zen from No More Heroes
No Spoilers

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

I held my traditional Halloween social for my characters. They all exist together in their Out-of-Story state, but they tend to stick with their plot-mates, so I occasionally hold little events to force interaction. (You know, for funsies)

Anyway, I decided this year to make costumes mandatory, and by assignment only. Here’s a snippet of my Alter Ego dealing with Kaleb’s reaction. I hope everyone had a fun, safe, candy-filled day!

 ~*~

 “Hannah, I’m not wearing this!” Kaleb stormed into the room Hannah was currently using as her ‘office.’ This changed frequently depending on her mood; sometimes with a corporate business feel, sometimes like a cozy therapy room. At the moment, it resembled the backstage of a theater production, what with the costumes she was gleefully doling out on my behalf.

“Wow, I’m shocked,” she said.

“You know I hate math.”

Drabble: My Characters Playing “Never Have I Ever”

This post features the following characters from my stories:
Matt from The TimeWarp Bill
Lisa from Ball Girl
Wistal from The Suicide Game
Zen from No More Heroes 
No Spoilers 

Pardon me while I ask my characters to do random things for my own amusement 🙂 As usual, I asked my alter-ego Hannah to be the moderator for these little events. This is slightly different from other drabbles in that the characters are completely OOS (Out of Story), meaning that they are fully aware of their status as story characters. Enjoy! 

~*~

“Sooo… can we start yet, or what?” Matt asked after making a paper airplane out of his game rules and watching it take a disappointingly short flight across the room.

“Hannah said there were supposed to be four of us,” Lisa said as she read her own rules a third time, even though the game wasn’t all that difficult to understand.

A voice called from the hallway, “I found him,” a moment before Hannah led the somewhat disgruntled man inside and pointed sternly at the empty space on the couch.