Welcome back to our blog!  We hope you’ll enjoy this week’s story results. Our prompt was:

I never thought I’d see a sunrise that looked like that.

Two of our writers provided stories to this prompt.

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Karen Blakely:

I never thought I’d see a sunrise that looked like that. Though to be honest, I’d never expected to see a sunrise at all.

None of this will make much sense if you don’t know something important about me. I’ve always been a complete and total night owl. Going to bed before 3:00 a.m. was early for me these days. And even though my friends insisted that I was missing something beautiful, I would never voluntarily see a sunrise.

Which made my current predicament particularly bizarre.

My house backed onto a busy street. Day or night, there was plenty of traffic: cars, ambulances, eighteen wheelers, motorcycles. I always wore earbuds to bed and listened to soothing music to keep all that noise out. I also had black-out drapes on my windows since I was never awake before 11:00 a.m. and hated waking with the sun in my eyes.

It was 2:34 a.m. when I went to bed.  I’d checked the weather on my phone; the wind gusts outside were rising, and I was grateful we didn’t have hurricanes or tornados in Sacramento. The throaty roar outside my window was already shockingly loud, and according to the Weather Channel, the storm would continue to intensify until it reached its peak around 7:30 a.m.

Continue reading “Stonehenge Story Starts: Sunrise (Results)”

Welcome to Stonehenge Story Starts, a weekly writing prompt and story sharing opportunity.  Each Sunday, we post a writing prompt: an opening line, a concept, a plot hook, maybe an image.  The following Saturday, we’ll post again with the writing the prompt inspired.

This week’s prompt is: I never thought I’d see a sunrise that looked like that.

Our writers will be writing for the prompts, but anyone is welcome to participate!  Just come by on Sunday to see the week’s prompt, write during the week, and send any writing you’d like to share to StonehengeCircleWriters@gmail.com by the following Friday at 8 pm.  On Saturday we’ll post participants’ writing (with credit to the author, of course).

Write as much or as little as you choose: a paragraph, a flash fiction piece (less than 1,000 words) or a short story.  (Note, for long writing, we may choose to post only a selection.)  You are encouraged to be as creative as possible with the writing prompts.  Try to do something unexpected, or explore a particular genre like science fiction or historical fiction.  Take the prompt literally, or decide it’s a metaphor.  Your only limit is your own imagination.

Happy writing!

 

If you like to plan ahead, next week’s prompt will be: “The color of her blood was the least of my worries.” (courtesy of eadeverell.com)

 

Welcome back to read this week’s stories.  Our prompt was:

On vacation for the first time in years, an out of work writer wakes up in a strange house.

Two of our writers tackled this prompt, putting it into two different genres.

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Cheryl Mahoney:

“It’s just that no one wants half-orc stories this season,” Harold the Suave explained, sitting behind his desk made of living wood.  A small human, he unquestionably had a living wood desk so that the chair component could raise the height of his seat based on the size of his visitors.  Right now, it had raised him a good six feet from the floor.  “Stories about people bashing their enemies and drinking great quaffs of ale are unquestionably out.”

“So what’s in?” Bashdag rumbled.  He always felt uncomfortable in Harold’s office, even when the conversation was pleasanter.  The low chair Harold reserved for visitors was much too small for Bashdag, his knees rising up at an almost forty-five degree angle in front of him.  And he knew his head would hit the ceiling if he stood up too carelessly.

“The in thing this season…well, I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Harold said.  As he spoke, his gaze drifted over to the enormous display on one wall.  Several rows of books, all one book, with a giant, blown-up poster of the cover in the center.

The entire thing was pink and sparkly and had been screaming the title The Passionate Perils of Pineapple Poplarcreek into Bashdag’s yellow eyes ever since he came in.

Continue reading “Stonehenge Story Starts: Writer Shenanigans (Results)”

Welcome to Stonehenge Story Starts, a weekly writing prompt and story sharing opportunity.  Each Sunday, we post a writing prompt: an opening line, a concept, a plot hook, maybe an image.  The following Saturday, we’ll post again with the writing the prompt inspired.

This week’s prompt is: On vacation for the first time in years, an out of work writer wakes up in a strange house.

(Prompt courtesy of The Amazing Story Generator)

Our writers will be writing for the prompts, but anyone is welcome to participate!  Just come by on Sunday to see the week’s prompt, write during the week, and send any writing you’d like to share to StonehengeCircleWriters@gmail.com by the following Friday at 8 pm.  On Saturday we’ll post participants’ writing (with credit to the author, of course).

Write as much or as little as you choose: a paragraph, a flash fiction piece (less than 1,000 words) or a short story.  (Note, for long writing, we may choose to post only a selection.)  You are encouraged to be as creative as possible with the writing prompts.  Try to do something unexpected, or explore a particular genre like science fiction or historical fiction.  Take the prompt literally, or decide it’s a metaphor.  Your only limit is your own imagination.

Happy writing!

 

If you like to plan ahead, next week’s prompt will be: “I never thought I’d see a sunrise that looked like that.”

Happy Saturday!  Today we have a special collaborative story, in response to this week’s prompt:

An undercover alien and an intelligent animal are caught in a bank robbery.

We have something a bit different this week, as a group of our writers collaborated to write a joint story.  Each person took a different point of view.

Our Bank Robbery Victims:

Veteran with a prosthetic leg – R. A. Gates
Little Girl- Karen Blakely
Teen – Mattias Bergman
Cranky old woman – Cheryl Mahoney
Someone expecting an important call – Magnus Victor
Intelligent Cat – Ingrid Victoria
Undercover Alien – Kelly Haworth

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Why isn’t this line moving? There would seem to be enough tellers to process everyone through in a sufficient manner. You would think banking transactions would be pretty easy. I mean, you’re either depositing money or withdrawing. Maybe the occasional transfer of funds but that shouldn’t take that long. Ah, finally, we get to move up a foot. Whoopee.

Ugh, I hope that kid in front of me doesn’t touch me with those sticky fingers. And why is she staring at me so much? Hasn’t she ever seen a woman with a prosthetic leg before? Maybe if I glare at her she’ll leave me alone. That got her to look away. Yeah, clutch your mom’s leg and get your chocolaty mess on her jeans. At least she still has a—

Why is someone yelling? A gun! Shit, I don’t have mine on me. Get down kid. Stop crying and listen to your mom and lay on the floor. There’s three of them. At least they seem like they know what they’re doing. Very coordinated. Impressive. This must not be their first robbery. The blond teller looks scared. She should be. Just do what the man says. The police will be here shortly. They better be. I don’t really want to stop them myself. I haven’t quite got the hang of this new leg yet.

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Mommy told me to hide and not let the bad men know I was there. I tried to argue with Mommy; I was wearing my Wonder Woman dress, after all. But she gave me her ‘do it or you won’t get dessert’ look, so I hid. But I didn’t like it.

The men didn’t look very bad to me. They were all wearing silly masks and were waving around pretend guns. At least, I was pretty sure they were pretend. They looked just like the guns on Daddy’s favorite TV shows.

Continue reading “Stonehenge Story Starts: Strange Encounters in a Robbery… (Results)”

Welcome to Stonehenge Story Starts, a weekly writing prompt and story sharing opportunity.  Each Sunday, we post a writing prompt: an opening line, a concept, a plot hook, maybe an image.  The following Saturday, we’ll post again with the writing the prompt inspired.

This week’s prompt is: An undercover alien and an intelligent animal are caught in a bank robbery.

Our writers will be writing for the prompts, but anyone is welcome to participate!  Just come by on Sunday to see the week’s prompt, write during the week, and send any writing you’d like to share to StonehengeCircleWriters@gmail.com by the following Friday at 8 pm.  On Saturday we’ll post participants’ writing (with credit to the author, of course).

Write as much or as little as you choose: a paragraph, a flash fiction piece (less than 1,000 words) or a short story.  (Note, for long writing, we may choose to post only a selection.)  You are encouraged to be as creative as possible with the writing prompts.  Try to do something unexpected, or explore a particular genre like science fiction or historical fiction.  Take the prompt literally, or decide it’s a metaphor.  Your only limit is your own imagination.

Happy writing!

 

If you like to plan ahead, next week’s prompt will be: On vacation for the first time in years, an out of work writer wakes up in a strange house. (courtesy of The Amazing Story Generator)

Happy Saturday!  We’re glad to be back with more stories from our writers, in response to this week’s prompt:

“There were 48,000 gods in their mythology and not one…”  (Prompt courtesy of eadeverell.com)

Our three writers who contributed this week all went in very different directions…enjoy!

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Karen Blakely:

It was my first on-planet assignment. I should have been nervous, but I had too much to prove. I’d been begging to utilize my astro-anthropology degree for nearly a year. I was tired of listening to interminable lectures on the importance of the Primary Dictate, named supposedly after some popular twentieth century entertainment. I’d managed not to fill my brain with such foolishness; as if anything from the twentieth century could have any relevance to our work today.

I was ready, more than ready, to do this!

It was a tight fit for the three of us and our gear in the shuttle. This was apparently an agrarian society, with limited technological advancement. We were dressed in replicas of the garments that had been observed. For the most part, the inhabitants spent their time outside in the fields or caring for livestock. But every morning and every evening they filed into a large building at the edge of town and spent a full standard unit inside. That was one of the first things we wanted to determine. Were these meetings political, educational or religious in nature?

I was expected to stick close to Sgt Green on this trip, but I intended to provide a reason as soon as possible to take off on my own. Sgt Green was old, at least fifty, and a stickler for protocol. She should be sitting shipside and leave exploring to those of us who were more flexible, physically and mentally. She was the one who had kept me waiting for this opportunity. She kept saying I was too eager. Too volatile, too hasty. Like my quick wits were some kind of deterrent.

She was so rigidly rulebound, I was surprised she was able to get anything done.

Continue reading “Stonehenge Story Starts: 48,000 Gods… (Results)”

We hope you’ve had a good week of writing!  It’s time to see what our writers came up with for this week’s prompt.

The prompt this week was: Two strangers are trapped in a stuck elevator.  Try to write in a specific genre.

Three of our writers came up with stories this week, mostly slanting towards the urban fantasy/horror direction…

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Kelly Haworth:

I checked my watch. Yeah, it had been thirty minutes now, and I was still stuck in a damn elevator. My involuntary companion, a man with long dark hair and a black coat, leaned against the wall across from me staring at his phone.  After pressing the elevator’s help button and calling the front desk of this New York skyscraper, he hadn’t said a word and just stood there.

It really annoyed me.

I tried, yet again, to engage in conversation with him. “You’d think they’d have told us on the intercom that they’re sending help, or something.”

“There’s a sound system in here for music but I doubt anyone can speak through it,” He said, not even look up from his phone.

I straightened my tie, and crossed my arms. “how much longer do you think we’ll have to wait?”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that.”

He didn’t sound angry, but there was a twinge to his voice that made me not want to test his impatience. He probably had somewhere to be too. All I knew was that I sure as hell wasn’t going to get this job, not if I couldn’t make it to the interview.

And in today’s market, like I could use being stuck in an elevator as an excuse.

“You’d think they’d give us an update.”

The man looked up, and his dark eyes threatened to burn a hole through me. There was something unsettling about him, alright.  Though I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Continue reading “Stonehenge Story Starts: The Elevator (Results)”