Below is part one of what will be our story--yours and ours. We hope the opening lines ignite your creativity and you decide to join us in telling the story. We'll give details for your participation after the all-important beginning.
I’d seen her before hovering
around the gladiolas. One can ignore what one does not believe exists.
Sometimes, after a sighting, I’d lie awake and worry. Did she fly with the
devil’s minions, or heaven’s angels? I could sleep only after convincing myself
I hadn’t seen her at all. Aging eyes, frequent headaches, trick of light.
And then my cat carried her into the house one Tuesday, dropped
her at my feet like a prize catch. She was only slightly larger than a mouse. Not
dead despite the cat, one wing bent out like a wind-turned umbrella, and blood
swelled where it melded to her back. I scolded the cat.
She looked tiny lying inside the shoebox I’d found and lined
with cotton balls and a clean hanky. Her eyes never left my face. There were
people coming, I tried to explain to her as I slid the shoebox under the bed.
Your turn!
Sign up at novelmatters@gmail.com to
contribute up to 300 beautifully polished words to the story. We suggest that you revisit the posts from Monday and Wednesday for pointers.
The newest
installment of the story will run each Friday. We'll let you know your
assigned Friday via email. We ask that you submit your installment as a Word
document to our email address on the Wednesday previous to your assigned
Friday. That gives us pokey folks time to get your words posted.
We'll continue the story until it comes to a satisfying resolution.
Not to worry, previous installments will be available through a link.
That's it. Any questions?
This is going to be fun.
