Monday, May 7, 2012

MMWUC: Let Your Imagination Soar

I don't need much to spark my imagination, but I need a bull whip, the threat of getting a "real job" at the local Harris Teeter, and a foreclosure notice to sometimes push my writing to the end point. I'm the person that Paul Simon wrote Slip Sliding Away about. You know: "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away." I have such a hard time nailing down the last verb, choosing the penultimate noun, or snipping the surly bonds of a great passage that has no home in the story being told. I slip on banana peels and impale my heel on sharpened pencils way too often. This is one of my two Achilles Heels; the other is a lack of marketing savvy, but I'm not alone there.


But if a spark of imagination is all you need for this Monday Morning Wake-up Call (MMWUC) and not the burning sting of a bull whip across the knuckles that only an old nun could appreciate, then I present this picture.

Whether you write fantasy, mystery, romance, thriller, sci-fi (or the more sillier sy-fy), religion, coming of age, erotica, steampunk, western, or high-brow literary fiction, there is a story here. I had a dozen stories flash through my mind within two minutes after seeing this picture on Facebook.

Terrell's tiny wings beat furiously, his tail whipped pendulum-crazy, sparks burped from his mouth. I'd saved him, but who would save me?

Maybe this Monday, your imagination will spared from the last dragon's fire and the whip of his tail across your fingers. Give me your best 25-words in comments.

9 comments:

Carole Lane James said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carole Lane James said...

Heat began to crawl upwards through his petite, yet sensitive claws. Fear quickly followed as Terrell contemplated his fate; swift and painless or measured with anguish.

Rick Bylina said...

Thanks Carole.

Romance: "Cute," Carol cooed. "Ugly." Jeff smirked. "I like him." She fed Terence piece of ham. Jeff pulled. Terence's claws held Carol's fingers. "Choose." Jeff demanded.

Rick Bylina said...

Mystery: Terence nipped Jim's finger. "What's up with your dragon?" "Don't know. He normally likes everyone." Terence loved the smell of day old blood.

Rick Bylina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carole Lane James said...

Terence shrieked with laughter and brought the claw, dripping with blood to his beak, one eyeball on Jim, then he...

Guilie Castillo said...

Some creatures know no appreciation, admit no debt of gratitude. Terrell would kill me, sooner rather than later. Perhaps because he still seemed so tiny, defenseless, or perhaps a symptom of the carelessness I live my life with, I let him live.

Fun exercise, Rick!

Rick Bylina said...

Western: Jed stood at the bottomless hole near Dead Man's Gulch and stared at the tiny creature. A roar erupted below him. "What in tarnation?"

Carole Lane James said...

As Jed leaned in for a closer inspection, his horse Bojangles reared up in fear, knocking Jed into the hole. He grabbed for the reins and screamed, "Whoaaa..."