Directions: Open a dictionary randomly. Pick a word (the long ones are better for this). Write 2-4 sentences using the chosen word in the first one.

**********************************************************

The zeppelin possessed an integument of weatherproofed canvas. Originally, it had been French lace, but was later discovered to be rather impractical, although quite stylish.

*********************

He's having a conniption fit over the boiler again. When will he learn that coal is much more ideally suited for it? And wherever did he get the notion to try burning radishes? Honestly, that man is completely barmy!

*********************

She had her airship confiscated by the authorities. Apparently, it is unlawful to engage in racing competitions in municipal areas. Especially during parades.

*********************

The Seagoing Air Kraken was an oceanic atmospheric biological menace. Its diet seemed to consist of merchant air vessels and the occasional fishing boat. No one was safe from its far-reaching tentacles.

*********************

Rupert was forced to use his Stratospheric Disruption Device on the approaching sky pirates. HIs captain watched as the enemy airship began to wobble violently. Then the air around it turned a sickly shade of yellow.

********************

He had to don his ventilation apparatus once the dirigible reached the higher altitude. Even the pterodactyls didn't fly at such heights. As his respirator hissed and creaked, he kept a careful eye to the east. It was only a matter of time before they caught up to him.

********************

Letitia's induction to the local Quilting Society was thwarted at every turn. Her efforts did not pass muster no matter how hard she tried. In the end, she assumed it had much to do with her original designs. The Society obviously wasn't ready for the Wanton Minx Square or the Passionate Parson Block.


 

Just for the heck of it.....

Failed Romance Titles

*Captain's Diseased Harlot
*Summer of Illegal Love
*Squishy Love Hearts
*Llama of Desire
*The Golden Spleen
*Mistress of Mucus
*Bittersweet Tapeworm Love
*Temptress of the Tacos
*We'll Always Have New Jersey'
*Romantic Delusions
*The Lurve Shack
*Angina of the Heart
*Steamy Strumpet of My Boxers
*My Beautiful Spleen
*Attractions From Nearby
*Stupid Soft Silent Silken Screams
*The Handsome Fishmonger
*The Hills of Grassy Destitude
*Quivering Mound of Love Pudding (okay, that one was lifted from a "Naked Gun" movie! )
*On the Sea of Lurve
*Dangerous Seduction by Lice
*A Squalid Christmas
*Man of My Nightmares
*Passions of the Squid
*Warrior of Indifference
*Toads of Desire
*Outhouse Enchantment
*Tea Cosy of the Heart
*Splendor in the Litterbox
*Touch of Mold
*Animosity Waltz
*Golden Apathy
*Knight in a Dull Rusty Tin Suit
*Maiden of Atrophy
*All the Stars in the Toilet
*Slightly Sour Temptation
*Velvet Mutterings
*Silken Jock Straps
*Satin Slobbery Smooches

 

Three story beginnings that haven't gone any further


She approached the Well with trepidation. Whatever, whoever was in its depths was still alive.

It was up the her to finish the victim off.

After all, there was no coming back from the Well once you went into it.

Her hand brushed the cold stone rim. The icy sour breeze shifted her hair into her face, obscuring her vision momentarily.

A thin voice like the sound of sighing mice whispered up from the Well's depths.

"Help meeeee..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The glimmer dust was fading. She could no longer see into the length of the alley.

"He got away", spat Morger.

Pelly wasn't going to give up as easily.

~Come with me. I have an idea.~ Her hands fluttered the words.

"Eh?"

She pulled on the snark-twig's arm, drawing him away from the alley. It took ten minutes of waiting before Pelly saw the glimmer-dusted head peered around the corner.

Morger pounced. His fingers traced quick sigals in the air and the willow pixie was trapped in a small cage of red light.

"Gotchya!" His smile was evidence of the pride he took in his job.

But Pelly suddenly had a very bad feeling over the whole pursuit and capture of the tiny being. It cemented itself into reality when the pixie's Master appeared on the scene....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We're the last living souls." Tip's voice echoed dully inside the cave. Spike clutched at her shawl uneasily.

"How did it come to this?" she whispered, mostly to herself. Deep within her heart, she already knew the answer.

"I don't think I need to tell you why, Spike." Tip smoothed a hand over his horns, a habit that betrayed his inner turmoil.

"Can we at least go to the Great Temple of Katanosha? That way I'll know for sure." She fingered the prayer beads in her pocket hopefully.

Tip smiled at her in the gloomy light of the cave.

"Of course. If we start out now, we'll reach the Outer Gates by morning."

With that, the unlikely pair set off at an unhurried pace. Neither one had sensed the Wrayth hiding behind one of the natural stone columns. It had overheard their every word.....
 

All right, these following ideas are straight out of my notebook. Many a night I've sat out on my front porch, scribbling away. Thought I'd share a page or two with everyone. Tell me if any of these sound good.

*************************************************

An idyllic romantic scene with two young lovers sitting quietly together. Lots of flowers in pastel colours and all that jazz. Cupid is taking aim at them, his bow is drawn. But in the background of the scene is a jilted lover who is taking aim at Cupid! This would make a good drawing, I think.

A campfire scene with scouts (boys or girls). The leader is telling a really good story. Everyone is rapt with attention. Little do they know, a monster has crept up behind them to listen too.

A tale of a kelpie who isn't like the others of his/her species. Feels bad about killing the victims it drowns. It's a sensitive kelpie.

Gruesome yet comical scene of a monster family having an old-fashioned barbecue/cookout. The main item on the menu? Humans! Variation of this could be a dragon family roasting knights.

Monks in a room writing illuminated manuscripts. One of them is doodling in his. Or writing bad stuff about another monk. Or maybe two of them are playing tic-tac-toe or hangman.

Years later, Hansel and Gretel are stalked by the old witch they thought was dead. She keeps sending them threatening candygrams. Could be a funny or scary story.

An immortal from the future traveling BACK in time every day. Stays at a constant physical appearance/age. Has to keep knowledge of the future a secret. This has possibilities but needs a lot of work first.

Kokopelli (from Native American legend) playing in a jazz band in some smokey little club. Or a scene where he's getting kicked out of a symphony orchestra.

Robots that transform into practical/boring things: toasters, recliners, vacuums, electric razors, etc. Could be a good comedy story maybe.

The faerie court on parade-- dressed as Hell's Angels! Would make a great drawing.

Instead of a genie in a lamp, how about a modern twist? Use a Zippo lighter, or maybe an electric lamp? Or a flashlight? Or a laser pointer?

An otter (or beaver) who can change into human form. This could be a twist on old selkie/mermaid legends. Like an Americanized version or something.

A scene where a dragon is cleaning out his lair. He's wearing a kerchief and an apron, weilding a broom. Has a featherduster tucked into his apron. He's sweeping out pieces of armor, skulls, other knightly debris. Could have the dragon whistling cheerfully.

Fantasy scene with dragon watchers observing them as if they were birds. They have guidebooks and binoculars at the ready, conversing excitedly about seeing a new variety.

Ninja/martial arts guys involved in a tickle fight.

*************************************************

Okay, so maybe that last idea was a BIT silly. But even then, it has a chance of making it as a comedy piece. I got most of these ideas by taking a traditional story/scene/whatever and adding a twist to it. The easiest are using modern elements in old settings. I hope to make some drawings from some of these too. Let me know if any of these ideas inspire YOU to write a story. 'Cause I'd like to read it.
 

Yet another story inspired by one of my drawings. Ephwyn is a dark-haired winged beauty who's unable to fly. Why? When she was younger, she was disrespectful to a powerful sorceress. Her youth and ignorance got her cursed. She was made unable to fly. Such a cruel fate for one like Ephwyn. Sadly, she's been unable to save herself from this curse.

Her family sought the aid of numerous wizards and witches but to no avail. The only thing that could be done was by an enchantress who managed to lighten the curse. On Ephwyn's twentieth birthday, she'd be able to fly. On THAT day only. This could help the young woman because there was a sacred spring that can only be reached by flying. The waters from it were said to cure anything. The afflicted person, however, had to drink directly from it under the light of a full moon. (*note: work on this, it sounds lame).

And this sacred spring isn't exactly easy to find. It takes the talent of a special creature to do it. (*note: make this creature cute but wise, maybe even a smart aleck) So Ephwyn manages to locate one of these creatures as her birthday draws near. Then she makes the trip up to wherever the spring is with the aid of this magical creature. After getting very close to time running out, she is cured of her curse.

Yeah, I know her story needs TONS more work. But this is a start. Ephwyn is a special winged species. She looks human except for the fact that she has no arms. Nope, none. Instead, she's got wings for arms. Details, details.... I need to work on this some more.
 

The idea for Agatha also came from one of my drawings. She's a gargoyle woman. In her world, the humans and the gargoyles don't get along very good. In fact, they rather hate each other. But Agatha is different. She's been blessed with a heart of compassion and she's able to see both sides of the story.

One of her favorite things to do is to watch humans go about their everyday lives. Though she'd be hunted down and have her butt seriously kicked (by humans as well as her own species), she loves to perch atop the buildings in the city to observe people. Since she can only come out at night (part of her nature as a gargoyle), she's become fond of watching a certain nightclub. It's a popular place, with a really long line outside full of folks waiting to get inside. There's other places she likes to observe, but this is her favorite because of how crazy the young people dress and act.

One night, however, everything changes when she happens to witness a violent crime outside the nightclub. No details yet on exactly what that crime is, I'm still working on it. But it's enough to make her change her mind about being a passive observer. She decides to be a crime fighter, in secret. If her fellow gargoyles caught wind of her actions, they'd do something terrible to her for sure. So she goes about it alone.

This is all I've got at the moment on Agatha. I've always enjoyed the cartoon "Gargoyles" (I still watch it from time to time on the Toon Disney Channel). So yeah, I've adopted the idea that she's 'alive' only after the sun goes down. During the day, she's a stone gargoyle though (like in the cartoon). I need to come up with some more characters for her to interact with. There's going to be more to her story, I just know it.
 

Elendar is a half-human, half-catlike creature. She lives in a fairly large town and works in the binding section of a printing press. It's a simple life for this young single mother. She has one daughter who is a merry-begot (was conceived on a Midsummer's festival). She lives with her widowed aunt and is the sole provider in the household.

On Elendar's 27th birthday, something strange happens. She starts to hear voices in her head. At first she thinks she's going insane. So she pays a visit to the local wisewoman, Ogara. Things don't bode well for Elendar though. The wisewoman seems eerily...pleased by the young woman's mental suffering.

What Elendar doesn't know is that the voices are a sign of a prophecy that was foretold hundreds of years before her birth. It seems that her hearing them means that she is the Chosen One for the Sacred Portal. This portal is a doorway that opens between the three worlds once every thousand years. Instead of telling Elendar about this enormous responsibility, Ogara (being the devious schemer that she is) decides to send the young woman on a trek to the Mystical Mountains (*note: must work on a better name for them!) to a temple of evil worshippers. She wants to give Elendar to the bad guys so they can gain control of the evil world that will be near the Portal on the Sacred Day of Alignment (*note: this needs work too).

Only Ogara doesn't tell Elendar any details about there being more than one world. She witholds that information, thinking the young woman will be easy to manipulate in her ignorance.

So Elendar starts on her journey. She rides on the back of a flying dragon to the Mystical Mountains. Ogara hired a female warrior to see that Elendar makes it to the temple without incident (and to keep any good-doers from interferring). But along the way, they are beset by a band of 'enemies'. These people, after explaining the TRUE meaning of the Portal and all that it entails, convince Elendar that she must do the right thing.

I haven't come up with much more than that. This will likely be a novel-length story. It's complicated and has a LOT of kinks to work out.

I came up with this idea for Elendar's story after working on a computer drawing of her. I was staring at her thinking....why does she look so disturbed? And then it started coming to me. I hope to fix all the details and get it ironed out more before I post it in my port. But at least this is a good start.
 

I used to have the novel-in-progress of Julia's tale in my port. But, over time, I kinda lost interest in her. I think the main reason for that was... she had no depth. Her character had no real personality. So now I'm going to try to give her a makeover. Here goes:

Julia was desperately trying to be a normal Victorian-era teenager. She hid her madness behind a veil of gaiety. Attending dances and socials, going to school, learning how to be a gracious young woman, her life when viewed from the outside, seemed to be wonderful. So determined in her efforts to remain normal, she didn't realize her fascade was cracking.

Her mother noticed it first. She'd been looking for signs of insanity ever since her daughter entered puberty. It seemed that madness ran in the family. When Julia seemed to be perfectly average, her mother let down her guard a bit. A couple of years slipped past and then one day Mrs. De Gray discovered she had grounds for her suspicions.

It was in late spring and everyone had decided to spend the evening out on the lawn. Mr. and Mrs. De Gray were sitting at the wicker table near the flower garden enjoying a cup of coffee together. Hannah, Julia's older sister, was reclining on the wicker chaise, going over a catalog of the latest fashions from Paris. Julia was further down in the garden, sitting on a bench under a huge weeping willow. She was sketching. It all seemed the perfect idyllic scene with a gentle warm breeze and the sun setting on the horizon.

Julia was indeed sketching under the willow tree. But what she was producing on the paper was anything but idyllic or pastoral. A scene of torment and agony was coming to life under her deft hand. Demons, ghouls, and decaying corpses were torturing a centered figure of a young woman. It was a truly frightening picture but an apt description about how Julia felt.

Ever since she was thirteen, she had been plagued by visions and voices. It had started almost innocently when she'd first seen ghosts of dead pets. When she tried to stroke her former dog Tizzy and her hand went right through the animal, she knew something was amiss. And then she started to hear the cries of a baby in the dark of the night. But there would never be a baby in the old nursery when she tried to track down the source of the sounds. That truly spooked her. She never told anyone about what she had witnessed. No one would believe her anyway.

Her parents seemed to scoff at anything remotely supernatural. Julia was secretly fascinated by it. She was VERY careful not to tell her parents. They would think her mad.

She hid a lot of things from her parents, actually. It was her way of rebelling in what small ways she could. The strict social pressures had been pressed on her ever since she could remember. It was suffocating her.
 

Aahh, yes... Kymber. I remember starting her story way back in high school. She had such promise at the time. Kymber was the main character in a fantasy story that revolved around unicorns.

You see, it started when Kymber's dad announced one night at dinner that the whole family would be moving within a week. Well, she freaked out and ran away that night (the nobody-understands-me-I'm-leaving plot). Since her family lived out in the country, she had a favorite place she'd always run away to when she was stressed. It was a secret cave hidden behind a water fall. She had a sleeping bag and some camping supplies stashed in there already.

So Kymber stays the night in her favorite cave and gets up the next morning to take a swim. As she steps through the waterfall, she suddenly realizes she's not in her own world anymore! Instead there's a unicorn staring at her on the bank of the stream. She doesn't lose her cool and discovers to her amazement that the creature can communicate telepathically!

The unicorn is named Ajah and she was sent to search for Kymber. *enter the ancient prophecy plot here* It seems an ancient prophecy told of a pure maiden that would rescue their world from utter destruction. After that, the story started getting complicated. The main villan (whose name eludes me at the moment) was also after Kymber and managed to capture her. He had a devious plot to use her to snag the rarest of the unicorns.

************

I thought Kymber deserved a mention as a possible future character. She was headstrong and she tended to rush into situations without totally thinking them through. Her story may get retold one day. But it sure needs some serious tweaking first!
 

Destiny Rose is the name of a character who started out as a joke. I'd always wanted to do a parody of those "bodice-ripping" romance novels. You know the type, the ones with the manly men on the covers and the women with their boobs halfway exposed doing some kind of tai-chi move on the guy.

Anyway, Destiny Rose is the classic noblewoman type. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, curves in all the right places, buxom... you get the idea. She's beautiful and spoiled rotten. So you can imagine my surprise when I started writing her story and suddenly she developed into a character that had some promise!

The story started out with her riding across a moonlit beach late at night. On her trusty steed. Hair flowing prettily behind her and everything. But then she's mad as hell. It seems her suitor decided to run off with her sexy younger sister. Now she's out riding her horse and venting some steam. Then it starts raining and she heads for cover in an old cottage nearby. She manages to get a fire going in the hearth but soon falls asleep from all the exhaustion.

Enter the studly warrior man. The rippling abs, the dark smoldering eyes, the master of swords, etc., etc.... He's also seeking shelter from said storm. He sees our heroine asleep by the fire and....

Well, I don't want to give any more away here. But I think you can guess where this is going!

Destiny Rose is someone I wouldn't mind developing into a deeper character. I think she's got spunk and besides, she's simply GOT to get revenge on her conniving sister!
 

Acacia is the name of an outcast princess caught between two warring kingdoms. Why is she outcast? It's a bit of a story. Let me tell you....

It was a mythical land torn between two royal families who both wanted to rule. The Red Rose family were easily identifiable by their shared characteristic. They all had blood-red hair. Every last one of them. That was how they could tell who the real aristocracy was.

Likewise, the White Rose family all were indentified by their white hair.

The feud began back in the early times when both families were not enemies but great friends. Some of them intermarried and had children with pink hair. But there was a scandal that came about (no one really remembers what it was) and soon the families split their happy union.

Through centuries of bloodshed, hate, and anger the battles waged on. No more pink-haired children are born.

Now it is the rule of Calamus the White Rose and Arbutus the Red Rose. Calamus is married to a very distant cousin of his, nevertheless a White Rose. Her name is Angelica and she bears him two strapping white-haired sons. Then she has a pink-haired daughter. Only she and the midwife know that Acacia has pink hair because they hide this fact from the rest of the world by shaving the child's head and making her wear wigs.

Little Acacia grows up into a stunning young woman all the while hiding her true identity.

Her mother reveals to her how her conception came about when Acacia's old enough to understand. Angelica was out hunting when she was overtaken by a pompous White Rose with a score to settle with her husband, the king. He exacts his 'revenge' by raping Angelica. Acacia was the product of that union.

Horrified by this news, Acacia has a difficult time dealing with these issues. As a result she acts out with anger and often butts heads with Calamus. He has no idea that she isn't really his daughter. He just thinks she's being headstrong about not wanting to marry any of the suitors he's chosen for her.

A great and terrible argument ensues. Finally, he resolves to have her banished from the kingdom. Before that happens, though, she runs off in the middle of the night. Her only companion is her favorite mount, a great battle-cat. (Side note: They don't ride horses, but rather giant cats that are far more agile. This IS a fantasy story, if you haven't already guessed!)

From there, this story is still kind of up in the air. I'd written a dopey-sounding conclusion but I think Acacia could bring about change between these two warring kingdoms.

She's a strong-willed young woman who doesn't back down from fights. She's very physically fit. There's a passionate side to her as well. That means she's grown to see how ignorant the fighting has become and she wants to change it all.

And if you want to see a picture of her, all you have to do is look at my signature. She's always there!


 

Cronus, being locked away underneath the sea, had one more of his offspring in his belly. Zeus had forgotten a sibling! It was a woman named Enosa. She was angry at being left behind. Her anger grew so much over the years that it manifested into substance and became a knife that she used to cut open her prison and escape. In doing so, she slew her father, much to his relief.

Enosa is a goddess of anger and frustration, because that's all she's ever known. A vengeful deity full of rage. She's tall and slender, with a whip-thin body. She's got long wavy black hair and flashing green eyes.

After she escaped her prison, she flew above the sea to look down on the modern world. At first, she is mystified. Where are her siblings? Why is Gaea so ill? What is going on?

She assumes a disguise and moves about the modern world unnoticed. She picks up on what has happened over time....

*********

I came up with the idea for Enosa when I started thinking about the Greek myths. Cronus was Zeus' father who ate all of his own children to keep them from overthrowing him politically. Zeus managed to free himself and his siblings and then lock Cronus away under the ocean in a deep, dark prison (I'm going by memory here, so don't freak if I don't get all the details just right). I got to musing.... What if Zeus didn't get all of his siblings? What if he missed someone? Hmmm.... that's when I developed Enosa's character. Aptly, she would be mad that her brother forgot her. I really haven't gotten much further with her character but I would really like to. I think she'd do well in a modern setting (and maybe take an anger management class or two...).