Clare-Dragonfly

Title: The Bowl
Word count: 238
Rating: G
Prompt: Steering the Craft: Chastity
Notes: I'm working (slowly) through one of Ursula K. Le Guin's writing books, Steering the Craft. Every chapter has a topic and an exercise. I like most of them, but this one is my favorite by far. The idea is to write a short passage without using any adjectives or adverbs at all. There are a lot of cross-outs on my page, and I'm not sure I got them all. It was a fun and challenging exercise, and I think I'll do it again. I was also intrigued by the story that emerged, so I figured I'd share it!


She placed the bowl on the table, moving with as little speed as she could. Her hands shook. A droplet of water spilled over the lip of the bowl, onto the table. It shook and shivered, throwing the candlelight about, then sank into the wood until it was out of sight. She held her breath and looked into the bowl, wondering whether she had to begin again, but it had been only the one drop; she could see no difference in the height of the water. It still lapped so close to the edge of the bowl that, if she laid her hand down so it was just touching the bowl, it would be touching water as well.( Read more... )

Title: Air Traffic
Word count: 425
Rating: PG-13 for language
Prompt: anke's: paths in the sky; also inspired by this ballet performance prompt
Notes: I have absolutely no idea where this is going, if anywhere--but I like Captain Agnes!


There was an air barge coming right at them. Captain Agnes Leach hauled hard on the controls and pulled her own airship out of the way. The barge swept past them, without even any kind of acknowledgement. “Fucking asshole!” she shouted after him, even though there was no possible way the air barge’s steersman could have heard her. Then she cursed more as she realized her crutch had slipped out from under her shoulder, she was in serious danger of losing her balance, and she wasn’t going to get her airship back into her lane in time to avoid the next oncoming ship. “Hillary!” she called desperately. “Somebody, I need an assist!”( Read more... )

Title: Underground, part 1
Word count: 600
Rating: PG-13 for gastrointestinal yuck
Prompt: 30 days, #1 and #2
Notes: This is for aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 days of flash fiction meme. Except I don't really do flash fiction, so I'm attempting to do the whole thing as one short story. I combined the first two prompts and wrote this first section just short enough to fulfill the wordcount guidelines, "250 words, +/- 50 words, to each prompt." I have no idea what's going on in the story, but I'm pretty sure Greg does, so we should be okay.



“It’s going down.”

“What?”

“Down.” Greg pointed, for emphasis.

I stared at him. I still didn’t understand. “What do you mean, down? Trains don’t go down.”( Read more... )

Daughters of Clio is a weekly prompt group I started with Lyn, Tara, and 'Trix. Technically this week is my prompt, so I don't have to write for it, but I felt like it anyway. The prompt is "the cave in the hill by the water."

Daro grabbed her hand. "Come on! I found it last year, it's really cool!"

Gerda allowed herself to be dragged along--Daro's hand was warm and strong, and she liked the way it nearly enveloped hers--but she wouldn't go without protest. "We're supposed to be watching the carts! We can't just leave!"( Read more... )

Yeah, this was totally going to go somewhere, but... I got bored. Let me know if you're interested in more!