Spontaneous writing

Here is a little experiment. Regular visitors of this blog know that David’s creative outlet is writing stories. Being too busy at work to do the final editing of his older short stories so he feels comfortable with publishing them, we thought of this little experiment: Spontaneous writing – while waiting for his flight at the airport. I gave him the prompt: My collage of August’s monthly color project ‘shades of gray’. In the group some commented to see ‘a story in this collage’. Which made me ask David to write one. Here are my photos and this is his story – please let us know in the comments what you think of spontaneous writing in general and this on in particular:

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My palms were sweating, despite the chilly fall day. I never imagined getting this close to a Gel. They were the plague of the modern world, or the end of the modern world, depending on who was telling the story. Not that they were supposed to be aggressive to humans or other animals, but as I looked at its pulsating, sinuous, charcoal black skin, I was still frightfully nervous.  Drawn in by the utter massiveness of the creature, I came closer, fascinated by the veiny pattern on its skin.

I backed off and paused to reflect. To remember what life was like before the arrival of the Gels. That’s what you were supposed to do back then, wasn’t it? A relaxing fall bike ride was supposed to recharge your body, refresh your soul.  You were supposed to enjoy nature and reflect upon your life. That was then. Before the Giant Electricity-sucking Leeches (Gels) came. Some say it was our overuse of power – like blood in the water attracts sharks for miles around, the power lines that circled the earth in the early 21st century attracted the Gels – from where, we still don’t know.

This one was clearly an adult, over two feet in diameter, and a dozen feet long. The Gel had firmly attached itself to the power pole, but was by far not the largest of the species. Had it spawned yet? I glanced over at the thick bed of fallen leaves covering the path.  A perfect place for the young – the little ones would sense any source of electricity, like the wiring of a car driving over, and attach themselves to that car. And woe betide the person who drove into their garage with an infected car. From there they would spread and grow, infesting the wiring of your house, and leaving you with an impossible choice: cut off all power to the house and live with candles, or burn your house to the ground and rebuild. Like most people, I tried to be careful – shutting off the electricity to my house when I wasn’t there, riding my bike if I were anywhere Gels were active, but in the end, if they infested my house, I don’t know what I’d do.

I glanced briefly at my shoes. Bad planning – black shoelaces. Perfect camouflage for Gel spawn. But at least I had no electricity, so those slimy little black leeches should ignore me. I shuddered. The native earth leeches would only suck your blood, but these new ones were far more sinister. Electricity was more important than blood to most people. A brisk fall breeze blew through my legs. No more time to reflect. I have to get home before it gets dark. In the age of Gels, street lights were only a happy memory.

By David H. Willison III

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And now to the regular feature of Friday Four Fill ins ~ here is from Hilary’s blog:

Each week, I plan on listing four statements with a blank for you to fill in on your own blogs. If you want to join the fun and come up with four fill in’s of your own, please email them to me  . If I use them, I will add you as co-host to the hop! This week’s co-host is Lisa from Lisa Writes (and she is also the author of Quake) – she came up with the last two statements! I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY NEED SOME STATEMENTS!

I would LOVE it if you could please help me spread the word about this hop…. So, please tweet, FaceBook share, andadd the linky to your post…

This week’s statements:

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1) I have had the best time this weekend before last, because we took a little anniversary trip (read it here).
2) I can’t believe that summer is almost over.
3) I feel relaxed when I wear t-shirt, shorts and tevas (most likely because it is very probable that I am at the beach ;)).
4) Technology is a blessing and  curse.

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18 thoughts on “Spontaneous writing”

  1. Love the story. Great writing. I have always enjoyed futuristic type tales and this one could be an awesome book!!! Pretty cool idea you two had. Hope to see more of David’s writing around!

    Reply
    • You and me, too, Susi. I try to encourage him, but time… But these little blurbs seem to be real fun. I loved it when he gave it to me to post here 🙂 Don’t worry, he will almost always be writing some fantasy, scifi, historic, futuristic story – that’s him!

      Reply
  2. Happy ICLW!

    Love the sci-fi feel of this!! Love the entire concept and the “shades of gray” photos. There really is just *something* extra special about black and white that isn’t conveyed in colors. I really think it provokes more emotions.

    Reply
    • Thanks, Kasey. Sci-fi and fantasy is pretty much what we both love. We had talked about doing a coop, but never really did. Until now… I agree, when you strip a photo of its colors there has to be a lot more to speak to you.

      Reply
  3. That was a great story!! A sci-fi feel which I love. Kinda reminds me of those things in the Matrix. definitely want to hear more. Will he continue, or will it be a new one next time?

    I cannot believe my kids are already talking about Halloween costumes and treats (which actually have been in our stores for about a month already) and I am making Thanksgiving weekend plans too. Our weather is one day warm and sunny, and the next day cold and rainy. Fall officially begins. Wish I had your photography talent to capture the changing of the leaves. it’s glorious right now.

    Reply
    • Thanks, Leslie. Oh – the Matrix, I loooove that trilogy! Just the other day I mentioned to David that I want to watch it again. As for our coop and stories – I will tell David that you (and not only you) would like to hear a part II of this particular one. The next one is actually already written – in the raw – and it is completely different. Heck, I can hardly believe it is not even a sci-fi/fantasy, which is really unbelievable.

      Aaawwwh – thanks for your compliments on my photography, but don’t be too modest, I am 100 % sure that you can capture the beautiful changing of the leaves yourself. Actually my sister and family are visiting from Germany, they’ll be arriving tomorrow night, just to see the golden fall here on the East Coast 🙂

      Reply

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