Magpie Monday is HERE! (April 2018)

[dialecticdreamer]

Magpie Monday for April, 2018


Every month, I open the blog to prompts from readers. It's as much about building community as it is an opportunity to write what my readers want, rather than sticking to more general themes and plots. I offer a theme idea, but try to keep it as open-ended as possible for the benefit of the readers.

Someone might describe that flexibility as a strength of crowdfunded art in general, which is a great example of this month's theme: strength. What makes a character trait a strength, rather than a weakness? What is the best use of someone's physical, mental, or social strengths? Is the best use the most effective? Why or why not?

Idioms like “play to your strengths,” and “a pillar of strength” don't refer to pure muscle function. Ideally, they are gender neutral. But, do they carry a gender bias? Exploring that is an entire basket of plot bunnies, if that sparks something for the reader.

What about 'strength' as influence, or power, or toughness? Those are more abstract than the word first conveys, and again, create more ideas to explore. “The strength of an argument,” is often used to imply which side the speaker favors, especially subliminally.

The complementary opposites of resilience and steadfastness are both considered “strength,” too. I've explored both ideas in many previous stories, but Genna St. Croix is the character I feel embodies both, simultaneously.

Now that readers have some hints (they are merely hints), it's easy to participate in the Magpie prompt call: post a comment with your idea(s). For each person, I'll fill one prompt, guaranteed. I usually offer five hundred words for each fill. For anyone who boosts the signal, I'll add a hundred words for each of the different locations (DW, FB, et cetera). Please tell me if this is your first time requesting a prompt, because that adds another hundred words, too.

Because this is a world-wide site, “today” refers to my California time zone, but don't worry, because I keep the prompt call open through midnight Tuesday (my time zone). There's plenty of time to put your hat in the ring! I mark the Mapgie Monday open and closed in BOLD lettering, just to make it easy to spot.

For those who would rather PM me with an idea, that works, too.

There are a few guidelines for prompts:

= I generally write gentle fiction (the Strange Family series is an exercise in hair-splitting sometimes, but the intention and overall effect is positive and hopeful. I believe that matters a great deal.

= I write sex scenes so badly that I've seen better clickbait articles about Brangelina. Romance, I'll give a shot. Gender and orientation are elements of characterization, and I focus on putting characters together.

= If your idea is heavily focused on nonsexual intimacy, that prompt call is “Feathering the Nest,” which happens on the 23rd of April this month. That means, save your idea and get TWO prompts to read. (Quite a payoff for a little bit of patience.)

= Some first draft fills get changed before they become a full post (minimum of a thousand words of story). I will do my best to remember to send the prompter a private note so they can compare the versions. Feedback in these cases is incredibly useful to me.

Last of all, the tip jar. It's for medical expenses, period, and has made an ENORMOUS difference to this family. As an example, one month I used the entire fund to pay most of the extremely large copay on a decidedly expensive, needful, lifesaving drug. Which is why I've been almost sitting on my hands to keep from posting the sequel to last month's bonus story, “Accidents in the Home.” (Here's a link to part one.) If I get $100 in donations for this Magpie, I will immediately post the entirety of the sequel, which focuses on Graham and Shiv, and rebuilding some of the young man's coping skills. This is nine parts long, over eleven thousand words.

I'm looking forward to the work to get the HTML to work, even!

The April Magpie Monday is now CLOSED!

Thank you all for participating!

Author's note: NOON (Pacific time) Tuesday, 10 April
- All prompts which were in by this time are now filled. I'll keep the Magpie open for new prompts until my bedtime, still. Thanks!

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Strength is nothing without Will, and will requires Intent. Which sounds a whole lot like magic... Sooo... how about a character who bends reality through sheer force of personality? [pretty sure you can think of a few exemplars of that] And what (s)he does when they're adopted by an equally strong willed cat. [who are that form of strength purrsonfied]

[we_are_spc]

A dom and Saul bonding session-over a video game, book, hell even a game of chess.

...

and the two boys having a nice squealy play romp outside somewhere where they get all dirty and get gently scolded for being 'too rough' on clothes. (Playful scolding) :)

...

And +1 to the above prompt. :d

-Fallon+supportcrew~

prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by PM

Re: prompt fill

[we_are_spc]

I get. We like. <3

-Fallon~

Re: prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

Happydance!

I'm working on Siliconshaman's prompt now-- his needed a bit more research before I could start.

I hope he has the same reaction!

Re: prompt fill

[we_are_spc]

Sooo do I! Because tha's a cool idea! :)

-Fallon/Harley/Jay

Re: prompt fill

[siliconshaman]

Just read it.. *does snoopy happy dance*

Just what I needed for a wet and grey Monday.. better than chocolate!!

Re: prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

I was trying to be sensitive, and very positive. I'm glad it worked.

Re: prompt fill

[siliconshaman]

You succeeded, admirably. Thank you. It's been a rough few days, and that helped.

prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by PM. Full length first draft, too!

[daisiesrockalot]

Dom has to have a lot of strength to be surviving this long not knowing what's happening to his family, it would be interesting to see what's keeping him there and how he's kept going.

Boss White had to become a boss somehow.

Aidan somehow just keeps going and hoping.

Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I know how Boss White got his superpowers -- prison experimentation -- but not much about how he rose to control the whole of the Greater Omaha Area. Interesting prompt!

TOUGH choices!

[dialecticdreamer]

I wanted to write all three, but ONE is winging its way to you in two private messages!

Re: TOUGH choices!

[daisiesrockalot]

Preeeeetty :D

Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I would like to see someone teaching basic navigational skills to a young child -- especially, Shiv getting to see how that works with Jaxon and/or Edison. A strong foundation of life skills is what builds up the fortitude to face and solve problems later, but somebody has to put the bottom rungs on the ladder.

Re: Prompts

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent in private messages, and already long enough for two posted segments. This is a fun one! Thanks for suggesting it!

what, me wait?

[callibr8]

I'll share my current challenge with you: leveraging my own tendency toward impatience, and my inability to summon patience with someone else's feature creep, i.e. "one more thing .... oh wait, and one MORE thing .... oh, and here's something else I didn't think to mention earlier..."

If I survive to reach that last one, I will almost certainly be exiting the room, probably screaming, immediately thereafter.

Yet, that can be a strength in certain contexts.

Re: what, me wait?

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by private message. I went for an optimistic ending, and a change in the levels of trust between the two characters.

[mama_kestrel]

Once upon a time, interviewing for what ended up being my first real legal job, the hiring partner asked me what I considered my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. Much bewildered when I laughed, he joined me when I said that my greatest strength was tenacity, and my greatest weakness stubbornness. The prompt generally is strengths that can, carried further, become weaknesses.

The strength to admit to vulnerability.

It takes strength to accept help, more to acknowledge needing it, and still more to actively request it.

When he's finally found and rescued, I'd be surprised if Dominic didn't try to protect or and shield Genna and Michael from the damage that's been done to him. Most people do that by either withdrawing or lashing out to drive those they're protecting away, or both. That will further isolate him, traumatize them, and widen the rift the separation has already caused. What sort of strengths will he and Genna - and perhaps Michael - need to draw on to heal, but as individuals and as a family?

Once upon a time, presumably before he became whatever it is he is now, Victor had a family. What became of them? Did he simply lose them to the passage of time, or have to give them up, or some other way? How has that shaped what he is now?

That'll do for today. :)

prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by private message.

[readera]

I'm really tired from starting my new job, so I don't have much energy. here is a prompt for you. <3

Unrealized or unrecognized strengths being pointed out. It's sometimes hard to see your own strengths when your mental mirror is foggy from mental illness/physical illness or lack of clarity.

prompt fill

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by private message! LOTS of fun!

Re: prompt fill

[readera]

Glad to hear it. I'll have to read it when I have a bit more time.

[edorfaus]

I remembered I had an idea saved away, and I *think* it fits with the "strength" theme (in several possible ways, not all of them necessarily obvious), so...

Two neighboring kingdoms need to form an alliance, which requires their prince and princess to marry. However, both are only children who already have happy families of their own. Nobody really wants to split up those families, and the rules don't actually say that they have to be each other's _only_ spouse, so, while nontraditional... can they make it work? And how will that affect others who want similar families?

The Strongest Alliance

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent by PM.